Thailand's Pollution Season: Making The "Climate Crisis" a "Health Emergency" (Part 3)

Sugarcane burn-off? Natural forest fires? Arson? Vehicle emissions? The Clean Air Bill is unveiled...

Thailand’s “pollution season” has started early this year, as monsoon season winds down, and burning mania commences. As local expats chime in on the Bangkok Post forums about how great the government’s newly proposed Clean Air Bill is to solve the PM2.5 crisis, climate cultists froth at the mouth demanding lifestyle adjustments for all.

Beware the trojan horse being snuck in through the city’s smog-covered gates…The ability for the authorities to declare an emergency, should the Clean Air Bill be passed. Could that be a climate emergency declared? Would climate crises be made synonymous with public health crises? Is Thailand sneakily following the 200 “health journals” calling on the WHO / UN to recognise ‘climate change’ as a ‘global health issue,’ and thus encompassing the criteria to cite a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by March 2024?

Do climate lockdowns await Bangkokians?

---

Continued from parts one and two in this series:

🌴Climate Change Law: Thailand's Testing Ground (Part 1)

🤑 Carbon Credit Rigging: Technocratic Thailand⏳(Part 2)

---

Clean air act smells like Agenda 2030 in action

Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment (MNRE) pledged to subject the Clean Air Act bill to review by the cabinet on 21st November 2023 (follow up outcomes yet to be announced).

Link to article.

The red flags jumping out begin with the touting of Public Private Partnerships (P3) to be integrated as an “approach in easing air pollution.” Agenda 2030 is obsessed with P3 as a means of solving all problems cited in the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). In reality, P3 unlocks government funds that would otherwise by subjected to red tape and troublesome legalities. Perhaps that reality is why it is literally acknowledged as such by the Bangkok Post, albeit in a positive light:

Once enacted, the law will remove hindrances to tackling the causes of smoke from forest fires -- a longstanding trans-border issue -- and allow for an integration of efforts by all sides via the Public-Private-People Partnership approach in easing air pollution.

Funds unlocked by P3 are handed over to corporate entities, eroding sovereignty for Thais, and amassing control for non-elected parties.

Pol Gen Phatcharavat Wongsuwan, the environment minister, stated that:

Clean air is a basic right. The MNRE has prepared the Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation [CAPM] for publishing real-time daily [air] pollution reports and will declare an emergency if the air pollution crisis worsens.

This statement is another major red flag. For those paying attention will know that 200 (captured? lobbied? funded?) “health journals” have called on the UN & WHO to link climate change with health, as reported by the British Medical Journal on 25th October 2023:

Link to article.

Over 200 health journals call on the United Nations, political leaders, and health professionals to recognize that climate change and biodiversity loss are one indivisible crisis and must be tackled together to preserve health and avoid catastrophe. This overall environmental crisis is now so severe as to be a global health emergency...

Human health is damaged directly by both the climate crisis, as the journals have described in previous editorials, and the nature crisis. The World Health Organization should declare the indivisible climate and nature crisis as a global health emergency.

The three preconditions for WHO to declare a situation to be a public health emergency of international concern are that it is serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected; carries implications for public health beyond the affected state’s national border; and may require immediate international action. Climate change seems to fulfil all those conditions. We must recognise this crisis for what it is: a global health emergency.

---

Historical fires, VIIRS alerts, and “fire season”

Last time we endured the smog-a-thon merry-go-round in Thailand, most chokingly and hazily from February - April 2023, I collated data from globalforestwatch.org to compare previous years and “trans-boundary-haze” from neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Laos.

This was taken at the peak of the pollution in late March 2023, showing a heat map of forest fires in Thailand and the neighbouring countries:

VIIRS stands for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite.

Historical forest fire precedents from 2020 to 2023 showed a huge spike in April 2023 compared to the previous years:

The AQI (air quality index) becomes a site that one feels compelled to check like the news each morning, in deciding whether to venture outside, or remain hermitic with air purifiers indoors.

Anecdotally, I heard from people living in the North of Thailand, that forest rangers had caught arsonists who admitted to having been paid to start the fires. Unfortunately I cannot verify this; it never made the mainstream news, and supposedly the forest rangers were hushed up to not talk about it.

The forest rangers, the police, and the local authorities throughout Thailand already have the legal means to punish the offenders starting these fires, yet like so many issues here, an apathetic lack of enforcement prevails.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might consider that the anecdotes about paid arson, combined with the sugar cane burn off being “permitted” to continue, was a strategy to later galvanise support for “stronger measures” - the Clean Air Act, as described earlier in this piece.

The Bangkok pollution “forecast” during April 2023:

Fires around the outskirts of Bangkok were also mapped here:

The worst air quality shown per area throughout Thailand on 15th April 2023:

For context, good air quality is globally recommended (albeit by the world homicide organisation WHO) at 25 µg/m³ - refers to microgrammes per cubic metre. Thailand doubles that figure setting 50 µg/m³ as the “safe level,” with PM2.5 being the main pollutant. PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers.

The “slash and burn” method of farmers clearing their fields at the end of harvests is well documented:

Link to article.

Each year, the air quality pollution is exacerbated, there is much talk about banning the burning of fields used for farming, as well as banning the burning of the forests in the north of Thailand; intentional arson committed by some locals to more easily scavenge wild products from the forest floor after scorching the earth.

Link to article.

The National Environment Board (NEB) on Wednesday backed stronger measures to deal with air pollution from fine particle matter smaller than2.5 microns (PM2.5). It ordered all 17 provinces in the North to cease burning activities until the end of April.

"The department has authority to close more parks if the situation gets worse. But the service zone for tourists remains open. Only those areas that are potential sources of forest burning are being closed. Legal measures will be taken against wrongdoers.

