When I was a bratty teenager, I think I actually said that to a smoker who was standing upwind from me at a bus stop. I know I think it often, especially if I’m trying to eat…
But today we are talking about a different kind of smoke. Northern Thailand is being choked by smoke. From forest/field fires set by farmers and villagers who think they are helping the forest/fields to regenerate. From suburban dwellers who don’t want to pay 2 cents to have their trash collected (so they burn it in their yards). From city dwellers who rake their yards and then burn the leaves (like my neighbours, grrr), even though we have weekly trash collection.
Dry season is also burning season in Thailand, and annually we choke through the passing annoyance of the season as the wind blows the smoke away, and light intermittent rains put a damper on burning efforts. But this year, due to drought, the smoke is just hanging around. And the people just keep on burning, even though thousands are getting sick, due to dangerously high PM-10 levels. The other day the PM-10 level in Chiang Mai was over 300. Today it’s around 180. Ironically, Bangkok is safer than the North right now. The government is getting ready to declare it a ‘disaster zone’. But nothing is really happening to stop it. I could call the police on my neighbours, and a fire truck would arrive, put out the fire, and they’d get fined 2000 baht (about $55). Then they’d hate me and try to find a way to pay me back. Many of the field and forest fires are out of control, cause the perps light the fire and run, so they don’t get fined 500 baht (outside the city fine) for breaking the law. Even if the police know who owns the land, they never suffer the consquenses, cause they weren’t caught red handed. And then there’s the fires that mysteriously appear on gov/ment land… hmm, so who’s gonna fine them???
So, we spend our days indoors, windows and doors tightly shut, aircons and air filters working overtime. Praying for rain!!! Praying for a Thai neighbour to have the guts to call the cops on my next door neighbour, so that I can breathe a little easier.
Lots of the expats in CM are pulling their kids out of school and fleeing south. To Bangkok, Pattaya, and the beaches. They’ll stay there till the rains come (the ones that should have already started). Pray for rain in Northern Thailand. Seriously, the atmosphere is worse than when Sydney was surrounded by a ring of bush fires about 12 years ago, when the charred skeleton of a leaf drifted onto my beach side balcony and disintergrated in my hand…
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