Black ‘snow’ in Isaan a bleak sign for carbon pledge
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Two days ago my neighbour in Isaan set light to the straw in his rice fields when the wind was set fair for local homes (including mine) and the nearby main road. Very soon, his blaze had set my own rice field alight, which duly set my other neighbour’s f
Fortunately there were no accidents, but then the police didn’t seem interested anyway. My wife’s 90-year-old mother had to be taken to hospital with breathing difficulties, as did other members of the community. The subsequent black “snow” will continue for weeks!
The moral here is that it has nothing to do with there being a shortage of balers or chippers to deal with the rice straw, which would negate the need to burn. It’s more to do with the fact that, at the Paris climate conference last month, our prime minister pledged to reduce carbon emissions in Thailand by some 30 per cent.
Given the habit of annual uncontrolled burning of crop residue and the fact that Egat is about to build two new coal-fired power stations (in areas of exceptional natural beauty), it is hard to see how the government is going to achieve this goal in the foreseeable future – or ever.
As an afterthought, the money spent by the Bangkok governor recently on his New Year “light show” would have provided nearly 100 straw balers or chippers for upcountry villages, where at this time of year many of them don’t see much “light” due to burning!
Johnny Thoyts
Nakhon Ratchasima
