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)

In this Saturday, March 21, 2015 photo, a porter rests carrying supplies for the upcoming climbing season, near the Everest Base camp, Nepal. Nepal has cleared more than 300 mountaineers to climb Mount Everest after they had to abandon last year's efforts when an ice avalanche killed 16 guides in the mountain's deadliest disaster, an official said on March 20. The three-month climbing season for Everest, the world's tallest mountain, begins in March. (Photo by Tashi Sherpa/AP Photo)

This picture taken on April 12, 2017 shows men carrying bamboo through a forest near Dashan village near the city of Lin'an, Zhejiang Province. Lin'an is in a area of eastern Zhejiang province whose rich bamboo forests are estimated to supply up to two-thirds of China's bamboo shoots, plus a range of other products derived from the fast-growing plant that are produced both for domestic and overseas markets. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

In this January 31, 2014 file photo released by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), shows residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria. That year, the U.N. was able to deliver food to about five percent of people in besieged areas including Yarmouk, while today estimates show the organization is reaching less than one percent. (Photo by UNRWA via AP Photo)

A man takes a selfie next to a flooded street due to the overflowing of the Mapocho river during heavy rains in Santiago on April 17, 2016. Four million people in Santiago were without tap water Sunday after unusually heavy rain pounding central Chile triggered landslides that fouled the city's water supply and forced the closure of the world's biggest copper mine, officials said. (Photo by Martin Bernetti/AFP Photo)

New York City is populated with millions of people that each serve as an essential piece of the city's eclectic pie. The Big Apple's offering of unique and diverse individuals is arguably unmatched. We always hear about what a melting pot this immense metropolis is with its endless supply of quirky characters and the ongoing photo series known as Humans of New York proves it.

In this handout image supplied by the European Space Agency, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft is raised into vertical position on December 19, 2011 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Photo by Stephane Corvaja/ESA via Getty Images)