Smoke Haze - Assignment Example

Smoke Haze Introduction Traditionally haze is defined as an atmospheric feature that dust, smoke, and other dry particles interfere with the clarity of the sky. The World Meteorological Organization has categorized code manuals including a horizontal obscuration classification into categories of fog, smoke, haze, steam fog, ice fog, mist, snow, dust, smoke, volcanic ash, and sand. Mainly smoke haze comes from farming for example ploughing in dry weather, traffic, industry, and wildfires. Haze somehow appears to be brownish or bluish when seen from a distant and depending on the suns position and the direction of view while mist is bluish-grey. Mostly haze is thought of as a product of dry air where else mist is a product of humid air. The term haze is used to denote visibility-reducing aerosols of the humid type. These aerosols mainly occur from complex chemical reactions that occur as sulfur dioxide gasses produced in the process of combustion then converted into tiny droplets of sulphuric acid. The sunlight, high relative humidity, and stagnant air flow gears these reactions. Small portion of wet haze seems to be derived from compounds released by trees like terpenes. Due to these reasons, wet haze seems to be a warm season occurrence. Large areas covering thousands of kilometers may be produced under suitable conditions every summer. How are the causes related to other things that we do as a society? The commonly haze-causing pollutants include sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates and elemental and organic carbons. A few of the pollutants are naturally in our atmosphere while others are generated by human activities i.e. when gasses are released into the air; they undergo a chemical reaction resulting in pollution. There are some haze causing pollutants, which include emissions from trains, agricultural equipment, on, and off road vehicles and gas-powered lawn mowers. Haze oftenly occurs when smoke and dust particles are occupied in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the emission of smoke and other pollutants, they concentrate and form a usually low hanging shroud that affects visibility and becomes a healthy threat to respiration. Industrial pollution can lead to dense haze that is called smog (Glover and Jessup 50). From the year 1991, haze has been a particularly a serious problem in Southeast Asia, with main causes being fires occurring in Sumatra and Borneo. In connection to 1997 Southeast Asian haze, the ASEAN countries agreed on regional haze action plan. Later in 2002, all ASEAN countries except Indonesia signed the Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution, but up-to-date, the pollution is a problem (Glover and Jessup 67). According to the agreement, the secretariat should host a coordination and support unit. Singapore faced high pollution level record, with the 3-hour pollution standard index reaching a record high of 401 during 2013 Southeast Asian haze (Quah and Toh 54). How can society solve this Problem? In the U.S, the program for Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) was established as a collaborative approach between the the National Park Service and U.S ESPA so that it can introduce the chemical composition of haze in national parks and establish air pollution control measures to regain the visibility to pre-industrial levels. However, the Clean Air Act recommends that any current visibility problems be remedied, and future visibility problems are controlled (Quah and Toh 60). In the year 1997, in between April and November, a widespread series of forest fires in Indonesia specifically in the provinces of Sumatra and Alimantan threw a blanket of thick, smoky haze over a large area of Southeast Asia (Friedlander 45). The fire from those forest fires travelled hundreds of miles across the Southeast Asian region, extending all the way even to southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines; even though most serious effects were experienced in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and definitely Indonesian itself. Almost million people stayed in parts affected by the smoke haze. There has been an important research and policy to know if the forest fires that caused smoke haze had major healthy or mortality problems. Unfortunately, the required data to be used is not available for research on these problems in Indonesia, the country that is mostly affected by the fires and smoke haze. In relation to that, Narayan Sastry collected data from Malaysia to study on mortality effects of smoke haze majoring on the Indonesian forest fires. Actually he made use of the data from Malaysian vital statistics record; information of air quality in the Kuala Lumpur city (from day to day measurements collected by the Malaysian Meteorological Bureau); and the U.S National Oceanic climate data and database from Atmospheric Administrations Global Weather Station (Waugh et al. 40). Two different approaches to air pollution were used in researching on smoke haze and mortality. The atmospheric pollutant, which most consistently increases, as biomass is suspended, microparticulate matter fewer