A burning tank is in Daraa, on March 9, 2013. (Photo by Ali Abu-Salah/Reuters/Shaam News Network via The Atlantic)

This handout photograph released by Taipei City Zoo on July 11, 2013 shows a newly-born panda cub of giant panda Yuan Yuan in an incubator at Taipei Zoo in Taipei. The public will have to wait three months to catch a glimpse of the first panda born in Taiwan, officials said after she was successfully delivered by parents who were gifted from China. (Photo by AFP Photo/Taipei City Zoo)

Handout picture released by Telam showing the tarmac of the Pedro Palacios Avenue in Ramos Mejia, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, under which the channeled waters of the Maldonado stream flow, after it collapsed on April 8, 2014 leaving a 40-metre-long, 1.4-metre-deep hole. About 3000 people had to be evacuated in the Argentine provinces of Neuquen (soutwest), Catamarca (northwest), Santiago del estero (center) and Cordoba (center)due to the foods caused by heavy rain, official sources said. (Photo by Daniel Dabove/AFP Photo)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Egyptian bootblacks cleaning a European's shoes in Cairo. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Circa 1870

Dark clouds bearing down on the city on April 17, 2011 in Foshan, Guangdong Province of China. According to flood control authorities on Monday, gales as strong as 45.5 meters per second, accompanied by hailstorm, cloudburst and strong wind battered cities including Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Dongguan of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, has killed at least 17 people and injured 118. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

A polar bear fast asleep at London Zoo. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 1961

Australian actress Joy Smithers poses beside a poster featuring Australian cricketer Brett Lee during the official launch of the AceStar underwear range at Pink Salt on August 19, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mike Flokis/Getty Images)