WAIW | The Worst Air in the World?

Image contains a photo of a man on the left-hand side wearing a face mask over his mouth and nose. To the right of the man, a hazy sky is visible above some trees in the horizon, a green rice field, and a narrow road.

I know I touched on it previously, but today I had to talk about burning season in a Where Am I Wednesday episode yet again. Thanks to a large forest fire, the air quality has dropped to the point where Chiang Mai had the worst air in the world just yesterday. Based on the reading this morning, I suspect we had it again today.

Obviously, there are plenty of factors that play into this happening, and Chiang Mai is lucky in that it typically has good air for most of the year. So, I’m hopeful that things will improve in the coming weeks. Of course, lots of people in other places can’t expect the same. As air pollution gets worse, poverty pushes people into slums and other unhealthy living conditions, and the cost of health care rises, concerns around poor air quality are going to become more and more common.

Here’s hoping the world can find solutions before more places start to compete to be #1 in a category that no one should be fighting for.



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