The haze/smog is back!

Just like the annual migratory birds, the haze/smog/smoke is back again this year! According to the Meteorological Services Department, there is now some 200 hotspots in Sumatera due to, again, forest burning. And due to the unfortunate position of Malaysia vis-a-vis its neighbour and the south-westernly monsoon wind, we are again seeing a degradation of air quality starting this week, and till God-knows when. During the weekend the moon was as orange as the one fruit I eat in most nights, indicating to all that the level of particulates in the air is inching higher and higher. Pretty soon we would get the full blown annual sorry state - extremely poor visibility, smell of smoke in the air, the sun is orange, no rain, hot, humid, dust everywhere, difficulty in breathing, and rise in ashmatic attacks. All thanks to a somewhat docile Malaysian government when it comes to dealing with big-cousin-Indonesia, despite the Indonesia President apologizing to its neighbours last year that all possible measures will be taken to prevent a recurrence. With the worsening impact of global warming, especially the predicted worse effect from El Nino this year which has caused the worst drought in 20 years in West Timor, I will not "hold my breath" in seeing any improvement from the Indonesian government. Also, don't expect our BN government to react towards them the same way they reacted every time towards that "little red dot" down south, just recently over MM Lee's statements on the IDR. In the mean time, do whatever you can personally to minimize the horrible effect from this annual transborder environmental pollution and disaster.