Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer
Transboundary haze is getting a bit in the way of the activities I had planned for my last SEAS week in Singapore. Smoke from forest fires in Indonesia is the cause of the air pollution that has now reached unhealthy levels. Here's a link to a local Singaporean newspaper with details: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/asia-report/indonesia/story/haze-looms-over-region-hot-spots-multiply-20130617
At 11pm, the PSI was 150 - the highest since 1997, when the index peaked at 226.
Any reading above 100 is considered unhealthy.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said he is “deeply concerned that the 113 hotspots detected over Sumatra (on 17 June 2013) have led to such a bad haze in Singapore”.
The cloud of haze is visible even from my dorm room window, covering up my view of downtown skyscrapers and other prominent landmarks. Since Singapore’s National Environmental Agency (the NEA) has issued a statement saying these oppressing hazy conditions are expected to continue over the course of the next couple of days, our program leaders thought it best to cancel our trip to the Singaporean Zoo and the Night Safari. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to visit this amazing place in the future!
But, what this happening has really opened my eyes to is the local as well as international adverse effects that slash-and-burn agriculture has in this day and age. While this practice, also known as swidden, only is used for a relatively short piece of time on a specific plot of land and then is left alone for a longer period of time to allow vegetation to grow, it clearly contributes to a number of reoccurring environmental problems, such as this air pollution and a decrease in biodiversity. On the other hand, this method of agriculture is primarily used by communities for subsistence farming as well as a source of income, allowing them to farm in places where it is usually not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, pesky pests, or non-arid soil. I hope that this current event in Singapore will translate to Biology class discussion in the days to come.