Must Read Chiang Mai has world’s worst air as fires continue to rage in the North

[mike787]

Uh...ok!!  Now what?? The air is bad...and what are we going to do about it?  We don't like immigration rules, and what are we going to do about that...same thing as the air...NOTHING except continue with the narrative here so we can all try to feel good about ourselves....

[JimP]

They deserve all the smog and smoke they can suck on.  The answer is at their fingertips, but everyone is afraid to hurt the agriculture.  LOL.  Suck the smog, fools. Enjoy the sugar when it is reaped, too.  Fools.

Edited March 13, 2019 by JimP

[johnarth]

the only problem with these burn-offs is there not controlled that is one property at a time, my god you people would be in trouble if you had to put up with the Australian bush fires that are caused because the farmers are not allowed to clean the bush floor by any method, caused by politicians, what you see here is nothing. Australia does not need to burn their sugar cane any more thank god, man living near that was unreal

[ChiangMaiCal]

 Sorry to disagree with the numbers, but this is what I recorded during February near MaeJo Golf course.

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, Shiver said:

Can you vape in a mushroom zone?

No, BJ says it's bad for your health.

[WeekendRaider]

a farmer burns a few rai of land.  then farlang yimmer and yammer all the live long day.  why can't "they" stop this?

one farmer.  "I'm only one farmer" he thinks to himself.  a few rai of land.

well.....one EU farlang.  7,000 km. each way * 285 grams each as the most powerful force on Earth.  undeniable.

well, "only" one farlang.  only 4 million grams.... of what accounts for all of our food (phytology), our air we breath (phytology), life on Earth and most likely as well, why we left the trees 8 mya and so did hundreds of other wanna be hominds all but one of which we knocked off as soon as we saw any of them cooking their own food like we do.  so that today we are "special", must be almost God like.  except all of our miracles of life are fully accounted for by Co2.  what we can't see smell or taste. 

and those 4 million grams are a gas so powerful the "science people" use a metric for it of 'parts per million by volume' and one trip by one farlang (most of the 6,400 million humans who have never even been inside an airplane once yet tend not to be farlang), and unlike a few months of choking.... persists, a good part of it, for decades with it's effects that involve quite a bit more than just being "enhanced" plant food.

what the famous 1980's American central banker chairman Paul Volcker in an interview by Ray Dalio a few weeks ago subsumed as "we killed the younger generation".  it's on Youtube.
              

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by WeekendRaider

[mindfulness]

2 hours ago, malibukid said:

i have lost so much respited for Thai's in general.  however i know a few good ones. selfish

LOL !  How many years did it take you to realise. 

 

The the selfish sickness is pandemic all around the world on varying levels. 

 

‘The Subscriber to Nationalism’ is one most hideous. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by mindfulness
Typo

[malibukid]

1 hour ago, Tarteso said:

I live and have my property in Chiang Mai. Fortunately I can escape with my family to to the south coast every years during these crazy months.

 

after 7 years in the same situation, I have a word for these Indolents, incompetents, ignorants, selfishs, irresponsables who makes, of this wonderful city the worst danger city for drive and breathe.

 

KILLERS !

 

 

this should be on CNN and BBC

[TMNH]

1 hour ago, Xonax said:

While Vaping gives you 3 years in jail and deportation.

Exactly....<deleted>...I just don't get it.

[dallen52]

Its not just these hot spots. 

Driving to Buriram the other day, the locals seem to delight in laying waste vast tracts of the nature strips and roadside vegetation. 

 

And also see the dozens of melted political parties advertising posters along the way. 

[blazes]

22 minutes ago, malibukid said:

this should be on CNN and BBC

But since these are sources of fake news, no one would believe you!

[mania]

3 hours ago, WeekendRaider said:

when will the "general population" wake up

Not even foreigners who "know" better wake up

 

They still live in CM with the "hope" someone will fix it

Hope it was worth it

 

It is not like the world lacks clean air places to live

 

 

[dallen52]

This one not down to farangs.

Its the home grown arsonists that light up the scrub and walk away from to leave burning. 

 

A bit like the aboriginals did in Australia to smoke the prey out.

 

Just another farang not wanted, smoke signal...

[Vacuum]

4 minutes ago, mania said:

Not even foreigners who "know" better wake up

 

They still live in CM with the "hope" someone will fix it

Hope it was worth it

It's only for 6-7 weeks, after it'll be back to normal. Endure it.

[simon43]

@WeekendRaider, please politely note that English is the only language allowed on this forum....????

[VocalNeal]

Since we can now measure these 2.5 particles everyone has their knickers in a twist. The 2.5 particulates in say Bangkok or New Delhi or in industrial China are not the same as the 2.5 particulates in Chiang Mai. 

 

The metrology measures the amount of particulates no necessarily the individual constituent parts. 

 

What is the make up of the majority of the 2.5 particles in Chiang Mai compared to Bangkok and what harm does that do to humans.

 

Is anyone suggesting that exposure to rural agricultural smoke causes pneumoconiosis

[Krataiboy]

15 hours ago, DNPBC0 said:

There are no 'safe levels' for PM2.5 - except zero.

 

Thailand's "safe" level is twice that recommended by the WHO.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

The article talks about PM2.5, which is has units of mcg, and AQI which they quote without units. What's the difference between them?

 

Thailand has its own AQI scale that is different than the most widely used U.S. EPA one. So if any source is using Thai government reported data, they're using the Thai AQI. But if the source is quoting AQIcn.org or AirVisual data, they're using the US EPA AQI scale, which is more strict than the Thai one.

