Thai Haze Blamed On Long Winter

[p1p]

Thai haze blamed on long winter

March 15, 2007

AFP CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AFP) - The haze that has blanketed northern Thailand for nearly two weeks may have been caused by freak weather patterns, experts say, warning of possible serious long-term health concerns.

While authorities in the northern tourist hotspot of Chiang Mai have urged tribal farmers to stop burning their fields and even banned street vendors from grilling meats, experts say unusual weather patterns are more likely to blame.

The haze, caused by slash-and-burn farming and wildfires in northern Thailand and parts of Laos and Myanmar, has choked eight northern Thai provinces for nearly two weeks, affecting some five million people.

Experts believe the cold winter may have trapped the smoke close to the ground and prevented it from dissipating in the atmosphere.

Montree Chantawong, an environmental activist with a Thai organisation called Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance, said the haze could be the result of an unusually long winter in northern Thailand.

The high pressure system associated with the cool weather may have prevented the smoke from rising high into the atmosphere, he said.

"Normally in March the weather will reach a higher temperature, so the smoke will dilute automatically," he added.

Earlier this week, air pollution in Chiang Mai was three times the level considered healthy, prompting the government to pass out hundreds of thousands of surgical masks and to urge children and the elderly to stay indoors.

Air quality has since improved but remains dangerously high, health authorities say.

Vendors on the streets of Chiang Mai who are usually seen grilling meats for sale have all been shut down, but the city smells of smoke everywhere.

The government has also stepped up its patrols to stamp out forest fires in the hills.

Ja Phet, a retired farmer from the hill tribes along Thailand's border with Myanmar, said farmers normally burn their fields at this time of year, but he struggled to think of a time when their activities had caused such a dense haze.

"Burning of farmland is a regular activity for hill farmers in this season, but this amount of smoke is unusual," Ja Phet said.

At the famed Doi Suthep mountain near Chiang Mai -- a pilgrimage site with a temple believed to hold a relic of Buddha -- signs warned visitors of the high risk of wildfires.

From the mountain top, the city below was barely visible through the haze.

Rains that normally wet the soil in northern Thailand in January also failed to arrive this year, making conditions perfect for wildfires, Montree added.

Steve Thompson, who heads an environmental group called Images Asia - EDesk, said the El Nino weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean may have caused the unusual temperatures in northern Thailand.

El Nino is the occasional warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that typically happens every four to seven years and disrupts weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to East Africa for 12-18 months.

It has been blamed for flooding in the Horn of Africa and Bolivia, more severe winter monsoons in South Asia, and a lengthy drought in Australia.

James Fahn, author of a book called "A Land on Fire" on the environmental effects of Southeast Asia's economic boom, compared the haze to the far larger Indonesian one that blanketed much of the region in 1997.

"What we don't know is the long term health impact" of such environmental disasters, he said.

"This kind of haze is like smoking cigarettes, but with a cigarette, you only take one once in a while. This is continuous. So the big question is that doctors are afraid that in the future they will be higher incidents of lung cancer," Fahn added.

[Loom]

I don't buy it.

According to the PCD's own data, March has consistently been the most lethal month of the year in Chiang mai for PM10 readings. Over the last eight years, there have been 165 days with PM10 readings over 120. More than half of those days have been in March (or an average of 11 days every March).

The next most lethal month for PM10 levels above 120 is February with half the the number of lethal days as March. The remaining days were scattered around in May 1999, January, April and June.

If it's freak weather, then there must be the same freak weather nearly every March. Either that or freak weather just made things a little worse this year.

The blame is going anywhere it can to avoid dealing with the issues and real solutions: nearly everyone is responsible for starting fires, smoke from fires is the cause of the pollution, and the pollution is consistently dangerous in February and March as far as records go. If alternatives are provided to stop the burning, the pollution will go away.

[WaiWai]

The blame is going anywhere it can to avoid dealing with the issues and real solutions: nearly everyone is responsible for starting fires, smoke from fires is the cause of the pollution, and the pollution is consistently dangerous in February and March as far as records go. If alternatives are provided to stop the burning, the pollution will go away.

Yes.

If alternatives are provided to stop the burning, the pollution will go awayquote]]

But we cannot hand any power to the masses, can we.

Perhaps the only hope is playing the loss of tourism card.

[Foggy Bottom]

p1p - cite your source please (post the URL)

The final paragraph in that piece is TOO close to a post I put up yesterday on the smoking vs haze thread.

