Air pollution soars in Thai capital, authorities issue warning

[Jimbo2014]

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

If Thai government would be clever , they would do everything to produce Electric vehicles in Thailand now . Just simple , low cost EV's that can go 2 or 3oo km on a charge would be enough to reduce the toxic air quality and would be a huge step foreward for Thailand right into the future mass market of EV's .

The chinese will do it anyway , but Thailand will definitly be left behind if there are no incentives NOW .

If.....

[Jimbo2014]

Well this should really bring in the tourists and help the PM promote his exercise day.  What a joyous way to NOT see in the new year.  Its truly groundhog day in Thailand.

 

[Captain 776]

I have lived n worked in China 3 times.

In dec, Jan, feb when coal burner power plants running 100% numbers are 500-800 you can’t see the sidewalk on the other side of a 2 lane road

[kevinmartyn]

If the current Thai government cared about Thai people and tourest in Thailand but the bottom line is "They do NOT". 

 

The "Air Pollution" issue can be controlled/fixed BUT when you have government officials who do zero to resolve the issue it will get worse.

 

My heart goes out to those staying in CBD Bangkok whos lifes are being cut short by a government who don't care about EIAs!

[spidermike007]

And what is this incredibly hapless and indifferent administration doing, to counter this epidemic?

 

Are they discouraging the sale of new diesel vehicles? Just the opposite.

Are they coming up with alternative crops, to sugar cane, and providing incentives for farmers to switch crops, away from this horrendously destructive crop? Does the world really need more sugar anyway?

Are they making plans to retrofit the diesel power plants?

Are they encouraging alternative energy on any level? Solar? Wind? Hydro?

 

What are they doing? What do they do every day? Why such sluggish indifference, and why such a stunning lack of solutions to every problem this nation faces? 

 

An army is rarely capable of running a nation. The only thing this army is capable of, is running this nation into the ground, destroying the tourism industry, and making sure life does not improve for the average Thai, and ex-pat. 

[DUNROAMIN]

Thai mentality, "not my problem"

[Tops]

3 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

How many people do you see wearing masks (a small percentage)? How many people do you see wearing actually effective masks (not ineffective medical/surgical masks)?

The masks that filter the PM 2.5 are only effective for the first hour !!! They are saturated after about 1 hour depending on the air pollution.

How many people do you see with a fresh and working filter?

And how many do you see with an old, already worn for a year or so ???

[GarryP]

Even if the government were to enforce the ban on agricultural burning, which they won't for political reasons, the problem would not be resolved. Neighboring countries have the same practices and it is not possible to stop air pollution at the border. However, any improvement, no matter how limited, is better than nothing.   

[RotMahKid]

2 hours ago, Zack61 said:

It’s not just a Thailand phenomena. It is a worldwide problem which requires actions other than the ostrich approach. 

Not the whole world, see the map and zoom out, then you see green places and also the dirty ones where most of the problems are.

https://aqicn.org/map/

[sammieuk1]

1 hour ago, Captain 776 said:

I have lived n worked in China 3 times.

In dec, Jan, feb when coal burner power plants running 100% numbers are 500-800 you can’t see the sidewalk on the other side of a 2 lane road

Sounds like Chianger last year until a general ordered it gone and sure enough it failed????

[RotMahKid]

23 minutes ago, Tops said:

How many people do you see with a fresh and working filter?

And how many do you see with an old, already worn for a year or so ???

And how can you see it?

I have a pm 2.5 filter mask where I can change the filter inside  as many times as long my supply gives me and be sure I have a lot.

[johnarth]

2 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

This is not only a problem in Bangkok, all the surrounding provinces are smokey. Just check the horrible air quality numbers of , Sam Roi Yort, Hua Hin or Pattaya. Main reason? Hundreds of fields on fire in the provinces around the city polluting the central part of Thailand (for weeks already).

 

Let's call a spade a spade: Thailand is suffocating because millions of its residents are burning anything they can get their hands on without any consequence. Law enforcement is a joke.

