Herder near Yunfeng Coal Power Plant

China is a big energy producer and consumer and most of its energy is derived from coal. The cities of Datong, Xiaoyi and Linfen in the Shanxi Province, all benefit and suffer from coal. The Datong massive high-quality once-abundant coal reserves are now on the verge of exhaustion; subsequently unemployment is rising. Coal also threatens the survival of the area's cultural heritage. In Xiaoyi, one of the top ten coal producing areas in Shanxi Province, coal mining processing and combustion have taken their toll on the health and well-being of residents and the surrounding environment. The water in a nearby creek runs yellow-black; piles of coal sludge litter the adjacent landscape, which is used by local sheepherders for grazing. The city of Linfen is better known today for its excessive air pollution, a forest of smokestacks surrounds the city and the pollution generated by them has severely affected local farmers. As this brief glimpse of the Shanxi Province shows, the people and the environment are paying the price for the world's dirtiest fuel.