Other measures adopted by the NEB include prohibiting purchases of sugar cane harvested by burning methods; limiting the number of trucks permitted to enter urban zones, and how long they can stay there; a measure to make artificial rain; and a plan to set up PM2.5-free spaces.

Another March 2023 editorial from the Bangkok Post called for action:

Over the past decade, the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT), under the transport ministry, has gradually moved over 80% of the port's cargo activities to Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri province.

But that is far from enough. Large cargo trucks still enter the inner city to Bangkok Port, leading to traffic congestion, severe air pollution, and road damage that costs taxpayers.

For years, the public has been warned to stay indoors, wear masks during haze seasons, or be encouraged to plant trees. But we're at the stage where the city's people really need to see concrete action being carried out to address PM2.5.

I agree that large trucks, old buses, and pickup trucks can be visibly seen billowing thick black fumes from the exhausts - yet police do nothing to intervene. Other pick up truck drivers intentionally convert / disable their catalytic converter, redirecting the most pollutive exhaust fumes away from the engine, and out of the exhaust into the environment. I am told this is because of their selfish belief that it will prolong the lifespan of their engines.

The fine line for action is when all vehicles are lumped into the same emission causing crisis, which can and will be used to curtail freedom of movement, ownership of personal vehicles, and inter-provincial travel restrictions.

As the BP editorial noted, the public has been warned trained to wear masks for several years now, prior to the scamdemic; normalising face coverings for half of the year. This could well be part of why the acquiescence to the new abnormal has been such a runaway PSYOP success story in Bangkok. It still gives mask enthusiasts an excuse to muzzle up all year round. Personally, I do not believe that N95 masks do much to protect from air pollution, and nowadays I could never bring myself to don a mask during pollution season, as it has become too synonymous with the Covid cult, and basically a willing servitude, slavery, and enthusiasm for the herd mentality.

We digress.

In most articles published by the mainstream media since October 2023, when the pollution worsened again around Bangkok, vehicle emissions were blamed as contributing to 70% of the PM2.5 hazardous levels. The aforementioned quote from the March 2023 article shows how in spite of acknowledging that the arsonist forest fires and intentionally burned farmers’ fields are the main cause of pollution, they opportunistically tag on a caveat to suggest limiting vehicles being able to enter urban zones.

The main aim of control is always lingering in the background messaging, and the opportunistic promotion of electric vehicles:

Link to article.

"Currently, Bangkok is only affected on some days as rainfall [during the current rainy season] helps ease the haze pollution," he said.

"Based on seasonal patterns of haze pollution, the problem will occur later in the year and continue until the middle of March."

He said it also plans to use electric vehicles as ambulances at all state-run hospitals and healthcare units under its supervision.

Like clockwork each year, at the height of the pollution crisis, there will be articles pumped out that basically say, per government speakers, “we’ve tried our best, but just wait for rainy season to solve the problem.”

Here is another piece whereby field burning and intentionally started forest fires are totally omitted, and traffic is purely blamed:

Link to article.

In the event the PM2.5 dust particles soared to more than 76 microgrammes per cubic metre, the red level for dust pollution, in two to five districts, the BMA's Department of Education will consider suspending classes at schools across the city for 15 days, Deputy Bangkok Governor Chakkapan Phewngam said yesterday.

However, if the situation is even worse, with five or more districts being declared red zones, the Bangkok governor may consider ordering a shutdown until the situation returns to a safe level, Mr Chakkapan said.

the BMA is preparing to step up controls of PM2.5 dust sources, particularly traffic emission, the most common cause of the dust's concentration, he said.

The Bangkok governor may also ask for cooperation from government agencies and private companies to allow their staff members to work remotely to decrease the rate of car use in the city, he said.

Interesting language here that sounds dreadfully familiar, doesn’t it?

• 15 days to …[insert crisis here].

• Shutdown schools and back to remote learning, isolation, mental health of the youth crippled, again.

• Ask for cooperation from companies, to have their staff work remotely.

We’ve been trained and conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs to salivate at the sound of the government whistle, and to do exactly what we are told to do. For our own good. For our protection. For the greater food. To be selfless. Not selfish. To be part of the collective. To “fight climate change.”

---

DIY air purifier and best air quality provinces in Thailand

For those not wishing to spend several thousand baht on fancy air purifier machines, I recommend putting a cheap version together which is just as effective. The cylindrical air filters used in the machines can be bought separately on any of the online shopping platforms for circa 750 THB:

Then you will need to buy a cheap extractor fan also circa 750 THB such as:

Finally, you simply place the fan on top of the air filter, and plug the fan into the mains electricity, and voila:

Photo from Creed’s dungeon.

I have four of these little fellas running 24/7. You can prolong the lifespan of the air filters by cleaning the outside dust accumulation with a damp cloth once a month; then get away with buying replacements once or twice a year.

If you really want to notice just how much better the air quality can be improved within your home by using air purifiers, get an air tri recorder:

I think I ordered this outside of Thailand, equivalent to roughly 2,500 THB.

For the cleanest (air) ranking locations in Thailand, should you feel the need to relocate during the height of the haze, this guide can be viewed at iqair.com:

---

I shall leave you with two nuggets from the Bangkok Post comments section - ever a tell of the expat zeitgeist, and / or paid agents attempting to shape thought.

---

Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok based dissident blogger. All content is free for all readers, with nothing locked in archive that requires a paid subscription. Any support is greatly appreciated.

Bitcoin address:

39CbWqWXYzqXshzNbosbtBDf1YoJfhsr45

Monero address:

86nUmkrzChrCS4v5j6g3dtWy6RZAAazfCPsC8QLt7cEndNhMpouzabBXFvhTVFH3u3UsA1yTCkDvwRyGQNnK74Q2AoJs6Pt