Borneo is burning

Last weekend I stayed at home and worked. I couldn’t even go out because of the smoke particles in the air, which people here euphemistically call “haze”. Perhaps because “Haze” sounds better than”Smoke”. You can kid your subconscious that haze is a natural phenomenon.

Smoke from burning forest – our most valuable renewable natural resource – is a result of eco-terrorism, and we can’t pretend it is natural. Smoke kills. Go ask the hospitals’ admission desks for this week’s admissions. Ask the asthmatic kids how they feel this week.

The paper today says the satellite pix show 400 hot spots spread between Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia. It didn’t mention what the satellite showed for Malaysia. Malaysia, of course doesn’t burn anything. Ever. We are as innocent as the haze.

And if you’ll believe that, I’ll sell you the Petronas Towers for a deposit into my bank account, and you can go to my July 17th archives and look at the pix I took of burning in Sabah PRIOR to the burning “season”. For ten years our politicians have mouthed words on this issue. Words mean nothing. I want to be able to go for a brisk walk outside my house again without choking.

Anyway, I stayed at home last weekend and tried to meet a deadline, while my husband went to the place pictured here.

Tell me why I write again?


Comments

Borneo is burning — 5 Comments

  1. because you visit places way more beautiful and astounding in your mind, and make them accessable to other people 🙂

  2. I just went to Maliau Basin and the haze is so bad there, no views at all in the forest or from the viewpoints. And we were appalled to see the number of logging trucks outside the conservation area. In less than 2 hours we passed more than 50 trucks all laden with logs. It was interesting to see that many of the logs were really long, especially compared to those in Peninsular. I guess that soon they will be burning those empty areas to clear them for replantation….. ooo sorry, M’sia doesn’t burn anything and add to the haze 🙂

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