Air pollution in China is so bad, we all believed it when the Internet claimed Beijing residents had to watch the sunrise on television. That story turned out to be a fraud, but the pollution that inspired it is real, and headed for America.

Over the weekend, I was appalled by a post in my Facebook feed. It was an article published by the UK’s Daily Mail featuring what has become a familiar scene over the past few years: Beijing smothered in smog. What made this image different was the massive LED television screen. The article claimed that pollution was now so severe in Beijing that residents now watch radiant sunrises broadcast on a huge screen in Tiananmen Square. Like this:

The Internet went crazy, and the article was reposted and shared by some of the biggest media outlets. Within 24 hours (as is often the case) those willing to dig a bit deeper exposed it as a fraud. While Tiananmen Square does indeed have a massive television screen, it’s purpose isn’t to provide pixelated vitamin D–the image that had everyone in an uproar was just a moment in a longer commercial meant to promote tourism. Just because this story was blown way out of proportion doesn’t mean air pollution in China really isn’t as bad as we thought, however. It is. Maybe even worse.

Just days after the fake sunrise story went viral and then fizzled, the Guardian (a much more reputable UK news outlet), reported on a new study that found air pollution in China isn’t staying in China. In fact, it’s traveling in large quantities across the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. West Coast, increasing the number of smog days for Americans.

“We’ve outsourced our manufacturing and much of our pollution, but some of it is blowing back across the Pacific to haunt us,” study co-author Steve Davis, a scientist at University of California Irvine, said in the Guardian article

“Between 17 and 36% of various air pollutants in China in 2006 were related to the production of goods for export, according to the report, and a fifth of that specifically tied to US-China trade.”

Though we criticize China for its lack of environmental regulation, we’re actually a big part of the problem. The United States imports a massive amount of Chinese goods, from electronics to food. We’re the customer who demands cheaper goods faster, and like a good supplier, China has done whatever it must to please us. Even if it means polluting its own air and soil.

So though air pollution in China has not yet made fake sunrises a necessity, it very well could in the future. And if China loses its ability to see the sun, our own line of sight won’t be very far behind.

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China recently admitted that rampant soil pollution is a significant threat to the global food supply.

In the final days of 2013, Chinese officials made an alarming announcement: in addition to the country’s terrifying levels of air and water pollution, soil pollution has now become a threat to public safety.

During a news conference, Wang Shiyuan, a deputy minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources, admitted that poor oversight of heavy metals and other chemicals has contaminated more than 8 million acres of China’s farmland, rendering it practically useless. Some scientists have placed the estimated total as high as 60 million acres, though levels of soil pollution may be less severe in some areas.

Last year, China’s air pollution problem became national knowledge. Smog levels that blocked out the sun, forcing many Chinese citizens to stay indoors or wear breathing masks, made national headlines. The country has been notoriously lax with its environmental regulations, willing to sacrifice public safety for industrial production. But this news that significant portions of its farmland could be unsafe for cultivation may force tighter rules.

According to the Huffington Post, widespread soil pollution is the result of overuse of farm chemicals and the government’s willingness to establish farms close to chemical plants, mines and other heavy industries. Unfortunately, “cleaning up rural regions could be an even bigger challenge as the government tries to reverse damage done by years of urban and industrial encroachment and ensure food supplies for a growing population,” reported Reuters.

Although Wang admitted that farming cannot continue on the 8 million contaminated areas, it’s uncertain what can be done to reclaim this valuable farmland. According to Reuters, Wang “told a news briefing that China was determined to rectify the problem and had committed ‘tens of billions of yuan’ a year to pilot projects aimed at rehabilitating contaminated land and underground water supplies.”

Remediation might be China’s problem, but the consequences of soil contamination are a concern for the entire world. Many global suppliers of food, like Unilever, Nestle source ingredients from Chinese suppliers, due to the low price and high volume.

Related on Ecosalon:

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Image: net_efekt

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