Are you making up these news reports and crediting them to AFP to gain some sort of kudos

If so ..... as a card carrying foreign correspondent here, then I say your ethics stink

If not .... you'll have no objection to linking the story to an official press site, will you?

.

[p1p]

p1p - cite your source please (post the URL)

The final paragraph in that piece is TOO close to a post I put up yesterday on the smoking vs haze thread.

Are you making up these news reports and crediting them to AFP to gain some sort of kudos

If so ..... as a card carrying foreign correspondent here, then I say your ethics stink

If not .... you'll have no objection to linking the story to an official press site, will you?

I apologise. I thought I had posted the original URL: AFP via Yahoo News - HERE

I have objections to the tone of your post. A simple request for the URL would have sufficed without the vile insinuations about my personal integrity.

[Ajarn]

p1p - cite your source please (post the URL)

The final paragraph in that piece is TOO close to a post I put up yesterday on the smoking vs haze thread.

Are you making up these news reports and crediting them to AFP to gain some sort of kudos

If so ..... as a card carrying foreign correspondent here, then I say your ethics stink

If not .... you'll have no objection to linking the story to an official press site, will you?

.

I'd like to understand what you're talking about..Here is that last paragraph..

"This kind of haze is like smoking cigarettes, but with a cigarette, you only take one once in a while. This is continuous. So the big question is that doctors are afraid that in the future they will be higher incidents of lung cancer," Fahn added.

Here is your letter...

The haze is with us 11 months of the year to one degree or another (Mid Nov - mid-Dec is the only truly clear skies ion Chiangmai)

Smoking is an optional activity which when rolled up to a continuous time period lasts between 20 minutes to an hour and a half a day depending how many you smoke,

When the haze is present, it is 24x7 and there is no escape, even indoors, nor when you are asleep

The sub-10-microns included in the air are just as carcinogenic as cigarette smoke, perhaps more so due to the addition of all the benzene emissions.

As for the sub-20-microns - just think of all the dog and rat sh1t dried, crushed by cars, and lifted into the air by their tyres and slip stream as they pass over it.

In a western country I'd agree smoking was the more dangerous.

Here, I'm not so sure

Gaz

By 'Too close', you mean ???...

[Ajarn]

Come on, Gaz Chiangmai, respond please.

For someone who considers himself a 'professional', why act like a jerk?

[Mid]

Thai Haze Blamed On Long Winter

glad that the seasonal burning off isn't to blame ..........................................

[Ulysses G.]

p1p - cite your source please (post the URL)

The final paragraph in that piece is TOO close to a post I put up yesterday on the smoking vs haze thread.

Are you making up these news reports and crediting them to AFP to gain some sort of kudos

If so ..... as a card carrying foreign correspondent here, then I say your ethics stink

If not .... you'll have no objection to linking the story to an official press site, will you?

.

Do you think that it's real good idea to insult one of Chiang Mai's premier SUPER-MODERATORS so flagrantly?

Looking for a free "vacation" from TV?

[Rasseru]

Come on, Gaz Chiangmai, respond please.

For someone who considers himself a 'professional', why act like a jerk?

The failure to apologise promptly and fully compounds the impression created by the original post.

[Ta22]

Well i got to add my fav saying ..

There is no right or wrong

so nobody to side .

is just where and when .

i guess all meant good .

so why not leave it unsaid .

----------------------------------------

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

you know i know you know i know

[Al Trego]

Leave the poor person alone (S)he is obviously suffering from severe PMS or a psychotic persecution complex. (S)he needs help, not criticism.

[cdnvic]

Come on, Gaz Chiangmai, respond please.

For someone who considers himself a 'professional', why act like a jerk?

The failure to apologise promptly and fully compounds the impression created by the original post.

Sometimes people embarrass themselves and go a bit quiet afterwards

[Norman d'Plume]

You know my six and ten year old children know to apologise and admit when they <deleted> up. Most well brought up people should do so. To be unable to offer an apology implies this guy is either never on line or, as Al says, is psychotic in some way.

Interesting to note though that the SUPER-MODERATOR did not take any action despite my understanding that GCM broke forum rules by directly criticizing him. I thought we got banned for that.

[Foggy Bottom]

Hi Guys - back after an extremely hectic weekend

OK p1p - now you've quoted your source, I will apologise and withdraw the question aimed at you.

However, it doesn't negate the question as to why the published article had sentiments in the final paragraph that were so close to the statements I made on the other thread before the article was published. It is also too coincidental that within 24 hours of making those statements (regarding smoking being a part-time snoke inhalation compared to the haze being full time) that an unamed journalist posts very similar comments in their article. Is that journalist resident in Thailand? Are they a TV member?