than ten microns in width, known as PM10. Hence, the best and first measure uses PM10, which is based on a high air-pollution day and is defined as PM10 > 210 micrograms per cubic meter (Friedlander 23). The other measure, visibility enables two extra years of data; a low visibility day coincides with a day when visibility is low t0 0.91 kilometers. From the research carried out, it showed that, all ages group and for mortality, the visibility, and the PM10 measures, 19 and 22 percent increases in mortality after a high pollution day, respectively. The best overall measure since it excludes traumatic deaths i.e. accidents and injuries shows that, increase in mortality non-traumatic causes is almost the same. Mortality for those aged between 65-74 years, and are the most vulnerable, are substantial for PM10 being 56%, and mortality being 69%, whereby for the non-traumatic mortality, the additions are greater. The results have looked at the one-day lagged mortality problems of high air pollution levels, which indicate the immediate outcomes of exposure to smoke haze. The disturbing issue is whether there is a longer-lasting effect on mortality. In terms of quality, time, extend and those who were affected, it is clear that the forest fires in Southeast Asia in the year 1997 were an environmentally based calamity (Rao, Raman and Singh 89). The smoke haze drastically increased the mortality burden for the population in Malaysia, mostly affecting seniors and the ultimate vulnerable population members. Haze causing pollutants have been involved in many serious problems and environmental damage too. Introduction of small particles in the air can lead to increased respiratory illness, decreased lung function, or even premature death (Rao, Raman and Singh 50). The society is then educated on how to apply these policies and at the same time come up with other measures to solve this problem. Public awareness campaigns must be carried out by the society to make sure that proper mechanisms have been employed to reduce the problem. Reduction in the emission of pollutants in the atmosphere by using efficient and clean sources of energy like electricity and wind energy can also be applied to the society in reducing this problem. Who should do what to solve the problem? The government should be at the forefront in reducing and eliminating the problem of haze. Introducing proper policies that reduce the emissions and particles that bring about haze should be made a priority in the list of the things that the government should do. The society also must be involved in the process of solving the problem by being involved in the policy-making procedures. Individuals should take part in the process too. When each of these parties comes together and adds their efforts together, the problem is bound to be solved over time. What are the reasonable barriers to solving the problem the way you suggest? In solving the problem of haze by involving all the stakeholders, some problems arise that include lack of cooperation from some of the stakeholders, lack of funds from the government to aid in the campaigns that should enlighten the society on what acts to take so that they reduce pollution of the air. Ignorance from individuals who sometimes cannot take advice from the professionals to shun from activities that led to extra emission of particles in their societies as some act as their only means of livelihoods. How can those barriers face either reduction or removal? These barriers can be solved by making proper public campaigns that enlighten the society on what to do so that pollution is reduced. Proper measures must be taken to involve all stakeholders in the process of making policies related to the problem. Do you think this problem is solvable? The problem is solvable because it only calls for the reduction in the emission of pollutants that lead to its existence. How and what can you as an individual does to help solve the problem Taking and dedicating the time in understanding the major causes of the problem and educating close friends on the effects and causes of the problem is what can be done to help solve the problem. Conclusion With the rate of smoke haze, it is a clear indication that in some years to come, the highest percentage of the atmosphere will be smoke. The remedies to these problems will be proper disposal of pollutants. As far as forest fires are concerned, people should always take great care of cigarettes left overs. The relevant organizations protecting the environment should take relevant actions to those who carelessly dump haze-causing products to the environment. Works Cited Friedlander, Sheldon K. Smoke, Dust, and Haze. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Glover, David, and Timothy Jessup. Indonesias Fires And Haze. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2006. Print. Quah, Euston, and Raymond Toh. Cost-Benefit Analysis. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2011. Print. Rao, Gandikota V, S Raman, and M. P Singh. Air Quality. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag, 2003. Print. Waugh, David et al. Geography. Walton-on-Thames: Nelson, 2000. Print. Read More