And still they burn!

[thequietman]

170 aqi here in Uttaradit and still they continue to burn the mountains.

 

Covid-19 - mai pen rai.

 

People more susceptable to lung infections and thus Covid-19 - mai pen rai

 

Kids can't breathe, or play in safety - mai pen rai.

 

Tourists won't return due to massive pollution - mai pen rai

 

Property prices going down due to less demand in polluted areas - mai pen rai

 

Old people die in large numbers this time of year. That's someones, mum, grandparent, aunt, sister - mai pen rai.

 

There doesn't seem to be any kind of learning curve and STILL, the 'government' do Nothing. Sickening. ????

[richard_smith237]

Those in positions of decision making power have a very short memory and they only care about this issue when the pollution hit Bangkok. They [those in a position to do something] then make a couple of media announcements about a crack-down here and some fines there which everyone ignores and nothing changes... 

 

Those in positions of decision making power are arrogant enough to think their announcements make a difference, those below them won’t tell them any different because of ‘kraeng-jai’ and the whole debacle just rolls over to another year. 

 

 

 

[Denim]

6 minutes ago, thequietman said:

the 'government' do Nothing. Sickening. ????

 

There's the problem. Country hasn't had an accountable government since the coup.

 

Still burning around our home too. Nobody cares.

[richard_smith237]

10 minutes ago, thequietman said:

Property prices going down due to less demand in polluted areas - mai pen rai

Not in Bangkok... Prices are going up and up still (in decent complexes). 

 

I just don’t get how people can afford the prices... but the growing middle class of Thailand are buying buying buying...  

A 15MB townhome is quite normal and quite accessible for many middle income couples (both earning and can afford a 50k per month mortgage). 

[cliveshep]

An article in Bangkok Post date-lined today says:- "According to the State of Global Air report for 2019, PM2.5 caused 23,800 premature deaths in Thailand in 2017. By comparison, the Covid-19 pandemic that has plunged the country into panic has so far killed seven people."

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1888915/air-quality-in-north-still-critical

 

If the Government used the powers it has taken for it self once again, meaning the Emergency Decree that gives the PM back his Dictator powers indefinitely and used them for the benefit of the people this level of criminal pollution would not be able to occur. But the comments seems to sum it all up, it is only over the last few years it got so bad, the suggestion is follow the money meaning big agri-business has got a huge interest in farming corn and cane in the area and it is they who are responsible for the upsurge in pollution. So presumably as these big companies support their military friends as a quid pro quo the military protect them?

 

So I suppose the general feeling is that as the hi-so's owning and profiting from these farming methods are in bed with the Junta leaders nothing will be done apart from maybe a few "please don't burn fields" requests or another committee or two might be formed to also do nothing after year or so. 

 

The crazy thing is how Thais seem to acquiesce in this wanton trampling of their citizen's rights to clean air and water and raise not a peep in protest as their relatives are wantonly sacrificed on the altar of Bangkok Hi-so's profits.

[Number 6]

17 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Not in Bangkok... Prices are going up and up still (in decent complexes). 

 

I just don’t get how people can afford the prices... but the growing middle class of Thailand are buying buying buying...  

A 15MB townhome is quite normal and quite accessible for many middle income couples (both earning and can afford a 50k per month mortgage). 

That's insane if you think about it. To put it in western terms. Half million dollar property on 3k of income and no doubt cars, kids and consumer debt.

[Puchaiyank]

Thais burning their fields are not concerned with people's breathing problems or quality of air.

 

Remarkably, the government seems impotent to regulate this unlawful activity...

[canopy]

9 hours ago, cliveshep said:

it is only over the last few years it got so bad

It's been many, many decades. What is growing leaps in bounds in the last few years is awareness. Thanks to the monitoring and the internet people are only now starting to understand just how bad it gets, how long it goes on, how bad it is for health of everyone, and where it is coming from. But still the Thai people I know in the countryside believe it is just some pretty white mist in the air. So there is still a long way to go even on the awareness front.

 

9 hours ago, cliveshep said:

big agri-business...are responsible for the upsurge in pollution

Upsurges are caused by extended periods with no rain or wind, nothing to do with big agri-business. The root of the problem is Thai's just love burning everything--the fields, the forests, the pile of plastic garbage in the front yard at the end of the day, everything is swept up and burned. No matter what a farmer grows, he burns--sugar, rice, corn, even tree branches and leaves are all swept up and burned. A farmer can't cut down so much as a single culm of bamboo without later piling up all the twigs and burning them. This is no joke. No one is asking or forcing them to do any of this. They do it all by themselves. It has nothing to do with big agri-business and in fact burning fields is bad for farming because it depletes the soil and promotes erosion. But that doesn't matter to them. The poor don't care what big agri-business thinks, the pollution department thinks, what the PM thinks, nobody but themselves. They just burn what they please because they enjoy it. And whatever you do, don't take my word for that. Just ask a farmer yourself why he burns to get educated. He won't tell you about a strategy of increasing yields, but rather you will find he simply likes to do it and will tell you to stick it if you don't like it because it's his land and he does what he wants. This arrogant, uncaring attitude of the poor people is what makes it such a nasty problem to solve. And just like the poisonous farming chemicals that only made it to the discussion phase of banning, the rich aren't touching this problem with a 10 foot pole either. The poor are left to do as they please and no one dares raise a finger to stop them. In my area the poor have even successfully fought off garbage pickup the government wants them to have because they'd rather burn all their plastic. I am afraid we must accept this is Thailand in the 21st century.

 

[canopy]

Tourists won't return due to massive pollution...Property prices going down due to less demand in polluted areas

 

Most of what you wrote is absolutely true and I agree totally, but these sound like wishful thinking. The thai's will continue to ratchet up their land prices to whatever they want as they always do every year. Burning won't stop this and that doesn't even matter to them. Never mind it should be a buyers market out there, prices will go up anyway. The day will come that these hillbilly sellers dressed in rags with barely enough to buy their bottle of whiskey will stand in your face demanding that their field of mud is worth a billion a rai and refuse to budge 1 baht just as they say it is a million or more now and no one wants it.

 

And surely tourism in all its forms will climb as it always has all over Thailand. There are worse polluted areas and surprisingly, tourists still flock there even though you would think they would know better. And more surprising is on my mountain they held a marathon during the pollution season. I can't believe even one runner would show up to run all day and breathe in such filth, but they did.

 

[Langsuan Man]

You know if the farmers burned their fields in a group the current government would have no problem sending the Royal Thai Police to stop the congregating.   

 

But when literally thousand of Thai older people are compromising their lungs due to this man made pollution,  suddenly they are impotent

 

How about closing every useless Immigration Office during this crisis and use the manpower somewhere they can do some good rather than harassing people who are already here

 

And please all you Thai enablers don't parrot the "it's the law " mantra.  If you can suspend the law regarding human rights it only takes a decree to suspend Immigration enforcement for this crisis