Once again, it’s Yu. Not a lot of updates lately on the Roots and Shoots front, unfortunately. Everyone has been so busy that Roots and Shoots meetings have had to be postponed. I just came here to comment on the condition of the air of Chiang Mai lately. First, here are some pictures:

There used to be mountains behind those trees.
Dinosaurs

Taken out a window of Mr. Troy’s classroom. I think this was one of the worst days of dust.
Chiang Mai Haze

For over a week, radios and the government have reported that the level of pollutants in the air in Chiang Mai had gone over safe levels, and advised senior citizens and the young to stay inside (Chiang Mai Mail, The Nation). This warning has recently only come to full force when in the past few days, the polluted haze of the city has become so apparent that throughout the day, the light of the sun can hardly be seen! Even in the afternoon, when the sun usually beats down relentlessly, the light is still reminiscent of the early morning, yet holding nothing akin to the pleasures of a sunrise.

I remember sitting in the front seat of the car this morning with my mother, and as it came up the rise of the bridge leading to school, my mom told me to look at the sun, which looked like a bright red egg in a mist of tan sky. “Even the sun is being choked by this haze,” she tells me and how can I not agree — the haze is proof to anyone that air conditions have gone past any level of pollution we have experienced before. I’ve seen several ninth graders — also Roots and Shoots members — walking with their shirt sleeves covering their mouths and noses, one even donning an air pollution mask. Though at first glance, this may appear comical, one can soon understand why and how these girls are utterly serious. Looking out the classroom window, how can one not be alarmed to find that the sky is no longer blue, but an almost orange haze?

Air pollution in Chiang Mai and neighboring provinces is an issue already past concern — it is an issue that must be addressed, and tackled as soon as possible. I’ve heard that the government has been planning to create artificial rain to help ‘chase away’ the haze, but in my opinion, this is not a real fix to the problem of air pollution in Chiang Mai. In no way is creating artificial rain going to, in the long run, solve our problem. What we need is raised environmental awareness in the citizens and in our government, and a stronger environmental policy.


Chiang Mai is a known tourist destination in Thailand, and our tourist industry is — to put bluntly — an important means of bringing in money to the Thai people. Yet why are we doing so little to care for Chiang Mai? What tourist would want to come and see the exciting pollution of Chiang Mai? We are no longer known for our beauty, but for how much dust we have. And dust is better viewed on text than in person. Point? I can see dust anywhere, I don’t have to go to Chiang Mai to see it. If I can’t persuade you to care for the environment, I’ll persuade you in the only other way to make you care — if you don’t care about the environment now, it’s simple, you’re going to lose your money in the future.

The killer of this whole situation is this: a lot of people just do not understand what is going on. People just need to be educated on what is going on in front of them — and I’m not trying to be patronizing in any way. Even a close friend of mine admitted she didn’t know why this was happening.

Here’s the shorthand version — Chiang Mai sits in a valley, surrounded by mountains. When air pollution caused by vehicle emissions, construction, and forest fires rises up from the ground, it is entrapped by the surrounding mountains, stopping it from being pushed away from the province. And to make it even worse, air pressue from above the mountains pushes down on the air, very much like putting the lid on a boiling pot, keeping all the polluted air inside.

It’s not hard to understand — yet this is what most people do not know. Bangkok is known for its congestion, traffic jams, and polluted air, yet people in Chiang Mai are more prone to get lung cancer and other respiratory problems than in Bangkok! This is what we need to tell people — and this is what the government needs to emphasize and act on!

So if I may be so blunt, here are my proposed solutions for air pollution problems (and let’s hope that this haze is enough to be motivation for people to do this):

  • Raised environmental awareness of our current situation in both the government and the citizens.
  • Government needs to educate people in ways to contribute to keeping the air clean.
  • Government must provide a means for people to do so in a convenient and efficient way. This can be done by:
  1. Completing, as soon as possible, all major road constructions, i.e at Khuang Singh intersection. More time and more gas is lost due to the congestion and the diverting cars have to do because of the construction. These sites also release large amounts of dust into the air.
  2. Providing an efficient mass transport system — buses. Having once had to rely on the largely experimental bus system myself, I can only say for real businessmen and adults, this is by no means a reliable way to get at a certain place at a certain time. These buses may be running on biodiesel, but having no set of time for arrival or departure, are clearly not providing citizens with what they need, which is why very little commute to work, and use private vehicles, which increase in carbon emissions and air pollution. Get your buses in order, and people will go on them.
  3. Imposing regulations on the emissions of Chiang Mai’s taxis, commonly known as, the songtaews and the tuk-tuks. The jet of black smoke spewing out of their exhaust pipes are notorious and poison to motorcyclists, and obvious to everyone else, so why hasn’t the government done anything about it? There must be hundreds of songtaews running all throughout Chiang Mai, vomiting up black and disgusting toxins into the environment.
  4. Encourage the use of alternative fuel sources, such as electricity. Electric cars are one of the coolest things on earth, and they are only inconvenient — they are not inefficient — due to the lack of ‘electric pumps’ throughout the city. I doubt there is even one. What we need for electric cars to be used are places for electric cars to recharge, and this could be put in any regular gas station, no? This way there would be less carbon and toxic emissions from cars.
  5. Make apparent that burning is against the law. Burning of garbage and forest is one of the biggest reasons there is so much air pollution in Chiang Mai. Yet has any one of the culprits been punished for burning? Almost every year I see the same forest being completely burned, the char of the trees apparent for anyone drivig along the canal road to see. Yet I’ve seen it happen for four years. And it has never been stopped. Is it corruption, or what? Why are these people not being stopped? How come I have never heard of any law against burning in the paper, especially when concerns for global warming are reaching a major high these past few years?
  6. Encourage Thais to stop their neighbors from burning, and spread the knowlede.

This won’t stop the haze of now, but may prevent future occurences. And this is just my (Yu’s) opinion — this does not reflect any of the other R&S members’ opinions whatsoever.