Online drive to ease haze over Chiang Mai

[snoop1130]

Online drive to ease haze over Chiang Mai

By The Nation

 

 

The Warm Heart Foundation is seeking donations for a Bt1 million project to eliminate 9,640 kilograms of smoke from the air over Chiang Mai during the agriculture fire season. 

 

The Stop the Smoke! campaign is the first step in the Warm Heart Foundation’s five-year plan to eliminate 50 per cent of the smoke. It is also challenging the Chiang Mai Community to do its bit in eliminating the remaining 50 per cent. 

 

The project will remove the equivalent of smoke from 688,575,560 cigarettes. 

 

Full Story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30304366

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-1-18

[AlexRich]

Good luck, but old habits die hard, and neighbouring countries don't help matters either. I love Chiang Mai but think it is uninhabitable for 6 months of the year ... a great shame.

[worgeordie]

Instead of buying the biochar to make into fertilizer,

why not educate the farmers to make the fertilizer 

themselves,or every year the foundation is going to

have raise donations to buy the biochar.

 

Then the farmers will have organic fertilizer,and save 

them money on buying chemicals. 

regards worgeordie

[Thailand]

"Agriculture Fire Season" ?

 

Is that a new high season tourist attraction?

[BernieOnTour]

43 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Instead of buying the biochar to make into fertilizer,

why not educate the farmers to make the fertilizer 

themselves,or every year the foundation is going to

have raise donations to buy the biochar.

 

Then the farmers will have organic fertilizer,and save 

them money on buying chemicals. 

regards worgeordie

 

Then you wouldn't need Foundations, spending charity money on salaries...

[canuckamuck]

Once again I would like to point out that to eliminate corn waste burning is admirable. This is not the cause of the smoke in the smoky season though. In fact at this time of year (January) the corn waste is nearly all burned away and the air is fine.

The smoky season is in March and April for the most part, and no one is burning corn waste at that time. What they are doing is clearing out bamboo, brush, and weeds, to plant the next crop of corn. So go ahead and buy your biochar, but next time you do some crowd funding, perhaps you should check the calendar and wonder why the smoky season is 7 months after the main corn harvest.

Edited January 18, 2017 by canuckamuck

[harada]

  

[opalred]

educate them about cigarettes 

[ChakaKhan]

When will the fog be rolling in this year..is it affect C.Rai as well?

[canuckamuck]

Well it has already begun a little, but by the end of February it will get much heavier.

Chiang Rai can get it worse than Chiang Mai - depends on the wind.

Edited January 20, 2017 by canuckamuck

[Puwa]

On 1/18/2017 at 7:39 AM, canuckamuck said:

Once again I would like to point out that to eliminate corn waste burning is admirable. This is not the cause of the smoke in the smoky season though. In fact at this time of year (January) the corn waste is nearly all burned away and the air is fine.

The smoky season is in March and April for the most part, and no one is burning corn waste at that time. What they are doing is clearing out bamboo, brush, and weeds, to plant the next crop of corn. So go ahead and buy your biochar, but next time you do some crowd funding, perhaps you should check the calendar and wonder why the smoky season is 7 months after the main corn harvest.

I think the purpose of promoting biochar is to improve existing soil, and so reduce or delay the need to clear new land. Rice-hull biochar is a good amendment to clay soil. Mae Chaem is a sensible place to start because the bwak'nyaw in those hills are fairly well organized and educated, and some past conservation work has gone well.

 

It's easy to criticize based on a half-literate Nation article-- written, edited, published, and reprinted here without journalistic standards or principles-- and our own worst suspicions, but that seems an incomplete way to draw conclusions. Unfortunately, the article is written to emphasize the online fundraising rather than a clear explication of the effort.

[canuckamuck]

1 hour ago, Puwa said:

I think the purpose of promoting biochar is to improve existing soil, and so reduce or delay the need to clear new land. Rice-hull biochar is a good amendment to clay soil. Mae Chaem is a sensible place to start because the bwak'nyaw in those hills are fairly well organized and educated, and some past conservation work has gone well.

 

It's easy to criticize based on a half-literate Nation article-- written, edited, published, and reprinted here without journalistic standards or principles-- and our own worst suspicions, but that seems an incomplete way to draw conclusions. Unfortunately, the article is written to emphasize the online fundraising rather than a clear explication of the effort.

I'll take your word for it, I am totally aware of the pitfalls of jumping to conclusions here, despite the fact that it is all we can do for the most part.

At least someone is trying something. 

In the good news department, the horrible price of corn this year has been moving people onto new crops. Up here a lot of the cornfields have been put into pineapple instead. That's a 4 or 5 year crop, so that should be some benefit to the air until the price of pineapples crashes

[rooster59]

Online drive aims to fight Chiang Mai’s haze problem

By THE SUNDAY NATION

 

THE WARM HEART Foundation is seeking donations for a Bt1-million project to eliminate 9,640 kilograms of smoke from the air over Chiang Mai during the agriculture fire season.

 

The “Stop the Smoke!” campaign is the first step in the foundation’s five-year plan to eliminate 50 per cent of the smoke. It is also challenging Chiang Mai communities to do their part in eliminating the remaining 50 per cent.

 

The project will remove the equivalent of smoke from 688.6 million cigarettes.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30304641

 

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-22

[Thaiwrath]

I don't think the 'Netizens' will be so vociferous, where requests for donations are involved.

[connda]

Unfortunately the quantity of smoke in the air is exponentially greater than 9,640 kg of particulate.  So what is going to be done with that 1 million THB?  Sorry.  TIT - I'm highly suspect.  And the Ag burning is definitely a component of the North Thailand smoke problem, but the uncontrolled burning of massively large swaths of forest to clear the undergrowth for easier mushroom hunting is the primary cause of most of the highly noxious smoke in the air.  1 million THB to address wide-spread, endemic arson-related forest fires is a bit like peeing in the ocean and expecting the sea level to rise.  Ain't gonna happen.  This is an anti-arson enforcement issue and until the government seriously addresses that problem nothing is going to change.  And seeing that they don't have the will to stop the carnage on Thai roads, I'm not optimistic that they have the will to stop arson-related forest fires.  Needless to say I will not be contributing to the Warm Heart Foundation.  It would probably be more effective for me and the wife to throw money into our water well and pray to Naga to intervene by directing rain clouds to appear over the purposely set fires in Northern Thailand.  At least I could fish my money out of the well again! 

Edited January 22, 2017 by connda

[little mary sunshine]

555555555555 Same every year!   My friends have

been in CM 22 years....same each year

[hhinhh]

Buring of whatever things is a big problem and causes tenthousands of deaths in developing countries. I cannot understand that the government does not forbid and enforce prohibition of this bad habits. Once international environment organizations invest this matter and find out the fresh air even in nice resort cities like Hua Hin are not as good as people expect to excape the haze they have in the big cities this will have a big impact on Thai tourism.

[elgordo38]

Rots of Ruck. 

[maewang99]

we are told not to burn our trash.... in a tambon where there is no trash pickup. how do we jive this?  

not everything comes wrapped in banana leaves. 
 

also I'm reminded everyday that this is ****Thailand****. everything we need to know or worry about is taken care of by a central administration in Bangkok. including education. so why does it make any difference which tambon my village is in?

and please, don't tell me Thailand is a "poor country".

 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by maewang99

[ChakaKhan]

On 1/20/2017 at 6:23 AM, canuckamuck said:

Well it has already begun a little, but by the end of February it will get much heavier.

Chiang Rai can get it worse than Chiang Mai - depends on the wind.

i was considering the move up there but seems im doomed either way--cough!