Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is VICE 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VBS.TV ) -- In 2008 , the world cast its eyes on Beijing , the sprawling Chinese metropolis that was set to play host to the Summer Olympics . At VBS.TV , we caught wind of another story that soon had our full attention . As Chinese officials were taking unprecedented and often controversial measures to sanitize the notoriously foul Beijing air , much of the rest of the country was still covered in a thick blanket of noxious smog . According to a World Bank survey at the time , 16 of the world 's 20 most-polluted cities were in China . At the top of that list is the city of Linfen , a coal-mining and manufacturing hub in the heart of Shanxi Province . Within weeks , we assembled a film crew and went off to the landlocked province in northern China to find out more . After touching down in Beijing and making a quick visit to the Olympic countdown clock , we set out to visit the single most polluted place on Earth , hoping to place the dubious ranking into a human context . Despite the Chinese government 's promise of a marathon-friendly city , the Beijing air at the time was still plenty oppressive . But nothing could have prepared us for the dystopian scenario we encountered during our week in Linfen and the surrounding area . See the rest of Toxic Linfen at VBS.TV . Before the trip , I had researched thousands of images of the pollution that plagues Linfen and Shanxi province , but to see it in person is , quite simply , devastating . The sun sets before it is supposed to , disappearing into a curtain of smog above the true horizon . Residents scavenge the roadside for coal that falls from the seemingly endless cavalcade of coal trucks , gathering it with bare hands . Schoolchildren play against the nonstop backdrop of billowing exhaust . Many of the elderly have trouble speaking between gasps of widespread emphysema . Residents of Linfen are aware of the growing threat the polluted air and water pose , and some of them have left the city . Most , however , have no choice but to stay . The infamy of a No . 1 ranking in the news media eventually motivated China to focus more attention on cleaning up Linfen , but unfortunately , the scene of overwhelming pollution is still rampant in many parts of the country . As easy as it is to criticize China 's bold industrial development , our visit was also a clear reminder of the same pattern of manufacturing and consumption that has occurred elsewhere since the dawn of the Industrial Age . In China , it just happens to be on a much grander scale and on the back of a globalized economy that has rendered China into an assembly line for the world . The most compelling research I came across to this end are recently published studies showing particulate matter from China 's factories and mines reaching across the Pacific Ocean to North America 's West Coast . China obviously has some cleaning up to do , and more importantly , some major strategizing to achieve a sustainable economy . Our futures are inextricably linked . Back in New York City , the coal mines of Shanxi Province feel worlds away , but as oil now gushes ceaselessly into our own backyard , we should pay even more attention to Linfen if we do n't want it to be a glimpse into our own future .
The city of Linfen has a permanent toxic smog hovering over the city . Comment: Linfen produces and consumes large amount of coal .