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might as well start smoking crack

check out your AQI
https://aqicn.org/city/kuala-lumpur/

We are in the thick of the "haze" season here in South East Asia and only a few places on Earth can lay claim to more poisonous air. Here you can have a look at the non western world's air quality. But, before you do here's an interesting factoid we all share the same air

Aside from a few one off spots that are likely experiencing localized wild fires such as the eastern coast of Australia, Northern California, the Amazon, and an off the charts reading in central Mexico I'd like you all to focus on the vast pockets of red.

The most affected area by far is China, which we can attribute to not only massive and densely populated cities that often contain 15-25 million air breathers, but also likely due to abysmal standards and regulations when it comes to pollution. In China, the situation seems to be year round, and I can only speculate that the newly returned to the ranks of super power isn't meeting the quality controls put into practice in the west. Who could know for sure though? It's not as if we non communists get to go inspect their factories and emissions testing.

The other major zone is where I reside in Malaysia which covers a vast area also covering Indonesian and affects at least a quarter billion people. Here we see the worst aspects of the economic pressures imposed on developing democratic nations by the consumers of the world. These SE Asian governments are either unable or unwilling to even attempt to create a budget to control their pollutants. The issue is exacerbated by economically disadvantaged citizens and a lack of awareness or education in regards to maintaining clean environments. We can easily see in the thick noxious air the impacts of a culture that is rightly too focused on putting food on the table and gas in the scooter to be bothered by responsible and sustainable lifestyles, that have no incentives or infrastructure to establish such a fantasy. In this part of the world the unfavorable and stagnant winds of the dry season only serve to temporarily expose a dreadful situation that is ongoing. While the air quality is not as bad during the windy wet seasons it's still very much hazardous and gets spread far and wide across the globe throughout the year.

Lastly we have another huge area of land also populated by hundreds of millions in the regions of Central to Northern India. The specifics of this area are beyond the scope of my attempt here to simply raise awareness, but it's safe to say a similar lack of funding and education are only part of the problem.

Apparently not reporting to this index is Russia which is the world's largest country with 6.6 millions sq. miles. This vast land mass is very sparsely populated and while one can guess Moscow and other cities contribute to the world's polluted air, in this brief expose they're getting off with an unknown data set.

I'm also not going to focus on the Americas, Africa, or the western world in general. The point of this article is to offer a dose of harsh realities to the developed nations that if they only focus their immsense wealth and abundance of resources on their own spaces they will be fully engaged in an act of futility. I realise this is where the matter at hand gets convoluted as well as personal. It's easy to say hey I recycle, my car passed emissions standards and my government is working towards sustainable solutions. Then the big fat greasy cheeseburger finger gets pointed at the poor developing nations to get their act together and be like us.

The problem is, that this isn't a localized issue, air just like our water is a shared resource and eventually this blame game will result in its not safe to go outside warnings all over the globe.

We have a major crisis at hand and it's high time we start seeing that we all must live together here. We as a global community are only as strong as our weakest link. I don't have an instant fix. I can however offer a glimpse into the specifics that perpetuate the air quality issue where I live and a way for you the reader to help fix the problem.

You will just have to stay tuned though and give me an inkling of hope that you are a concerned global citizen that wants to help by doing what they can. For today I'll just let everyone marinate on the article I've composed as I sit stuck indoors where I at least have some filtered and ionized air to breathe..

At the time of writing this an estimated 2 billion people are breathing air that is hazardous to health. They're earning significantly less than the rest of the world and charged with extra expenses like regular trips to the hospital to treat a child's asthma. Or ongoing ear nose and throat issues, it's also entirely possible the preponderance of autism, delayed learning, immune system diseases and cancer are further diminishing the quality of life in these polluted populations that struggle to make ends meet at the best of times.

Please don't think I'm being judgemental or giving anyone a pass. I'm also purposefully not getting into solutions on this post as I'd like to get some reactions and let that dictate where and how we proceed together. New steem can be more than a marketing tool, it can be a message of hope and a think tank for the visionaries of the world that seek to have active roles in solution based initiatives..
I want to edit in that Malaysia is trying to be an example to the rest of ASEA and there are initiatives and regulations in place. They are just behind the curve and need more support.

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