Major air pollution in Bangkok

[Jun]

I just returned home after spending the morning at the fitness area at Jomtien Beach followed by a few other stops around town.

To my amazement I only spotted one other person wearing a face mask along the beach and fitness area, and that includes 100 people I saw walking and jogging down the Jomtien footpath. Many of them being seniors like myself.

This makes sense, as the air quality is far better today.

This morning, there was quite a strong breeze and I get a PM2.5 reading of just over 10 on my balcony. Which showed reasonable correlation with data on the internet.
Right now, my reading at an outdoor coffee shop on Pratumnak is 12. That's between stations reading 14 and 6.

Yesterday, I did see just a few people wearing masks. Today, I only saw mask wearing on a Songthaew, but those are like a weak version of Hitler's gas vans, so it's advisable to wear a mask at any time. Particularly if it has to go uphill.

[Dodger]

Thanks to the heavy winds things have shifted dramatically in our favor, with AQL levels now in the safe to moderate levels as Jun mentioned...with fairly low PM2.5 levels today as well.

I still wore my mask this morning during my fitness outing and will probably continue wearing it especially in the early morning hours when I'm out huffing and puffing.

Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come - as the heavy crop burning up North usually doesn't start until after the start of the new year.

I'm still not sold on the idea that crop burning, in-and-by-itself, is the primary reason for all the pollution in Thailand. All one has to do is visit Bangkok and walk around in the heavy plumes of unspent carbon monoxide spewing from the back of unmaintained vehicles to get an idea where some of this is coming from. And Pattaya has its challenges as well.

[Gaybutton]

Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come - as the heavy crop burning up North usually doesn't start until after the start of the new year.

It would be nice if the farmers were taught to try composting or some other alternative rather than burning. Thailand can forbid burning, but obviously that falls on deaf ears since the burning takes place anyway every year - and there is no reason to expect it to be any different this time.

[Jun]

It would be nice if the farmers were taught to try composting or some other alternative rather than burning. Thailand can forbid burning, but obviously that falls on deaf ears since the burning takes place anyway every year - and there is no reason to expect it to be any different this time.

Don't just blame the farmers for burning.

They're clearing a patch of land on the hill out of Jomtien. All the trees and rubbish are in piles ready for burning. If last year's example is followed, they will attempt to burn it before it's even dried properly. Therefore, creating a major urban pollution incident.

Go to a countryside Wat and it's reasonably common to see a monk sweeping up leaves to be burnt, rather than composted.

We see small scale rubbish burning in urban environments too.

[Gaybutton]

creating a major urban pollution incident.

Think of how much worse it would be if there were still all those Chinese tour buses in Pattaya.

[Dodger]

There was a lot of saber-rattling at this time last year when the air pollution levels reached dangerous levels (as always), with the primary contributors being crop burning, mostly from sugar cane, and vehicle emissions...no surprise there.

I have no idea what measures have been put in place to improve these primary sources of air pollution, but as far as I'm concerned there are just as many vehicles spewing black smoke out of the exhaust pipes in Pattaya and Bangkok as before.

How these vehicles pass emission inspection is a mystery (well, not really), and how the sugar mills up north continue to be allowed to buy burnt cane from the farmers versus fresh-cut cane is another mystery. Without enforcement of Thailand's basic laws that are intended to protect the air quality nothing will ever improve. That's the bottom line.

I used to visit a good friend who lived in Kalasin with his Thai boyfriend but I avoided going there during the first quarter of the year for this very reason. Kalasin produces a lot of sugar cane and the air quality is so bad during the crop-burning season that it will make you dizzy.

Kalasin is also one of the poorest provinces in Thailand and the farmers simply can't afford the extra labor and/or equipment needed to avoid burning their cane prior to harvest. There was discussion about the government subsidising some sort of financial support so the poor farmers could start delivering fresh-cut cane to the local mills, but that never materialized...

It's for this reason that I find it hard to blame the farmers.

[Jun]

One obvious solution would be to start taxing sugar and at a high rate. It's disgusting stuff and no good comes from consuming it. So discourage consumption & reduce demand. The farmers can grow something that's of use to society instead.

As for harvesting, I believe machinery is available. Thailand and Cambodia manage to harvest rice with machinery, so why not sugar cane?

[Dodger]

One obvious solution would be to start taxing sugar and at a high rate. It's disgusting stuff and no good comes from consuming it. So discourage consumption & reduce demand. The farmers can grow something that's of use to society instead.

As for harvesting, I believe machinery is available. Thailand and Cambodia manage to harvest rice with machinery, so why not sugar cane?

Thailand is one of the largest exporters of raw sugar in the world, and the last thing they would want to do is reduce demand.

The majority of farmers in central Thailand (including Isaan) can't afford to buy a new wheel barrel - let alone a sugar cane harvester which cost several million baht.

The solution is modernization.

[Gaybutton]

No matter
The solution is modernization.

No matter what they are growing, I think along with that, coming up with something affordable to do with what is left after harvest other than burning it is the solution.

[Jun]

On average, commodity production does not lead to a high standard of living. Farmers who know how to farm and at scale can make money, but not all have the aptitude for it.

I see three obvious problems with sugar production:
1 It's a terribly harmful food.
2 Thai methods of production result in excess pollution. Which is again harmful.
3 The farmers make little money from it (according to Dodger)

So why bother? Start taxing it and encourage the farmers to switch to growing something of use to society. In fact, Thailand has started taxing sugar in beverages earlier this year. They should tax all sugar and gradually increase taxes until demand is killed off.