BEVS

I shall tell Mr BEVS the problemo is not the curry . Tiz the paper.

I'm onto it. Can't be doing with an uncomfy rear end or the idea that I may be unwittingly causing something living an uncomfy rear end .

InVinoVeritas

Either way there is a very good cream for treating the symptoms. Unfortunately it has palm oil in it. Which brings us right back to square one.

Davita

It's all making sense...that must be why everytime I go into a public toilet in Asia the seat, floor and half-way up the wall is covered in water.
The previous occupant must have considered saving the forest, and our health, by not using paper nor creams....but't' this.....

InVinoVeritas

Rodi, I have recently come back from a trip to your home country - I'm surprised you're not used to the haze given how you were raised.

Incidently, this was not the best B&B in which we stayed

Rodi

You obviously spent your vacation in an oil refinery because looking and smelling outside today (again) no sane human being would voluntarily trade the USA for the Surreal apocalyptic stench that is Penang (again)

Clearly you just like to spew anti American comments which I find ironic coming from the country that spent hundreds of years being the world's largest imperialists, conquered and "civilized" millions and supported GWB like a patsy while Iraq was invaded

Whatever

I already admitted my mistake. It's unfortunate I didn't research 1997 as the base year for what the haze really is. In case you haven't heard this is slated to be the worst environmental disaster in the history of mankind and the only reason it's not as costly as as something caused by western companies is because nobody even chooses to gauge the economic losses because they're too busy building developments that no citizen will ever be able to buy and no westerner would ever choose to spend two million RM on

Rodi

And for anyone still living in denial, here is the official word from the media. The severe haze is expected to be here for FIVE MORE MONTHS


No end soon to the haze - Nation | The Star Online




Nobody listened to the predictions which are now reality. The fires are spreading, places that have never seen haze are now affected and eventually the western world will take notice and then watch the investment dollars stop flowing. That's what it will take. They still refuse major international help, keep predicting they will be extinguished "soon" and schools continue to shut. Kids can't take exams, respiratory ailments are going up and the RM will probably eventually plummet to $5 USD


This is all factual from public information, not my rhetoric


What more proof do you need to understand the severity of this being an emergency situation that nobody knows want to do about?

Gunnar45

Rodi,
I think the readers here do realize and understand that the haze is a serious problem and that it urgently needs to be addressed by the responsible parties.

But I don't quite understand who you are addressing with 'what more proof do you need....', etc?
And what do you want to achieve with your rantings?

I mean, the participants of this forum are probably the least influential of groups to lobby.

meinkl

Obviously the haze contains a potent anti humour analgesic component that prevents people from seeing a little humour within posts. As mere guests in a foreign land we can only cope with whatever is thrown at us and not resort to overzealous critique of nationalist content that has little to do with the subject matter in hand.
I joined this forum to gain, and hopefully contribute, positive information relating to matters appertaining to life as an expat.
Maybe a letter by the OP to the Star Newspaper, if published, would get the desired result of reaching the people that can actually do something about this situation. Maybe also including a detailed report of the current CO2 emissions by country so as to make it a truly global issue.

Rodi

Yes, I agree there's absolutely nothing expats can do about this so I'm probably just venting frustration at what is turning out to be the worst decision I've ever made in my 50 years. In my defense nobody expected a year ten times worse than 1997 so how could I have known?

I guess I mean "what more proof do THEY need" and I'm looking for answers from anyone that can help me understand why the responsible parties don't react to the severity of the problem. Three million kids are home from school again today and this is setting back their goal of "developed status" by decades.


I'm simply baffled at media reports that address contingency plans for the infrastructure true rather than screaming, yelling, protesting and demanding that they beg the world for some help before they ruin what's left of their economy. Again, I stuck up for this place over and over when trying to explain how a moderate Muslim nation is such a nice place to live but I feel like an idiot now because I simply can't justify it anymore. My lungs and burning eyes are telling me that.


I don't really think we can survive five more months and once we visit Thailand and Australia in the upcoming months it seems inevitable that we won't want to come back to un breathable air


But this is my bad, not yours

Rodi

Well spoken and I agree but as has been pointed out, we are visitors and it's not our place to write the media. The western world is the one demanding the products produced by the slash and burn so expecting sympathy from anyone other than a handful of Greenpeace activists seems pointless. It takes generations for common sense to prevail and SE Asia is at about 1955 far as western standards are concerned. People all smoked in elevators when I was a kid, we had no seat belts and advertised cigarettes on TV. This all seems ludicrous today and hopefully by 2075 that's they will look back and ponder how stupid their forefathers were in not realizing the obvious collateral damage. Until then, there's little you of I can do as we are not citizens

Stuurman

I read this:

It is estimated that the extensive burning of peat and vegetation in the 1997 El Nino year released between 0.81 and 2.57 gigatons of carbon, then equivalent to a staggering 13 to 40 per cent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Source:
Instead of pointing fingers, start restoring peatlands, Opinion News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

This year seems even worse.

I'm surprised how little attention, for example compared to the Volkswagen scandal, this gets in the Western press, after all with these kind of extra emissions in the long term the haze is affecting the whole planet.

Rodi

Having lived in the US most of my life and Canada for six years I'm not surprised at all. The mindset is that nothing outside the US really matters and the attention span is shorter than anywhere. The western media cares little about things people won't blabber about on social media. Volkswagen involves an eight billion dollar fine which makes it a large enough story to be very newsworthy.


As an ex financial service employee I can tell u from experience that the only real solution is enormous fines that force the offending parties out of business or at least create real change. Since the entire economy depends on illegal burns don't expect the government to get behind fines. Perhaps they should kick the companies off the exchanges and force them to pay restitution. Again, only financial matters get real attention. Destroying the planet is an interesting read but not really of any vital concern in a country obsessed with military superiority

meinkl

I think you read the world'd public as being unconcerned. In most of Europe, Australia and North America at least, the general public IS well aware of what their lifestyles are doing to the destroy the world by numerous means.
But the people they continue put into govenment are however more concerned at maintaining commercial interests and consumerism, than really tackling the issues required to stop the mass destruction.

Moreover, it is the countries that consume, and waste, in ever increasing amounts, yet have not had the benefit of years of "education of consiquence" , where there is the most danger of ignorance and thus inaction by the people,... until recently.

Look at the change in attitude in Malaysia for example... 10 years ago everything came in a non biodegradable plastic bag, but it is the infulence of so called "western" based supermarket chains that introduced biodegradable bags or no-bag days. Boycotting of certain (damaging) products is more prevalent in the "West" than it is in developing nations, so they are the ones making changes, albeit too little - too late.
If the buyers of products are aware that they contribute to such destruction then they do stop buying and western supermarket shelves remain full of boycotted products.

But, as stated earlier in this post, to destroy that market would then destroy the nations dependent on such exports. However, having a bunch of "western experts" dictating to developing nations how they should conduct themselves is a greater level of "imperialism" than ever existed in the past.

meinkl

InVinoVeritas

Thank you Meinkl. At least someone saw the humour in my last post.