Poor air quality in Udon Thani

[AussieBoy]

Clean air for Butch running, but not Udon

[Earnest]

Back on to the subject matter, very cool last night, but this morning waking up to a very still day a slight dampness in the Air , need some wind to move the air around.

Then can I suggest scoffing a plate of hot Brussel Sprouts in short order and asking your pals to stand clear.

Hmmm, I take it Farmer Somchai is burning his fields again. Coupled with high pressure, this makes for a nasty respiratory cough.

[stattointhailand]

noticed three times in the last week guys with orange vests burning the grass on the central reservation on Route 2 between Tesco junction and where the railway crosses the road. Thought it could be that they were putting a stray fire out the first time, but strange to have 3 fires in the space of a week after none in months

[saint]

Back on to the subject matter, very cool last night, but this morning waking up to a very still day a slight dampness in the Air , need some wind to move the air around.

Then can I suggest scoffing a plate of hot Brussel Sprouts in short order and asking your pals to stand clear.

Hmmm, I take it Farmer Somchai is burning his fields again. Coupled with high pressure, this makes for a nasty respiratory cough.

There certainly burning the sugar fields near me at the moment . Which does not help . coupled with Chinese new year .

[FrazeeDK]

I'm convinced that agricultural burning is the majority of the problem. It would require a full bore military/police/governmental effort to find burning fields, extinguish them and fine the owners.. Hell, I'd take a battalion of tanks and run them through the offending fields to grind the cane into crud. Unfortunately that's not going to happen enough to affect the pollution. Saw Channel 7 noontime news today showing the usual spraying of fire hoses from the top of buildings, Using a water spraying machine near a park and other such absolutely worthless measures. They showed some official giving out lightweight paper face masks which as far as I know give minimal protection against the very tiny PM 2.5 particles floating in the air. Udon right now at 1534 on Wednesday is showing an AQI of 60 which is still bad but far better than the other day... I'd like to see a real concerted effort rather than the usual "let's do something no matter if it is effective" measures..

[glalt]

I've said it before but I'll say it again. Stopping the farmers from burning sugarcane is a very simple thing. Rather than trying to prosecute farmers, just forbid the sugar mills from accepting burnt cane. Farmers would immediately stop the burning if that had no where to sell their crop. There are not that many sugar mills in the country to monitor.

[stattointhailand]

as someone who doesn't possess "green fingers", dont they cut the sugarcane, send it to the mill, and then burn the stubble thats left in the field?

[Drunk Monkey]

as someone who doesn't possess "green fingers", dont they cut the sugarcane, send it to the mill, and then burn the stubble thats left in the field?

In the wilds of Buriram sugar cane is burn as it stands to remove the leaves n other plants encroaching etc then cut so it is a bit charred when it goes to the mill the workers who cut it look as tho they have been doon the pit ..would the mills refuse to take burnt cane is another question . Regardless its burnt about 4 months of the year and makes a real mesh of surrounding property cars , gardens , windows n pools.

IMO the jury is still out as to just how much this buring adds to the bad air quality as its bad most of the time not only in the burning season.

DM

[stattointhailand]

Just a thought but if a volcano erupting in iceland can force flights from UK to Turkey to be delayed/rerouted due to the smoke/ash etc in the atmosphere, and factories in India/China etc can cause "acid rain" in Scandiland then why are the fires in Oz which have been burning for months so far not been linked to poor air quality over the rest of the world?
Would have thought the smoke has had ample time to circle the world several times by now

[Doodoo]

DM

As for the air quality here in the Udon area It is to say at the least disgusting right now One clue is to take a look at the surface areas on vehicles at present and one will see black particles on the them

Not something I am accustom to any other time of year

[BillaRickaDickay]

Its always bad this time of year, Sugar Cane burning, the old polluting trucks that take it to the processing plant, the dust in the air due to the lack of rain.
The burning of the cane also helps to clear out all the dodgy criters that lurk within prior to cutting and why would you make yourself extra work trimming all of the leaves off the cane by hand if burning does the trick.

[Drunk Monkey]

Its always bad this time of year, Sugar Cane burning, the old polluting trucks that take it to the processing plant, the dust in the air due to the lack of rain.
The burning of the cane also helps to clear out all the dodgy criters that lurk within prior to cutting and why would you make yourself extra work trimming all of the leaves off the cane by hand if burning does the trick.

Not wishing to send this thread on to road safety but DM drove overnight UD Buriram yesterday and these ramshackled battered un lit trucks are the most dangerous thing on the road second only to a laokhao bladdered Somchai on his moped mai mee fai.. never seen an MOT test thats a joke .

Yes agree with all theres black ---- all over the place , i hung my washing out nipped to the market n the twats had burnt in the day time about which is unsual ..approx 1 km away ..my Y fronts were destroyed along with my favourite Doremon pyjamas.

DM

[stattointhailand]

Nothing worse than black ash marks spoiling yer egg stained vest

[parrot]

Last night there was a social media blitz about a sugar cane field that was burned in the Nong Hai area (about 9km SW of Udon). Today, this article in Udontoday. I just did a gist read.......it lists the sugarcane factories nationwide...with reports of how many tons were delivered burned and not burned. It also talks about financial incentives for farmers who bring unburned cane to the factories. As I read it, the public and government is starting to ramp up pressure to stop the burns. It probably won't happen in my lifetime.......but it'll happen in time.

https://udontoday.co/300163/