 

 

maybe they burning all their plastic bags they had saved up, before there is a fine for having them

[RichardColeman]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Authorities in Thailand’s capital warned people

...............................but not tourists not to come

[Redline]

4 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

If Thai government would be clever , they would do everything to produce Electric vehicles in Thailand now . Just simple , low cost EV's that can go 2 or 3oo km on a charge would be enough to reduce the toxic air quality and would be a huge step foreward for Thailand right into the future mass market of EV's .

The chinese will do it anyway , but Thailand will definitly be left behind if there are no incentives NOW .

They are not cool enough-they need to be loud to attract attention 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Not just Bangkok. Air quality out in rural Kanchanaburi is dreadful right now and has been all year except for a few weeks during rainy season.

Nakhon Pathom where I reside is just the same, vehicles yes make up for the usual smells and a fair share of pollution, including the trains that thunder through every so often belching diesel, but [putting aside the million or so BBQ cooking stalls all day] which don't help, mostly it's dust particles from all the construction going on, roads, bridges new shops/apartments all have an open building site where brick/concrete/tile dust is everywhere. When the wind blows you can see it rise up and carry through the air for all to breathe in, everything in the vicinity is covered in a layer of dust and that's proof enough of what's in the air for all to inhale!

[MaxYakov]

1 hour ago, Tops said:

4 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

How many people do you see wearing masks (a small percentage)? How many people do you see wearing actually effective masks (not ineffective medical/surgical masks)?

The masks that filter the PM 2.5 are only effective for the first hour !!! They are saturated after about 1 hour depending on the air pollution.

How many people do you see with a fresh and working filter?

And how many do you see with an old, already worn for a year or so ???

Can you cite a source for your "first hour" claim? What type of mask, exactly, are you referring to?

 

I wear a mask that I could easily and relatively cheaply change the filter on every hour if I felt the need.  And the replacement filter would be a 3M N95 PM2.5 filter - as only the first layer of a double-layer fume/dust mask with it's own, separate PM2.5 filter (17.5 baht cost per changeout, regardless of how often I do it).

 

This "dust/fume" mask is double-filtered by me and the first, outer layer (a disposable 3M N95/PM2.5 two-ply lawyer) gets visibly discolored within a week of use (around 20 hours). The second layer (the one that comes with the mask has three layers, one is a carbon granule layer (I guess for odor or TVOC/HCHO filtering (you won't see this type filter on a surgical/medical mask). I consider the facial seal on this mask to be excellent.

 

Also, my upgraded "dust/fume" mask has a one-way exhale valve which eliminates back-breathing through the filter material, possibly lengthening its lifespan. Could the presence of a exhale valve (or valves) actually lengthen the effective lifespan of a mask? I see very few people wearing masks with one-way exhale values, probably because they are more expensive and/or people are ignorant of mask technology.

 

I'm pretty sure that a lot of people are more concerned about the style of the mask (like they choose sunglasses, for example) rather than the protection a mask might provide. I think too many people opt for the ultimate style (not wanting to look daft) of not wearing a mask.  

 

PS: Thanks (not) for editing my comment (that you commented on) without indicating at least to the readers that it had been snipped. Not really good form and could could cause contextual misunderstandings (not so in this particular case, fortunately).

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by MaxYakov

[Kurtf]

Instead of issuing a warning why doesn't the government DO SOMETHING to correct the problem?

[Bassosa]

Everybody relax, it's a Thai "problem" and not ours to solve.

 

The majority of Thais don't care about the smoke and in all honesty, they're too ignorant to understand the consequences.
 

There's a certain beauty in seeing a country going down the toilet. Living in Thailand for the last 5 years has completely changed my perspective on the world and its people. Kind of fascinating!

 

 

 

[Yinn]

3 hours ago, johnny49r said:

Which months were those? 

June-November

 

 

 

1948

[Bassosa]

Also, anyone who thinks the government here will take any measures to counter air pollution is delusional.

