Chiang Mai: "Sea of Fire" engulfs Doi Samoeng - fires lit when officials went to monitor elections

[BostonRob2]

3 hours ago, lordblackader said:

The Thai post you link to says nothing about officials being involved in the election and even using basic logic, why would they be? 

Did you miss the third paragraph?

[Phulublub]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

With respect that is a cop out that doesn't bear scrutiny. Yes some are poor, but even the less poor, or not poor at all do it.  There are known alternatives to burning that would take effort and  planning rather than cost, as in many parts of Africa and South America,  such as crop rotations, ploughing in and composting.  They take the easy road because they are allowed to do so. They even burn the road side verges because they can't be arsed to cut them.  That is indeed an issue for government and local authorities who in their turn don't care enough do anything about it.  

Where, pray tell, does Thailand sit in the World league table of per capita  pollution?  Who is top?

 

PH

[Yorkshire Tea]

1 hour ago, Wuvu2 said:

The people that burn the mountains are some of the poorest people in Thailand. 

I guess you haven't been to Chiang Mai recently.

[TigerandDog]

1 hour ago, Wuvu2 said:

The people that burn the mountains are some of the poorest people in Thailand. It's not selfishness - it's hunger that drives them. Laws and Fines will never stop hungry people from doing what they must to feed themselves. The solution is for the government to create alternate economic opportunity. Blaming these folks for burning the mountains is the same as blaming slum dwellers for the awful stench where they live. Nobody chooses to be dirt poor. 

not entirely. 2 weeks ago driving on HWY 107 between Chiang Dao & Chia Prakhan the roadside hills were ablaze, and in broad daylight it was local govt personnel starting the fires, and it most definitely was NOT backburning of any kind..

[Markus Rider]

Let's face it: Chiang Mai is NOT a place to LIVE, it is a place to DIE ! Especially if you are coming from a healthy area of this world ! It will only attract chinese because they have to live with fine dust particles for 12 months an year.... 

I will leave Chiang Mai and Thailand in June this year...4 years are more than enough to damage my respiratory system !!

[Pilotman]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Not much idea what goes on in the mountains have you?

It is not fields they are burning, crop rotation !!!!! What are you on about?

Ploughing? You avin a laff, it is mountain sides that are being burned.

Read about the tribes of the Amazon and Borneo, and their respect for and affinity for their environment,  and you will begin to understand how stupid these mountain people here can be. 

[Pilotman]

16 minutes ago, Phulublub said:

Where, pray tell, does Thailand sit in the World league table of per capita  pollution?  Who is top?

 

PH

I take it that you are referring to developers who and burring off the rain forest?  That's a whole different situation. Its not the local tribes doing it, its the big companies and incoming chancers. Not so here. 

[connda]

They refuse to call it what it is:  Arson.  Until they call it arson and go after the arsonists with the full force of the government - this never ends.
My guess?  This never ends. 

[VocalNeal]

I played golf in Phayao this morning. The "clouds" were obscuring the sun so it was not too hot.  I didn't realize the AQI was nearly 200 until I read this thread. 

 

Is it worse in Chiang Mai?

[RocketDog]

4 hours ago, vandeventer said:

I knew my mask was good for something other than covid!

Robbing banks? Give it a shot. 

[Antonymous]

40 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

I played golf in Phayao this morning. The "clouds" were obscuring the sun so it was not too hot.  I didn't realize the AQI was nearly 200 until I read this thread. 

 

Is it worse in Chiang Mai?

 

I don't know the AQI, but at this minute the PM2.5 in the countryside north of Chiang Mai is 106 on my detector.

 

 

[Garbol56]

4 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

This is all Nancy Regan's fault!  The mountain folks used to grow opium, but had to turn to more destructive ways to make a living when the opium trade was eradicated. It's not surprising that fires are worse in a year of hard economic impact from covid.  Let em grow opium again and I bet the sky gets a lot clearer ????

Mate, really, are you serious.????????????

[orchis]

taken from the hospital

[Bradmeister]

Again, why is thus bestowed or burdened by police? 

 

Not to repeat myself: Park, Forest and Safety Ranger Program. 

 

Its not a concept....  Did I not read Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment? 

 

Let the cops be peace officers or law enforcement officers.... or whatever.

 

We need Park and Forest Rangers! You know, people who love nature and roam around the country side, coastal areas and mountains..... preventing problems.

[Gandtee]

6 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

Pun-tastic.

What bright spark came up with that one?????

[Antonymous]

12 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

What bright spark came up with that one?????

 

Incendiary quips like that can fire people up.

[herfiehandbag]

19 minutes ago, Bradmeister said:

Again, why is thus bestowed or burdened by police? 

 

Not to repeat myself: Park, Forest and Safety Ranger Program. 

 

Its not a concept....  Did I not read Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment? 

 

Let the cops be peace officers or law enforcement officers.... or whatever.

 

We need Park and Forest Rangers! You know, people who love nature and roam around the country side, coastal areas and mountains..... preventing problems.

They have them.

 

They are organised and dressed as a paramilitary force; camouflaged fatigues and so on.

 

There main activity seems to be  pushing around the poorer people who live in and adjacent to , and try to scratch a living from, the National Parks.

