Thailand will have to face its critical air pollution problem quickly to avoid long-lasting effects to its tourist industry, a mystery death of a Cobra Gold US soldier in Lop Buri, new 'red card' system for 'bad' foreigners, what's in those white meat balls at the street food vendor? Monitor and lizard meat being sold as 'white fish balls'? Illegal Ukrainian driver fined for driving a van without license, Chinese won't need PCR test to arrive in Thailand from now on.

 

Tim Newton Today is a daily, independent look at Thai and south East Asian regional news.

 

 

In my opinion the air is now a lot better than 20 years ago. And at least the smell of burned plastic and ash raining down ended.

8 minutes ago, h90 said:

In my opinion the air is now a lot better than 20 years ago. And at least the smell of burned plastic and ash raining down ended.

In my opinion, the air quality has detoriated significantly over the last 20 years due to subsidized rice, corn and sugar farming. And plastic fumes are all over, every day.

Maybe it depends on where you are living.

 

Last year there was the nearly daily rain reducing the smoky air very much in our Pang Mapha valley. The years before have been horrible, so that we decided to have a smoke-free holiday in Hua Hin.

 

This year our puyai ban gave the order to contact his office before starting the awful fires. And that seems to work. When you look into the background you recognize, the the air is not free of smoke. But you don't smell it.

 

The best result of his orders: just to today there hasn't been any fire in the woods of the mountains near to our home, as usual all the years before.

 

The birds are as happy as we are, hoping this will not change within the next days, weeks or months.

9 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

In my opinion, the air quality has detoriated significantly over the last 20 years due to subsidized rice, corn and sugar farming. And plastic fumes are all over, every day.

100% agree….air pollution is an absolute not a relative comparison…to say it’s better than 20 years ago speaks of incredible ignorance…150 200 250 are truly unacceptable numbers…anything over 50 on a regular basis should mean red flags all over the place

22 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

In my opinion, the air quality has detoriated significantly over the last 20 years due to subsidized rice, corn and sugar farming. And plastic fumes are all over, every day.

Yes, the yardstick  I use, how my eyes burn and itch, is more apparent in recent years.

22 hours ago, h90 said:

In my opinion the air is now a lot better than 20 years ago. And at least the smell of burned plastic and ash raining down ended.

I advise you to buy a PM 2.5 detector and check your belief.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/tag/xiaomi-pm2-5-detector/?spm=a2o4m.home.search.2.4ccd7f6dnHG01W&q=xiaomi pm2 5 detector&_keyori=ss&clickTrackInfo=textId--5424616189985759813__abId--296419__Score--0.00975246560993449__pvid--fe260f49-3d93-43cd-bc7a-4d790da89254__matchType--2__matchList--2-3__srcQuery--xiaomi pm2 5 detector__spellQuery--xiaomi pm2 5 detector__ctrScore--0.0__cvrScore--0.0&from=suggest_normal&sugg=xiaomi pm2 5 detector_1_1&catalog_redirect_tag=true

 

For me personally it is the worst year of pollution, we are at the limit of serious danger for the population.

 

The tourists will appreciate not coming back.

 

TOT what are you waiting for to wake up and propose, as in many countries, the abolition of open fires?

 

Never mind the tourist industry, what about the health of the people who live here? My eldest gets asthma and every year he's subjected to what amounts to low level torture for three months because the government is too feckless to crack down on the national pastime of pyromania and to educate people on alternative planting and cropping methodology. It could be done easily but would require a bit of organization and a properly thought out plan.

 

But no. Every year, half the country has to go through this nonsense. The annual pollution is not an Act of God like rainfall or drought, it's an easily fixable man made problem.

On 3/2/2023 at 10:05 AM, SoilSpoil said:

In my opinion, the air quality has detoriated significantly over the last 20 years due to subsidized rice, corn and sugar farming. And plastic fumes are all over, every day.

maybe upcountry...I had Bangkok in my mind (but didn't write it)

14 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

100% agree….air pollution is an absolute not a relative comparison…to say it’s better than 20 years ago speaks of incredible ignorance…150 200 250 are truly unacceptable numbers…anything over 50 on a regular basis should mean red flags all over the place

In Bangkok it was way worse both the trucks and the cars smoke much worse, that this time no one care no one measured something. Now police is checking.
And they burned rubbish in Bangkok with black/white ash raining down so you couldn't dry clothes outside.
That massively improved. But where they burn the rice fields it might be complete different.

