It's the time of the year when I, along with several other million people in Bangkok, have been waiting for -- lower temperatures comfortable enough for us to stay outdoors without breaking a sweat.
Yet it's also the same time we are forced to embrace the issue of fine particulate matter (especially PM2.5) that has blanketed the city. I am not so sure how many people are aware just how hazardous the situation has become. PM2.5 is so small that a normal mask cannot filter it out. We need to use specially designed masks, but these cost at least 300 baht apiece if you order them online. Even people who heed the government's advice and stay at home when the pollution gets out of control must fit their air-conditioned houses with high-quality air-filters in order to be safe.
According to a mobile app called "Shoot! I Smoke", breathing the air in my neighbourhood is equivalent to smoking up to two cigarettes a day. I don't smoke, nor do I stay near smokers, but without protection my lungs still suffer.
According to Tara Buakhamsri, Thailand's director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) has tried to alert the public of the PM2.5 danger, encouraging people to wear a mask or avoid outdoor activities in certain areas and at specific times. But the activist recognises the dilemma facing the agency as it has limited channels to communicate efficiently with all of Bangkok's residents.
Many of those who learned about it have been panicking because, Mr Tara noted, they don't know how to handle it; while others remain uninformed and are at risk, staying outdoors. Even if they know, I believe they may have no choice, especially if their job means they have to spend time outdoors. This unfortunate group are mostly the urban poor, like motorcycle taxi drivers or road cleaners, as well as commuters who depend on non-air-conditioned buses.
Some people can't differentiate fog from haze. Social media users yesterday shared a clip, taken in Lat Krabang, showing schoolchildren walking in an area with 20 metres to 30m visibility. Many were excited by how it resembled Chiang Mai. Some thought -- mistakenly -- that it was fog, not haze. However, the PCD quickly corrected them.
The agency has released a series of warnings this month. But while the PCD is so active, City Hall seems sluggish, despite us having to face a similar situation each year. It took Bangkok governor Pol Gen Aswin Kwanmuang a considerable amount of time to take up the issue. His Facebook posts last week were full of PR campaigns and launches but there was no mention of air pollution in Bangkok let alone the associated health risks.
Yesterday morning the governor finally woke up and smelled the coffee -- or inhaled the smog. He broached the subject on his Facebook fanpage and said air pollution was getting serious.
The governor blamed this partly on the construction of big public transport projects (presumably the new electric train system), road repair works, and smoke from car engines in highly congested traffic conditions.
He also offered an easy solution, ensuring that all 50 district offices would clean up their respective jurisdictions and sprinkle water in congested areas, especially those under Skytrain stations where car fumes and dust tend to congregate.
But by laying the blame on infrastructure projects, his proposed "solutions" can only be viewed as short-term band-aids. He seems to have overlooked the bigger need to establish car-free zones on certain days, or other such permanent measures.
Many cities around the world have declared a war on cars. Diesels have been banned from Hamburg in Germany since this May. In Madrid, cars with petrol engines registered before 2000 (and diesel engines before 2006) will be banned from the city centre by 2020. Paris and Brussels have already made their city centres car-free zones on one Sunday a month.
This is a pretty harsh measure in cities that offer no alternative mass transport system, and one that does the most harm to low-income earners. The rich can always buy more cars, for example if Bangkok were to ban odd- and even- registration plates on alternate days. They could even switch over to an electronic car if the use of diesel engines is curbed.
Public transport is technically beyond the governor's authority but that should not stop him from working with other agencies to tackle air pollution. The city must first put in place a seamless system of public transport -- one that is both practical and affordable -- if it hopes to convince people to give up their cars.
Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a columnist, Bangkok Post.