 

As ever, the enthusiasm displayed in tackling rule breakers is in inverse proportion to the "influence" of the culprits

[Mike k]

6 hours ago, wombat said:

curious asks...is bamboo a plant that needs fire through it to generate the next crop of bamboo shoots for sale?

We get ours in the rainy season without burning its just new plants coming up 

[Mike k]

4 hours ago, Pilotman said:

With respect that is a cop out that doesn't bear scrutiny. Yes some are poor, but even the less poor, or not poor at all do it.  There are known alternatives to burning that would take effort and  planning rather than cost, as in many parts of Africa and South America,  such as crop rotations, ploughing in and composting.  They take the easy road because they are allowed to do so. They even burn the road side verges because they can't be arsed to cut them.  That is indeed an issue for government and local authorities who in their turn don't care enough do anything about it.  

I don't understand why they burn off the fields where I live I watched 2 women burn off a rice paddy then a day later it was plowed under. The stubble could have been plowed under which would have helped this <deleted> poor dirt we have 

[Pilotman]

1 minute ago, Mike k said:

I don't understand why they burn off the fields where I live I watched 2 women burn off a rice paddy then a day later it was plowed under. The stubble could have been plowed under which would have helped this <deleted> poor dirt we have 

exactly. Its either laziness, 'couldn't care less ness', or just plain ignorance. 

[Mike k]

1 minute ago, Pilotman said:

exactly. Its either laziness, 'couldn't care less ness', or just plain ignorance. 

I'd say ignorance instead of laziness judging by the amount of work being done to burn it 

[Moonlover]

36 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

14 minutes ago, Mike k said:

I don't understand why they burn off the fields where I live I watched 2 women burn off a rice paddy then a day later it was plowed under. The stubble could have been plowed under which would have helped this <deleted> poor dirt we have 

 

36 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

exactly. Its either laziness, 'couldn't care less ness', or just plain ignorance. 

 

33 minutes ago, Mike k said:

I'd say ignorance instead of laziness judging by the amount of work being done to burn it 

It's a matter of old habits die hard. Before mechanization and buffalos were used to haul the plough, the land was very difficult to work unless it had been burnt off first. It's still hard work even for the '2 wheeled buffalo' I'm told. It also made sowing the new crop easier.

 

So in the past there was 'method in their madness' as the saying goes. In recent times though, with the advent of the tractor, there is less field burning going on in our region, so the message is getting through. I know that our Phu Ya Ban actively discourages it.

 

 

[SiSePuede419]

If you live in Thailand, you need an air filter in every bedroom.

 

If you can afford to do so, people in smokey areas should go down to an island every burn season.

 

Adapt to the smoke, don't just sit around and whinge on TVF. ????

[0815]

5 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

The people that burn the mountains are some of the poorest people in Thailand. It's not selfishness - it's hunger that drives them. Laws and Fines will never stop hungry people from doing what they must to feed themselves. The solution is for the government to create alternate economic opportunity. Blaming these folks for burning the mountains is the same as blaming slum dwellers for the awful stench where they live. Nobody chooses to be dirt poor. 

Yes, some of them are very poor. BUT some of them are SH*T RICH and greedy.

[Proboscis]

7 hours ago, stephenterry said:

Mushroom farming season???

Well they are used to being kept in the dark and having sh@t thrown at them!

[Stuart21]

We designed a cooker for Khao Larm (the sticky rice cooked in bamboo) that reduces CO2 by 99% - from using 250kg of coconut husk via the traditional method, to about 2kg of gas. ALso greatly reduces smoke, soot and ash. Now, when neighbour cooks there is just a nice aroma of caramelising sweetened coconut milk through the village, rather than all the smoke & ash, etc.

 

1,000 tons CO2 negative over last 10 years.

[Denim]

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

If you live in Thailand, you need an air filter in every bedroom.

 

If you can afford to do so, people in smokey areas should go down to an island every burn season.

 

Adapt to the smoke, don't just sit around and whinge on TVF. ????

 

Yes, suck it up and try to see something positive in it.

[condohope]

Spent a few days in Chang Mai some years ago in January, remember the best foot massage and that we had to go to hotels and a shopping mall to get some breathable air. I decided never to return and stayed at the beach front for good. But since it was terrible with air pollution even there this
year I am looking for a different country to sit out the burning season.

[rudi49jr]

Such a shame. I lived in Chiang Mai in the late 1980’s and the winters were always beautiful and sunny,  clear skies, hardly any burning going on, wonderful for hiking and cycling without getting instant bronchitis. 
Lived on Nimanhaemin, just down from the Rincome hotel, and the street was not nearly as busy and built-up as it is now. Woke up every morning with a view of Doi Suthep temple way up the mountain, the air was almost always clear enough to be able to see it. Now most days you can’t even see the mountain at all anymore. 
This is the view from my bedroom window in January 1989 on Doi Suthep. Not a single fire in sight.

[shy coconut]

14 hours ago, wombat said:

curious asks...is bamboo a plant that needs fire through it to generate the next crop of bamboo shoots for sale?

I wouldn't have thought so, bamboo has very shallow roots, so a fierce fire would cause great damage to the plant. I could well be wrong.

 

The forecasted rain that someone mentioned earlier in the thread, would cause a lot of shoots to appear, especially if there has been a long dry period beforehand.