11 minutes ago, h90 said:

maybe upcountry...I had Bangkok in my mind (but didn't write it)

Bangkok's pollution is a multi layered one. The severe pm2.5 problems we see in December and January (now even in March) started about 8 years ago and sugarcane subsidies and consequent crop burning are the primary cause. When you study the pollution maps, you will find out that the areas to the west of Bangkok (farm lands all the way to Kanchanaburi) are often more polluted than the inner city.

2 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

Bangkok's pollution is a multi layered one. The severe pm2.5 problems we see in December and January (now even in March) started about 8 years ago and sugarcane subsidies and consequent crop burning are the primary cause. When you study the pollution maps, you will find out that the areas to the west of Bangkok (farm lands all the way to Kanchanaburi) are often more polluted than the inner city.

That can be that the wind blows the smoke into the edges of Bangkok. The pollution from trucks and burning trash got less. So there are small islands of improvement in the general disaster....The smoke on the streets was terrible before and now most cars are clean and the trucks at least sometimes checked.
Down in Khanom where the air would be good, some people burn coconut leaves/wood to keep the mosquitos away. But at least the area that I know mix general trash into it.....At least it is only in the evening

Bulk of it is farming & mainly the end of rice harvest time.

 

I know it is a tough one as they have no tractors so they pile up the waste & burnt it + the field itself

to prep for next crop

 

But it is so obvious even though done at night when the next day you come thru & the perfect square rai is black

yet all around it is green. It is never just one square either

 

While wild forest fires may be tough to pinpoint these are so obvious

If they government wanted to do something there is a good place to start

 

Get caught with your perfectly burnt rice fields & lose the use of that land for 3 years would see a quick halt to it

 

 

 

39 minutes ago, mania said:

I know it is a tough one as they have no tractors so they pile up the waste & burnt it + the field itself

to prep for next crop

 These days pretty much nobody cuts by hand. All the farmers use contractors with a combine to cut their crop. And this has made the problem worse because the contractors, to save wear on their machinery, cut as little of the straw as they can get away with. The result is that the farmers are left with stubble over a foot high which is impossible to plough down. So they are almost forced to burn it off.

The fix isn't difficult. Just make it a law for that rice stubbles must be chopped and mulched and provide grants to cover the cost. And if it adds a few baht to the cost of a ton of rice - so what?  In the meantime, introduce an educational program to encourage and promote no till cropping. 

 

It's not rocket science. All that's needed is the will.

Edited March 3, 20233 yr by retsdon

I agree that pollution is all around us in the burning season.  Here south of Hua Hin sugarcane fields and open burning by local residents.  As soon as 5 p.m. rolls around the air is filled with smoke, eyes are burning and coughing now and then.  Yes, plastics of all sorts are mixed in by the locals.  I have a large vegetation pile across the street from our house.  When a local 'chang' deposits debris in that pile it will have plastic.  I've tried to educate them but to no avail.  It is ingrained behavior.

Wear swimmers goggles,  the best quality mask, and have 2  purifiers in your room running 24/7. 

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Wear swimmers goggles,  the best quality mask, and have 2  purifiers in your room running 24/7. 

No way to live though, is it. 

23 hours ago, retsdon said:

But no. Every year, half the country has to go through this nonsense. The annual pollution is not an Act of God like rainfall or drought, it's an easily fixable man made problem.

I hear you but the reality is, most of the burning affecting Thailand is being done in another country. 

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I hear you but the reality is, most of the burning affecting Thailand is being done in another country. 

Wrong, totally wrong. Check the Nasa firemaps and you'll see. 

4 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

Wrong, totally wrong. Check the Nasa firemaps and you'll see. 

