Tuesday, 15th January 2019
After New Year celebration, people are back to their routine lives; some continue working or studying , others simply killing the time with no goal. Living on this planet is just like that.
I falls into the first category--I work, not because I have any big goal for myself but because I have four (always) hungry cats to feed and care. Each day is simple. I get up early at dawn (or earlier), have four bowls filled with cat food, boil water for my hot chocolate, and turn on an old TV set to check on news and whatever program they put on, while cleaning up and clearing whatever mess my four kids brought about over the night. While doing those activities, I usually get to my small balcony to catch morning breeze and a glimpse of sky and/or some clouds which change every day. The sky becomes very bright blue with no cloud at all in winter, yet it can be very dark and no trace of bright blue dot--only utterly dark grey as if the world was dying.
However, the vibrant mood of sky has gone over the past few days. When looking at the balcony, I have seen mostly smog looming above and blocking my bright sunny blue sky. The air, although not very hot in the morning, made me sneeze and slightly hurt my nostrils. My throat turned sore. According to the news, the air in Bangkok has become harmful because of tiny particles exceeding the limit into the dangerous level.
At first the Bangkok City and some other government organizations seemed paying very little attention until the pollution information was spread virally through social media. Then more and more people posted their concern on the Internet so the City and those state agencies could no longer ignore and started responding by holding press conference to calm down the panic and announcing some measures to cope with the problem.
Yet , as many people can see, the measures they chose are just short -termed and merely better than doing nothing, since all hardly touch the causes of the problem. For example, water spraying in some areas, distributing 10,000 free masks to the public, while the Bangkok population is nearly 10 million, and advising wearing a high quality mask and not going out if not necessary. One of those big heads even said that people should not be worried or panic, for the air is not that harmful. Yes, we can guess he spoke in air-conditioning room before hopping into his air-conditioning car heading home, most likely well equipped with more than one air-conditioners.
Yet , as many people can see, the measures they chose are just short -termed and merely better than doing nothing, since all hardly touch the causes of the problem. For example, water spraying in some areas, distributing 10,000 free masks to the public, while the Bangkok population is nearly 10 million, and advising wearing a high quality mask and not going out if not necessary. One of those big heads even said that people should not be worried or panic, for the air is not that harmful. Yes, we can guess he spoke in air-conditioning room before hopping into his air-conditioning car heading home, most likely well equipped with more than one air-conditioners.
Like many other Bangkokians, I would love to not going out and prevent myself from bad air but I couldn't. We have to carry on our lives--to study, to work, to do whatever business we have. The only thing we can do at the moment is self-protecting--getting a mask to wear, which seems hard because the masks run out and many stores sell them with much higher prices. Such a good-hearted society.
Besides that, we share and update information that are useful for others to protect themselves and their beloved ones, such as how to make a good mask with handy materials. Many people including I wish the government to take responsible for solving this long time problem swiftly and seriously by focusing on limiting the numbers of vehicles, factories, construction sites especially hi-end condominiums, apartments and luxurious shopping centers, as well as growing more trees and expanding more green areas around the city. But, despite people have urged every government to consider their requests, none shows real interest and seems making worse. And maybe our wish will come true when some of the authorities get suddenly sick and die from the air pollution.
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