Air pollution or Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) is a hazardous, almost transparent air pollutant that has been around the globe for quite a decade. Although it does not seem as much harmful as other environmental issues, PM 2.5 demonstrates as a conspicuous example of one of the possible results from vast deforestation across the world. In the past few years, forest fires had appeared more often than ever and in 2019, it caused an immeasurable damage to world’s largest and lushest forest, the Amazon. Another most heartbreaking case would be the massive bushfire in Australia, which initiated in June and peaked during December - January. The fire had burned and slaughtered millions of wild creatures and definitely more than half green area of the country was sacrificed for the unstoppable disaster.

There are many possible speculations for sources of these bushfire incidents, such as world’s higher temperature, low humidity in forest area, and most likely human activity. In Thailand and South East Asian countries, we are encountering the same fate. Air contamination problem had not been brought to light until a couple of years ago when Thai people started noticing a thick smokey haze up in the sky and made a fuzz about this novel issue that should be seen to as quickly as possible. This simply involves a process of waste management and deforestation for commercial industry. Last year, there were constant fire situations going on throughout the country, especially in the north. The serious circumstances were reported on news programs just a few times and then got completely neglected by the media and people in general. It is so sad that some still do not even perceive the actual cause and effect of the PM 2.5 and leave their homes without wearing masks for protection. The pollutants can directly leave impact on respiratory system and lungs. People being at risk are those with congenital asthma, children, the elderly and pregnant women (Srihawan, 2019). Over time, this could potentially result in an accumulation of dust and eventually develop lung cancer.

I just want to raise awareness to all people out there who have not seen an importance and urgency that this problem has become. This is totally relevant to our environment and it has not been talked about as much as it should. As an Ambassador of Tunza Eco-generation, I hope we can talk about this more and can finally bring it up with great awareness to young people and people of all ages around the world.

These are some photos taken from skyscraper view in Bangkok, Thailand, showing the scariest scenery of air pollution that can have deteriorative effects on people who inhale it in.

Chanunya S. (2019, January 18). PM 2.5 Air Pollutants: Tiny Particles That Can Have Huge Health Consequences. Retrieved from https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/pm2-5-air-pollutants/