 

Basically, AQI is a scale that allows all the different air pollution components to be measured and characterized on a equal health impacts scale. So for each different pollutant, there's a conversion formula that takes it from, in the case of PM2.5, micrograms into the health impacts based AQI scale.

 

Most of the time in Thailand, the main air pollution problem is PM2.5, so we don't end up talking about other components such as ozone or NOx or SOx. But the way AQI works, whatever individual component has the highest health impact reading at any time is the one that drives the AQI value. And in Thailand, it's almost always the PM2.5 levels that drive/determine the reported AQI level.

 

http://aqicn.org/scale/

 

Here's the US EPA website that has a calculator that allows you to easily convert back and forth between pollutant levels and AQI values. So if some news outlet is only reporting one value, you can use the calculator to determine what the other value is.... again, remembering, the Thai PCD uses its own, different AQI values that won't match with the more widely used and accepted US EPA scale.

 

https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.calculator

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Jiggo]

3 hours ago, malibukid said:

500 baht fine

5,000 fine for a White W(N)iggers sorry I mean Farang.

[Jiggo]

Well I suppose CM can now be called ''The Smoke'' as it is no longer relevant to London...???? lol

Edited March 13, 2019 by Jiggo
grammer

[watgate]

What I am wondering is when the fires and smoke are finally over and things are back to normal how bad is the air in chiang mai the rest of the year what with all the songtaews and tuk-tuks spewing their foul exhaust into the air? I currently have a very reasonably priced apt in the center of Chiang Mai but it doesn't have a/c. This year I have thankfully escaped the poisonous and toxic air since I left Chiang Mai but am wondering upon my return there the middle of May how bad is the air there until the burning starts up again next year with all the songtaews and tuk-tuks and assorted other vehicles spewing their exhaust. Would the air say be comparable to Jomtien or Chonburi? I am in the process of deciding whether to spend my 9 or so months in chiang mai and then leave before the out of control burning starts OR just moving full-time to somewhere south such as jomtien or chonburi.

[purcho]

4 hours ago, jesimps said:

Living in Chiang Mai must be like winning life's booby prize; boring as hell, awful immigration office and choking smog. Give me Pattaya every time.

Yeah living in C/Mai is terrible . Little crime stats compared to Pattaya, fewer crims than Pattaya, prettier Northern ladies , New Immigration office , Great service at the New Immigration Office  ( just renewed my 12 month visa ..in and out of the office in 90 mins ..all done with a smile ) bigger and better selection of restaurants than Pattaya , Best scenery with lakes and mountains , unlike Pattaya ,...but we dont have a beach like Pattaya ...Thank <deleted> ..seeing and smelling all the raw seweage meters from your restaurants and homes . Yes we have a bit of smog for 8 weeks of the year . Good time to go on holidays to ....Pattaya ??  Oh . no thanks ...Thats where the quality tourists  go to in their droves. Best you stay in Pattaya  and smell the ....

 

[A1Str8]

Fire because of poor air pollution. This is one of those pathetic thai lies, that noone seems to believe. Based on this logic Bkk should be on fire all day, considering how bad pollution is there.

Why not tell the truth: locals start the fire, for their own purposes, such as making it easier to pick things in the forest, others burn rice fields and other extremely intelligent thai inventions.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, Saladin said:

We are advised to stay indoors but isn't it the same air we are breathing? Does air conditioning clean the air?

 

There are some fancy newer air con models that supposedly have advanced filtration systems that can filter out PM2.5.  But for the vast majority of regular air con units sold and used in Thailand, nope, they don't do a whit to reduce PM2.5 levels indoors.  Though you can cover a regular air con's OEM filters with the 3M Filtrete sheets and that may help some.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, cmsally said:

Well the Governor has made a speech! You can find it online on the Thai news sites.

He basically says its caused by air currents, and burning in other provinces and on the border. Then of course, all depts are coming together to solve the problem.

Where is the national news on this, it is a national disaster, it requires action on a national level, not just a speech from the provincial governor.

Totally useless!

 

It's always someone else, somewhere else here.  Someone could have been burning the field next-door to where he was giving his speech, and it would always be someone else's fault/problem.

 

Never take any responsibility, and of course, never really do anything to effectively address or even solve the problem.

 

[VocalNeal]

17 minutes ago, A1Str8 said:

others burn rice fields and other extremely intelligent thai inventions.

 

Yes. They don't do this sort of thing anywhere else.

 

 

 

Just different methods....

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by VocalNeal

[emptypockets]

2 hours ago, johnarth said:

the only problem with these burn-offs is there not controlled that is one property at a time, my god you people would be in trouble if you had to put up with the Australian bush fires that are caused because the farmers are not allowed to clean the bush floor by any method, caused by politicians, what you see here is nothing. Australia does not need to burn their sugar cane any more thank god, man living near that was unreal

Cane is still burnt in the Burdekin region.

[sammieuk1]

The great news is the water tankers are spraying everything in sight this morning around the inner city the army is also out in force maybe to shoot down the offending particles and most of the tourists are in swimwear and smog masks those who haven't been gassed to death in their sleep already apart from that looking out the window looks like we have net curtains but don't ????   

[Alainpm]

So bad.. Do you think the smoke will subside soon ?  (I'll be there in CM a few days after Songkran) 

[Jane Dough]

22 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

I live on the south eastern outskirts of the city, and yeah, the air is seriously bad.  On the bright side, maybe it will keep all the Chinese away.  But I doubt it. lol

I shouldn't be surprised if it makes them feel right at home.

 

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