![](http://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/beijing-traffic_h150.jpg)
A cloud of soot and other pollutants, blanketing Asia in a haze nearly two miles thick, is darkening cities, damaging crops, and killing thousands of people. But look at the bright side — it’s mitigating some impacts of climate change! Hey, they don’t call us a beacon in the smog for nothin’.