 

The Thais are being exploited as it is, now you're going to suppress them? Tell a farmer he can't burn his crops? Not going to happen, because the powers that be know that they have done f* all for the average Thai.

 

Being exploited AND suppressed is a bridge too far, even for the Thai.

 

So the Thais get their lawlessness in return for going along with the racket that makes the lucky few very very rich.

 

 

[Krataiboy]

The recent massive growth in vehicle ownership is making even popular resorts fanned by sea breezes polluted and unhealthy - particularly at weekends and holiday times.

 

Here's the latest Meteoblue forecast for the my home town:

 

[bkkdawg]

The air in Bangkok is always putrid!

[justin case]

6 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

ust simple , low cost EV's that can go 2 or 3oo km on a charge would be enough to reduce the toxic air quality and would be a huge step foreward for Thailand right into the future mass market of EV's .

expect in thailand, import makes an EV 4x more expensive than "normal" countries

[mike787]

This is nothing....wait till everyone gets a whiff of Chiang Mai for 5-6 months of carcinogenic air worse than arsenic. 

[Silencer]

This issue changed my retirement plan from BKK to Samui earlier this year. After spending December (2018) and January in Bangkok that was enough for me to decide to change my plan. As the saying goes, "great place to visit but wouldn't want to live there." True for a significant portion of the year.

 

[Jimbo2014]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

And what is this incredibly hapless and indifferent administration doing, to counter this epidemic?

 

Are they discouraging the sale of new diesel vehicles? Just the opposite.

Are they coming up with alternative crops, to sugar cane, and providing incentives for farmers to switch crops, away from this horrendously destructive crop? Does the world really need more sugar anyway?

Are they making plans to retrofit the diesel power plants?

Are they encouraging alternative energy on any level? Solar? Wind? Hydro?

 

What are they doing? What do they do every day? Why such sluggish indifference, and why such a stunning lack of solutions to every problem this nation faces? 

 

An army is rarely capable of running a nation. The only thing this army is capable of, is running this nation into the ground, destroying the tourism industry, and making sure life does not improve for the average Thai, and ex-pat. 

Hey.... they are capable of enriching themselves and buying lots of useless military hardware.  Dont undersell them ????

[jmacken306]

7 hours ago, whaleboneman said:

I’m sure Prayut will give them one week to clean the air.

None of the factories have scrubbers on their smoke stacks, every morning the smoke stacks send black smoke rising at startup. They continue to burn garbage with NO scrubbers as every morning the smoke stacks two blocks away/only 6 stories high sends the smoke our way every winter when the wind blows south.....Thailand is like China nothing is being done to change it. Just spray Molasses in the air to make it rain 555 like they always do!!!

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, mickey rat said:

Thailand is a lovely retirement option and a great place to raise your children you'll just need to stay indoors and wear pollution mask for the rest of life. What more could you ask for? 

Real beer !

[whaleboneman]

5 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Thai people are ignorant not to be wearing masks. They have thebidea that their parents and parents parents burned farms and forests so they can do it. Well they are probably dead now and so will everybody else. The factor is population grow people!

Im a farmer and can say there is no need but every year i am forced to clear and burn to protect my property from the idiots that burn the forests that borser my property and these people are only doing so for a few hundred baht of reselling bamboo. They say its to stimulate grow of bamboo but thats not true at all because bamboo is not a grass thats activated like this. Ita only purpose is to get rid of prickly trees and and such to make it easier to get to. So pathetic!

Authorities are all morons here and they do nothing. 

All my neighbouring farmers are getting ready early this year to burn sugar cane. Cant wait for the black chemically laced snowfall....

Sorry, I’m confused. How is it that you are forced to burn? Couldn’t you clear instead?

Hawaii banned burning of sugar cane fields many years ago and they seem to be doing fine.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

I think too many people opt for the ultimate style (not wanting to look daft) of not wearing a mask.

Masks as you say that offer the real protection sometimes cost half a days salary to some people!

That's why you see many Thais wearing the cheap disposable medical type mask!