Hazy Days

Phew, it’s hot today. Obviously hot is a relative thing when you live in the tropics, but it really feels extra hot and sticky today. When Holger gets up in the morning he turns on the airco in the kitchen and living room so it’s nice and cool by the time I stagger out 15 minutes later, and I don’t get an accurate idea of the outside temperature until I venture outside. According to the experts, the average temperature in Singapore is 26-27 C all year round, but during the last couple of weeks we’ve had temps of 32-34 C.
On top of that we are currently engulfed in a wave of smog – or ‘haze’ as they call it here – caused by massive forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesia), our neighbours. The sad thing is that the fires are lit deliberately despite widespread international condemnation as pristine forest is sacrificed under the slash and burn tactics carried out by poor Indonesian farmers to clear more farmland for the rubber, palm oil and wood pulp industries. Because the land – which supports the millennia-old forests in perfect balance – is actually quite infertile and unsuitable for farming it becomes useless for that purpose within a short time, so more forest is burned to clear land again each year. These huge fires, which smoulder for weeks, are now an annual event and an ongoing tragedy. Over twenty National Parks are ablaze and the fires show no signs of stopping – I can’t help thinking about all the magnificent wildlife which is dying. According to Greenpeace, the forests being destroyed are home to some of the world’s most endangered animals like the Sumatran rhinoceros, tiger, Oranga Utan and the Asian elephant. Plus the forests are host to countless different types of plants, many not even documented yet. One of the most disturbing reports is that large companies have started most of the fires in recent years in their greed to expand their commercial crops.
For us the direct impact is drastically reduced visibility, grey skies, sometimes a smoky smell hanging in the air and a reddened sun shining through the haze. If the wind blows the right way it clears, but as it’s been quite still today we’ve got another grey oppressive day. The schools are monitoring the daily government postings on the air quality level and when the air pollution is too high they won’t let the kids play outside. We haven’t reached that stage yet but some kiddies with asthma are having some problems, although Carl, who was on asthma medication for a year up until about May 2006, hasn’t had any problems so far.
The local airports have had to cut back on flights due to poor visibility, and a flight landing in Kuala Lumpar last week ended up parked on the grass after the pilot overshot the runway in the thick smog. Shipping is also affected with the visibility being so poor, so the widespread economic impact is significant and growing each day.
It’s hard to believe as I sit here looking out window at towering apartment buildings and ultra-modern high-rises in one of the worlds most developed cities, that just a few kilometres away peasant farmers who live in little more than shacks exist in a world so poor that burning down rainforest to plant a few meagre crops each year is a normal way of life. Or rather existence, because existing is what these people are struggling to do against overwhelming poverty and lack of opportunity. We live in a world of stark contrasts and glaring inequalities. In Holland we would feel guilty if we threw a newspaper in the rubbish bin or didn’t drop a glass bottle into the recycling bin. In Indonesia families clear the forest with fire and their bare hands and use water buffalo to plough the ash into the dying soil in order to eke out a meagre living. It kind of puts those “just gotta have that new pair of shoes” cravings into perspective, doesn’t it?