Hopes Up in Smoke.

 

Well, I just really couldn’t believe what I was seeing..the photo I took yesterday says it all.

 

Two weeks ago we had a brief few days of clear skies in and around Chiang Mai, and one could actually see Doi Suthep from SanKamPhaeng near where the photo was taken (MaePuka)

 

Last week they cut and harvested the rice crop...bailed the stalks and grazed their cattle and ponies.

 

Yesterday they burnt the stubble, and whilst it was still smouldering they are flooding the paddy ready to plough.

 

So there was no need to burn was there.

 

The mountains are just a blue/grey haze already.

Looks like it was just the rice stubble which went up in smoke.

9 hours ago, villagefarang said:

Looks like it was just the rice stubble which went up in smoke.

Multiply that by the hundreds of other rice fields stubble also going up in smoke plus the about to start forest fires created by other arsonists and the night time burning of absolutely everything in sight , plus plus plus and you have got yet another miserable season of deadly smog about to come upon us.

 

That said there is a thread for burning

so don't really need any more. 

10 hours ago, villagefarang said:

Looks like it was just the rice stubble which went up in smoke.

But only half of it, so what's the point of burning?

Traditional Agricultural practices and helps kill eggs & larvae of insects. Why the shock and surprise? They have been doing it for hundred of years.

3 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

Traditional Agricultural practices and helps kill eggs & larvae of insects. Why the shock and surprise? They have been doing it for hundred of years.

Don't they use chemicals to do that now. Or use GM seeds to kill the bugs.

Hundreds of year ago they were chopping people's heads off for being naughty.

10 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

9 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

Traditional Agricultural practices and helps kill eggs & larvae of insects. Why the shock and surprise? They have been doing it for hundred of years.

 

10 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Don't they use chemicals to do that now. Or use GM seeds to kill the bugs.

Hundreds of year ago they were chopping people's heads off for being naughty.

I'm not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination, (I'm Dr. Death to pot plants) but in the end don't they have to make a choice between stubble burning or applying chemicals and plowing in? Either way there are protesters (usually ill-informed like myself) ready to pounce on farmers for their actions.

 

So what would you prefer? The short term nuisance of a bit of smoke or the long term negative impact of imbibing some nasty chemicals?

 

Seems to to me that farmers are between a rock and a hard place no matter which method they choose.

7 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

The short term nuisance of a bit of smoke

 

My guess is that they use the chemicals and burn, certainly a good smoke „cocktail“

AQI is over 90 right now. Last night it was almost 160!

Its ok just a heat haze before the main event next month ????

I sometimes ponder the point of these seasonal rants about burning.  Does is make posters feel better about themselves or perhaps feel superior to the locals?  Does anyone actually think these farang rants will make any difference?  Is there any chance those of us who live here haven't noticed the smoke?  I don't like it when my neighbors burn their fields but picking fights with your neighbors can lead to worse things than a little smoke.

 

I like where I live and understand it comes with the price of bad air, part of the year, which curtails my outdoor activity a bit.  I choose to stay and adapt while others are free to make their own choices.????

29 minutes ago, villagefarang said:

Does is make posters feel better about themselves or perhaps feel superior to the locals?

I feel superior to everyone, no matter where I am in the world.

Next doors garden, why cut when you can burn?

 

22 minutes ago, villagefarang said:

 I don't like it when my neighbors burn their fields but picking fights with your neighbors can lead to worse things than a little smoke.

That might be the point; complaining on TVF can be better than picking fights with neighbours ????

16 hours ago, villagefarang said:

Looks like it was just the rice stubble which went up in smoke.

And I cross my fingers that here at our place no sugar cane burning will take place.

Seen some cane trucks but no fire yet.

Burning rice stubble and all kind of "rubble" will never end.

8 hours ago, Charly2008 said:

My guess is that they use the chemicals and burn, certainly a good smoke „cocktail“

Anyone who thinks they burn & then not use chemical is a fool.  Where I live, San Kamphaeng, they burn, then before ploughing, they spray herbicide.  Once the rice is growing they spray pesticides.

 

I thought flooding the rice fields was to keep weeds to a minimum, naturally.

9 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Traditional Agricultural practices and helps kill eggs & larvae of insects. Why the shock and surprise? They have been doing it for hundred of years.

Hundreds of years ago, life expectancy was a lot lower.  Today, we know a lot more about the harm smoke pollution causes.  I guess you refuse antibiotics when needed...

54 minutes ago, Samuel Smith said:

Hundreds of years ago, life expectancy was a lot lower.  Today, we know a lot more about the harm smoke pollution causes.  I guess you refuse antibiotics when needed...

Life expectancy has been the same for the past 2,000+ years.

Excluding child mortality, starvation and acts of violence.

 

Socrates was healthy in 399BC at age 70, until they executed him.

