Which districts in CM suffer the least/most from burning?

[amexpat]

3 hours ago, Teak said:

 

Hmmm....as a Teak Wallah who regularly inhales parts per million far greater than 10 microns .......

 

 

Hmmmm..indeed.  Also, <deleted>?  

 

OK, What The Heck? 

Edited September 10, 2016 by amexpat
censorship

[canuckamuck]

3 hours ago, Teak said:

 Hi J.   You know my area....it has not changed in 30 years, well, except for the valuable timber which is now hand sawn and gone. Each year the mountains are lit ablaze and then refreshed come the rains. This is not in the purest sense  swidden agriculture, but, swidden style foraging practices. Fast burning forest fires seldom lasting more than 2 or 3 days....then out. This is a mountainous  micro climate and not part or even possibly a part of the modern agro business. Apparently, this is why I return to this singular location. Even when the smoke blows over the ridge from the next valley, I know the Lisu families who are burning off corn stubble to prepare for the next planting. Families I have known and watched their children grow into adults. The system is less labour intensive and sustainable over decades When comparing these people with some fat phuck wheezing on his condo patio sucking a cigarette in CM collecting his monthly pension dole..my compassion leans to the farmer. However, I take your point of intense agricultural profit driven practices.

If after all these years you are in the same location. I may motor up with a wee bottle sometime this winter, just enough to share and warm myself up on the way back.   best regards...Ken 

 

You have invented a nice story to go with romanticised view. However, continually burning your field and replanting corn is bad agriculture. It would be much better if they left the organic material in place.  Constantly burning the stubble is a good way to convert all of that useful organic material into smoke. The ash that is left is of limited value, and does nothing to improve the health of the soil. Nothing like the benefits of allowing the organic material to compost and be distributed by worms. Basically it is lazy farming. It's bad for the environment, bad for the water table, and bad for runoff and erosion. The only plus is that it is cheap and easy. 

[Teak]

On 2016-09-10 at 2:04 AM, canuckamuck said:

You have invented a nice story to go with romanticised view. However, continually burning your field and replanting corn is bad agriculture. It would be much better if they left the organic material in place.  Constantly burning the stubble is a good way to convert all of that useful organic material into smoke. The ash that is left is of limited value, and does nothing to improve the health of the soil. Nothing like the benefits of allowing the organic material to compost and be distributed by worms. Basically it is lazy farming. It's bad for the environment, bad for the water table, and bad for runoff and erosion. The only plus is that it is cheap and easy. 

 

A romanticized view ? .....Not at all. However, a realistic view over 30 years. The mountain farmers are poor and alternate between numerous means to make an income to sustain themselves. Granted, the agro industry is not part of this topic for me. Most posters here have no concept of the labour involved in harvesting the dried corn waste, transporting it, chopping it, adding the required amount of moisture so it remains aerobic and not anaerobic and then manually turning that compost 3 or 4 times and then depositing it back onto the field without the aid of a tractor/machinery  has spent more time reading than actually doing. I have done both and would rather burn than compost unless funded by some NGO.. Excuse me....but to be so condescending as to call a subsistence farmer 'lazy' shows your lack of understanding. Ahh, to be so blessed to smoke cigarettes, receive pension checks and criticize those who actually work to survive well past their time to stop must be a pleasure, indeed. ...Ken

[DLang]

Oh look, a big poo fight. Who'd have thunk it.

 

I've heard people complaining that it's really bad in such and such a place this year.

 

But obviously not, it is evenly spread across the region and doesn't get trapped in valleys or anything.

[amexpat]

" Ahh, to be so blessed to smoke cigarettes, receive pension checks and criticize those.........."

 

 

Again?  Teak is seriously obsessed with cigarettes and pensions.  For once he left out "fat" and "sitting in a condo". 

[canuckamuck]

On 12/09/2016 at 2:27 AM, Teak said:

 

A romanticized view ? .....Not at all. However, a realistic view over 30 years. The mountain farmers are poor and alternate between numerous means to make an income to sustain themselves. Granted, the agro industry is not part of this topic for me. Most posters here have no concept of the labour involved in harvesting the dried corn waste, transporting it, chopping it, adding the required amount of moisture so it remains aerobic and not anaerobic and then manually turning that compost 3 or 4 times and then depositing it back onto the field without the aid of a tractor/machinery  has spent more time reading than actually doing. I have done both and would rather burn than compost unless funded by some NGO.. Excuse me....but to be so condescending as to call a subsistence farmer 'lazy' shows your lack of understanding. Ahh, to be so blessed to smoke cigarettes, receive pension checks and criticize those who actually work to survive well past their time to stop must be a pleasure, indeed. ...Ken

I am too young for a pension and I do not smoke, but that shows me how much you generalise and pull theories out your aft when needed. 

I was saying it is better to leave the material where it lies rather than to burn it. You know, like nature does. Yes it takes a long time to become usable by the crops, but in the meantime it provides some ground cover.  You say it is better to burn it, I disagree for many reasons.

[JaseTheBass]

On 12/09/2016 at 2:27 AM, Teak said:

 

A romanticized view ? .....Not at all. However, a realistic view over 30 years. The mountain farmers are poor and alternate between numerous means to make an income to sustain themselves. Granted, the agro industry is not part of this topic for me. Most posters here have no concept of the labour involved in harvesting the dried corn waste, transporting it, chopping it, adding the required amount of moisture so it remains aerobic and not anaerobic and then manually turning that compost 3 or 4 times and then depositing it back onto the field without the aid of a tractor/machinery  has spent more time reading than actually doing. I have done both and would rather burn than compost unless funded by some NGO.. Excuse me....but to be so condescending as to call a subsistence farmer 'lazy' shows your lack of understanding. Ahh, to be so blessed to smoke cigarettes, receive pension checks and criticize those who actually work to survive well past their time to stop must be a pleasure, indeed. ...Ken

 

So poor people have the right to put tens of thousands of people into hospital each year?

[Teak]

10 hours ago, JaseTheBass said:

 

So poor people have the right to put tens of thousands of people into hospital each year?

What is the point of coming to a place like Thailand where the majority are farmers and not taking the opportunities to understand their lives and hardships ?

You do not have to agree....but understanding is a start. This is a rural and urban issue and a social class divide. Understanding does not necessary mean agreeing.

But it is a start......Ken

 

[Teak]

10 hours ago, JaseTheBass said:

 

So poor people have the right to put tens of thousands of people into hospital each year?

What is the point of coming to a place like Thailand where the majority are farmers and not taking the opportunities to understand their lives and hardships ?

You do not have to agree....but understanding is a start. This is a rural and urban issue and a social class divide. Understanding does not necessary mean agreeing.

But it is a start......Ken

 

[Teak]

10 hours ago, JaseTheBass said:

 

So poor people have the right to put tens of thousands of people into hospital each year?

What is the point of coming to a place like Thailand where the majority are farmers and not taking the opportunities to understand their lives and hardships ?

You do not have to agree....but understanding is a start. This is a rural and urban issue and a social class divide. Understanding does not necessary mean agreeing.

But it is a start......Ken

 

[JaseTheBass]

What is the point of coming to a place like Thailand where the majority are farmers and not taking the opportunities to understand their lives and hardships ?

You do not have to agree....but understanding is a start. This is a rural and urban issue and a social class divide. Understanding does not necessary mean agreeing.

But it is a start......Ken

 

My family are poor farmers. I do understand their hardships. They in turn, do their best to protect their environment and not harm others while still do their best to earn a living. Burning on the scale we have in Thailand is due to laziness, ignorance and not giving a crap about anyone else, including the future of their own families.