Potentially, at worst, this is a case of plagiarism, at best it reveals that, that particular AFP writer uses TV for their source materials and inspiration (lazy research method for articles that are not directly related to the TV system or community).

The wording of the last three paragraphs make it unclear as to whether the writer (of the article) was quoting James Fahn's spoken (in interview) or written (from his book). words. Who is James Fahn? Were they his spoken words stated after reading my post? Is he a TV member or resident in Thailand? Or had he himself seen the common sense reality of smoking as a part-time inhalation and the haze as a full-time one, while the haze exists?

Most of you will wonder what the fuss is about (that I'm making), but if you live in a land where universities not only condone, but actively encourage, plagiarism as part of the education experience, and where IP piracy is endemic and rampant, AND work in a profession so understood to be underpaid that the giovernment gives a major income-tax concession to those in that profession (the only one available to farangs), THEN you'd understand why journalists here need to protect their concepts and ideas..... not doing so could affect the volume of rice on the table.

Gaz

Paranoid? Nope

Realist? Yes

Observant and inquisitive? Absolutely - see my forum signature.

.

You know my six and ten year old children know to apologise and admit when they <deleted> up. Most well brought up people should do so. To be unable to offer an apology implies this guy is either never on line or, as Al says, is psychotic in some way.

Interesting to note though that the SUPER-MODERATOR did not take any action despite my understanding that GCM broke forum rules by directly criticizing him. I thought we got banned for that.

This is the only other post I'll reply directly to concerning allegations thrown at me

To make a critcal generalisation of someone you do not know, whilst following the mood of the mob, is cowardice.

Regarding the ability to question or criticise the moderators - remember life under Thaksim? Remember his attitude to, and actions against, critics?

If the ThaiVisa forums are to become the dictatorships of those who have not financially invested in the site, then you should all become very worried.

Even Franklin D Roosevelt, whilst US President, stated that to not criticise, challenge, or otherwise rebuke a president, was not only repugnant to the Constitution, it was morally bankrupting and treason (paraphrased quote).

The ONLY person who should have the power of banning on this site is George - after all, he is the OWNER, not a voluntary, unpaid, and non-investing, moderator.

Do not judge my small number of posts in this forum, nor my date of joining TV, to be indicative of my length of time in Thailand, nor the amount of time spent observing this forum. Nor, until you have better understanding of who I am, and who I know, assume I am unkowing of the real people behind some of the posting IDs used, or of the activities of some of them, that the authorities are already investigating.

Gaz

[p1p]

Gaz

I thank you for your apology but feel the need to point out that myself and many of my friends were discussing and researching the difference and similarities between smoking and the pollution in Chiang Mai long before your post referencing it. It is an obvious comparison to make and, I am sure, half the smokers of Chiang Mai must have wondered about the difference. (If they ever consider the health issues concerning their smoking.)

To show plagiarism, you need to be able to show a direct link and, normally, exactly the same wording. To simply take somebody's idea and run further is not and has never been plagiarism. It is simply the way the world works and moves forward.

Regarding the ability to question or criticise the moderators - remember life under Thaksim? Remember his attitude to, and actions against, critics?

...SNIP...

The ONLY person who should have the power of banning on this site is George - after all, he is the OWNER, not a voluntary, unpaid, and non-investing, moderator.

The rules state that: 5) Discussion of moderation issues, actions or moderation policies concerning individual cases are not allowed in the forums. Such comments should be directed to a moderator or administrator, and not discussed on the forum.

By rights you could be said to have to PM to me or another moderator or Admin regarding the missing URL. However I recognise that it was not truly a moderation issue, and so not worthy of any action by myself or other moderators.

As regards banning members. Only Admin; George, Dr Patpong or Huski, have the ability to do this. They all have a fiscal interest in the site. Moderators, who you point out are all "only" unpaid volunteers, many of whom work long hours for the benefit of the members, only have the ability to "Moderate", to edit posts and to issue warnings or brief suspensions.

[Jai Dee]

Any more flaming other members or discussion of moderation issues will result in suspensions.

Be warned.

Please restrict discussion to on-topic material only.

Edited March 19, 2007 by Jai Dee
Warning expanded for clarity

[Octaviousbp]

edited: started post before Jai Dee's. Have a great day everybody!

San Diemas High School football rules!

Edited March 19, 2007 by Octaviousbp