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Life expectancy has been the same for the past 2,000+ years.

Excluding child mortality, starvation and acts of violence.

 

Socrates was healthy in 399BC at age 70, until they executed him.

Really!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

11 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Traditional Agricultural practices and helps kill eggs & larvae of insects. Why the shock and surprise? They have been doing it for hundred of years.

trouble is the WHO condemn burning and encourage those countries' agriculture departments to adopt more beneficial and healthier practices ie. mulching, composting..a good example is the Phillipines where burning of rice fields is banned and the government release additional water for the farmers to soften the earth so the land can be ploughed..so time for everyone to update their practices..Im more dismayed that in light of all the ongoing publicity and critical levels that not one thing has altered..tell me you dont get that?

11 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Hundreds of year ago they were chopping people's heads off for being naughty.

Nowadays many have lower expectations.

Thais just gotta burn. It is in their DNA

Unfortunately this is the situation in the whole of Thailand after the harvest, the great Generalissimo had promised to remedy ... until today, only a promise remained !!!

On 12/1/2019 at 10:50 AM, villagefarang said:

I sometimes ponder the point of these seasonal rants about burning.  Does is make posters feel better about themselves or perhaps feel superior to the locals?  Does anyone actually think these farang rants will make any difference?  Is there any chance those of us who live here haven't noticed the smoke?  I don't like it when my neighbors burn their fields but picking fights with your neighbors can lead to worse things than a little smoke.

 

I like where I live and understand it comes with the price of bad air, part of the year, which curtails my outdoor activity a bit.  I choose to stay and adapt while others are free to make their own choices.????

...hardly a rant when the Government acknowledged it was a serious issue that needed to be addressed immediately..best take it up with PM.

On 12/1/2019 at 8:50 AM, Moonlover said:

 

I'm not a farmer by any stretch of the imagination, (I'm Dr. Death to pot plants) but in the end don't they have to make a choice between stubble burning or applying chemicals and plowing in? Either way there are protesters (usually ill-informed like myself) ready to pounce on farmers for their actions.

 

So what would you prefer? The short term nuisance of a bit of smoke or the long term negative impact of imbibing some nasty chemicals?

 

Seems to to me that farmers are between a rock and a hard place no matter which method they choose.

smoke is not short term, particularly given seasonal air pressure and winds there is no safe limit to the amount of sub 2.5 micron particles you can inhale, 

The third large air purifier arrives tomorrow... But I pity the poor kids who have to breathe this.

On 12/1/2019 at 10:20 AM, villagefarang said:

I sometimes ponder the point of these seasonal rants about burning.  Does is make posters feel better about themselves or perhaps feel superior to the locals?  Does anyone actually think these farang rants will make any difference?  Is there any chance those of us who live here haven't noticed the smoke?  I don't like it when my neighbors burn their fields but picking fights with your neighbors can lead to worse things than a little smoke.

 

I like where I live and understand it comes with the price of bad air, part of the year, which curtails my outdoor activity a bit.  I choose to stay and adapt while others are free to make their own choices.????

It fills in the time between the yearly Songkran whining.

On 12/1/2019 at 5:50 AM, villagefarang said:

I sometimes ponder the point of these seasonal rants about burning.  Does is make posters feel better about themselves or perhaps feel superior to the locals?  Does anyone actually think these farang rants will make any difference?  Is there any chance those of us who live here haven't noticed the smoke?  I don't like it when my neighbors burn their fields but picking fights with your neighbors can lead to worse things than a little smoke.

 

I like where I live and understand it comes with the price of bad air, part of the year, which curtails my outdoor activity a bit.  I choose to stay and adapt while others are free to make their own choices.????

As stated elsewhere, this seasonal burning has been going on for hundreds of years and has certainly not been kept a secret. It begs the question whether the farang who took up residence in these very same areas first did due diligence, or whether they simply chose to ignore a problem which they were already aware of. I understand that other issues may have been paramount, like moving to the wife's village, but, in that case the seasonal burning simply comes with the territory. In the end, it is a trade-off, like so much in life. Crying about the problem is not going to help, one iota.

Never ending story. ????

1 hour ago, allanos said:

As stated elsewhere, this seasonal burning has been going on for hundreds of years and has certainly not been kept a secret. It begs the question whether the farang who took up residence in these very same areas first did due diligence, or whether they simply chose to ignore a problem which they were already aware of. I understand that other issues may have been paramount, like moving to the wife's village, but, in that case the seasonal burning simply comes with the territory. In the end, it is a trade-off, like so much in life. Crying about the problem is not going to help, one iota.

Can you show me the evidence burning has been goinon for hundreds of years, I think previously they would have plowed it all in, we try and get as much stubble from negihbouring farms before they burn to compost and cut for mulch, a fair amount also gets eaten by cows near us . Oh and yes they still spray  chemicals regardless.