WOKE up this Monday morning, opened the window, sucked in a breath of air and realised that I don’t give thanks often enough.
The air was laden with particles from some far-flung forest fire, carcinogens, no doubt, making their way into my system with every breath I inhaled. The sweet scent of daffodils from my neighbour’s windows no longer assaulted my delicate sensitivities. Instead, the overpowering aroma of fresh wood being burnt to a crisp in some distant forest somewhere gave me some kind of twisted, immeasurable pleasure. Thank you.
Right there and then, I found myself thanking nature for this year’s annual ritual of filling my lungs with all this smoky, wholesome goodness. Last year, I forgot to thank the powers that be, whoever they may be, for doling out pittance to have entire swathes of jungles in Indonesia, the size of Brazil, torched. But, when the Indonesian blanket of smog finally hits us in May or June, I hope I will remember to stick a goat on the barbeque spit, with a ripe tomato in its mouth, and offer oodles of thanks. The last three months or so of not choking and gagging while breathing had been almost unbearable; so this soft, gentle reminder of the blanket of smog that is sure to come, was a welcome relief. Thank you.
In February, the headlines screamed “Indonesia pledges no repeat of haze crisis”. Indonesian authorities had given their assurance to us that they would take proactive measures to prevent the haze from recurring this year. Officials in Kuala Lumpur chimed in and said if the haze did happen again this year, the effects would be less severe than last year’s. No more a repeat of the 1,986 Air Pollutant Index reading in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on Sept 22 last year. Bummer, because that insane reading was a showstopper! Christopher Nolan should have shot Interstellar here.
This was because Indonesia had put in place certain measures, such as improving the irrigation system in oil palm plantations and cancelling the concession of 20 oil palm companies, including that of Malaysian concerns. It even said it would buy huge planes whose bellies would open up and gulp in thousands of litres of water and dump it on forest fires to snuff them out. Apparently, someone had told them that they were more effective in putting out fires than slapping at them with a wet rag.
Naturally, the plantation sector would be the hardest hit, followed by manufacturers of surgical masks and breathing apparatus. If the burning stops, who will buy the masks? Public healthcare would also no doubt be affected; the number of men, women and children trooping into clinics for a variety of respiratory ailments would trickle till there was no more. If we can’t count on keeping the masses sick, how will medical practitioners make money? You could almost hear the “kaaching” of cash registers slowly fading away. Thousands could lose their jobs. The economic repercussions were grave.
Thankfully, though, calmer heads have prevailed and the open burning has started once more, in earnest.
In 2013, the doomsday alarmists in the United Nations warned that the chances of keeping the global temperature increase below 2°C will “swiftly diminish” unless the world takes immediate action to escalate cuts in carbon emissions.
The world body’s Environment Programme had said that even if nations met their current emissions reduction pledges, carbon emissions in 2020 will be eight to 12 gigatonnes above the level required to avoid a calamitous greenhouse gas output. Global greenhouse gas emissions for 2010, the latest year for which data is available, stood at 50.1 gigatonnes.
The Emissions Gap Report 2013 warned that if the greenhouse “gap” isn’t “closed or significantly narrowed” by 2020, the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C will not be achieved. This report, by the way, hardly constitutes a global consensus — compiled by only 44 scientific groups in 17 countries.
In 2010, the international community had agreed to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 2°C by the year 2100, based on pre-industrial levels. However, scientists warned that the world could emit enough carbon to surpass the 2°C limit within 30 years. This UN analysis had heightened concerns that the world could be heading for a temperature rise of 4°C or even 6°C, triggering damaging sea level rises, extreme weather events and food insecurity. But, let’s look on the bright side; the view from your front porch in Petaling Jaya could now be of the sea instead of the Jaya Supermarket. The price of your property would go right through the roof.
The perpetual smog could give rise to a new industry, plugged as doomsday, or apocalypse tourism. Suffering from respiratory problems while visiting a smog-socked Genting Highlands? Not to worry. We already have a burgeoning health tourism sector.
Perhaps Jakarta has seen the future and it’s rather bleak. Perhaps, in the spirit of Asean brotherhood, it has been trying to do the neighbourly thing and getting us to acclimate to the not-so-rosy picture of life in the 21st century. Much like climbers who spend a few weeks on Everest to acclimatise themselves before making the final push to the summit, Indonesia has been churning out the haze, like a cottage industry, to ensure that her neighbours, and Asean, as a whole, forge ahead, choking and gagging, but united as one, into the future...
This Kajai award winner’s passion is fast jets and flying. When he’s not doing slow speed, high-alpha passes and four-point rolls, NST’s associate editor of production Haris Hussain enjoys zooming around in mountain passes and hitting the twisties with the top down