I saw  OP report from TNT which showed the locations as being mainly in Cambodia that brought the pollution to Thailand. This article seems to confirm that more fires are external.

Air quality maps showed dozens of fires burning in northern Thailand and across nearby neighboring Laos and Myanmar

Source

Your source and mouthy attitude is sadly lacking!

Edited March 4, 20233 yr by jacko45k

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I saw  OP report from TNT which showed the locations as being mainly in Cambodia that brought the pollution to Thailand. This article seems to confirm that more fires are external.

Air quality maps showed dozens of fires burning in northern Thailand and across nearby neighboring Laos and Myanmar

Source

Your source and mouthy attitude is sadly lacking!

Check Nasa fire maps or google: 'Bangkok post smog hotspots February 28', as I am not allowed to post the link. Most hotspots are/were within Thailand's borders.

 

What mouthy attitude are you talking about? Is it wrong to tell someone on a forum that he or she is is wrong? Don't be such a snowflake. 

On 3/2/2023 at 10:53 AM, puck2 said:

Maybe it depends on where you are living.

 

Last year there was the nearly daily rain reducing the smoky air very much in our Pang Mapha valley. The years before have been horrible, so that we decided to have a smoke-free holiday in Hua Hin.

 

This year our puyai ban gave the order to contact his office before starting the awful fires. And that seems to work. When you look into the background you recognize, the the air is not free of smoke. But you don't smell it.

 

The best result of his orders: just to today there hasn't been any fire in the woods of the mountains near to our home, as usual all the years before.

 

The birds are as happy as we are, hoping this will not change within the next days, weeks or months.

No kick to you directly, but Hua Hin is certainly not recommended for a "smoke-free holiday" as many days it is more polluted there than both Bangkok and provinces with general high pollution.

Felt 

The cost of clean air in Thailand (who.int)

 

Air pollution responsible for 29,000 deaths across 31 Thai provinces in 2021— Greenpeace - Greenpeace Southeast Asia

On 3/2/2023 at 9:23 AM, webfact said:

a mystery death of a Cobra Gold US soldier in Lop Buri

The authorities rushed to the army camp to find the deceased soldier lying in a pool of blood inside the bathroom. According to a preliminary check, the soldier sustained a wound on his head. The victim was believed to have slipped and hit his head on the ground while bathing,

 

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

 

I can't count the number of times I've almost slipped in my apartment.   Easily over 100.  I haven't fallen yet......   I am older now, and 100% I don't fall like I used to.   Before I swear I had falling "skills."   Now, I'm like a blind 100000 kg ballerina with two broken ankles and ears full of wax (ruining balance).    

Edited March 4, 20233 yr by BananaStrong

7 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

What mouthy attitude are you talking about? Is it wrong to tell someone on a forum that he or she is is wrong? Don't be such a snowflake. 

Have you even watched the video in the OP? 

What is stopping you posting the Nasa links? 

I believe you are confusing the high pollution readings to the hotspots where the burning is really occurring... the link I included shows this.

Stop calling people you don't even know  names and grow up! On ignore!

On 3/4/2023 at 10:01 PM, Felt 35 said:

The cost of clean air in Thailand (who.int)

 

Air pollution responsible for 29,000 deaths across 31 Thai provinces in 2021— Greenpeace - Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Well Greenpeace is no trustworth source....They are as trustworth as Anutin

On 3/4/2023 at 10:32 PM, BananaStrong said:

The authorities rushed to the army camp to find the deceased soldier lying in a pool of blood inside the bathroom. According to a preliminary check, the soldier sustained a wound on his head. The victim was believed to have slipped and hit his head on the ground while bathing,

 

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

 

I can't count the number of times I've almost slipped in my apartment.   Easily over 100.  I haven't fallen yet......   I am older now, and 100% I don't fall like I used to.   Before I swear I had falling "skills."   Now, I'm like a blind 100000 kg ballerina with two broken ankles and ears full of wax (ruining balance).    

slipping at home has one of the highest death rates. It is always the example for people against speed limits, against safety belts, against covid restrictions etc......But the point is right...many people die from it. A popular bodybuilder also died that way