More than 94,000 fires engulfed Indonesia, sending acid smoke into the air this year. This smoke is affecting the health of millions in in Indonesia and also in Malaysia and Singapore. In the past where fires had happened, monsoon rains helped quenched the flames but this year, rains had been delayed by El Niño. As a result of these fires, large amounts of carbon have been released into the atmosphere, which leads to climate change. An estimate of 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide were released by the fires or to put it in another way, daily emissions from Indonesia's fires exceeded daily emissions from the entire U.S. economy, which is 20 times larger than Indonesia's.
The problems the fires are causing are that the smoke is blocking sunlight and preventing it from reaching plants and crops. The thick smoke is also causing health problems, sending more than 120,000 people to the hospital because of the haze and smoke. Many of these are fires are caused by peat and peat fires are created by the "slash-and-burn" process in order to clear forests for agricultural use. The fire are extremely dangerous for respiratory systems in children and elderly people; it also leads to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, along with lung cancer. It also can contribute to infant mortality if it is exposed to the womb. Another problem caused by the fires is global warming because of the excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
I never heard about the fires in Indonesia and maybe that is because I don't watch the news or live in Indonesia and the surrounding countries but it seems like a very serious concern. The problem is that people are dealing with it without protection. People are wandering around without masks. But water-carrying planes from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have been attempting to put out some of the fires in Indonesia. Its nice to see other countries helping. But many people are asking if once the fires are put out, will the government move on and forget about this crisis or will they get serious about preventing this from happening again? One way to prevent these fires from happening is stopping deforestation. Many of the fires are caused by trees being cut down then lit on fire. Another way that always works is education.
Source:http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hellish-fires-in-indonesia-spread-health-climate-problems/
Article by Brittany Patterson on October 22,2015.
The problems the fires are causing are that the smoke is blocking sunlight and preventing it from reaching plants and crops. The thick smoke is also causing health problems, sending more than 120,000 people to the hospital because of the haze and smoke. Many of these are fires are caused by peat and peat fires are created by the "slash-and-burn" process in order to clear forests for agricultural use. The fire are extremely dangerous for respiratory systems in children and elderly people; it also leads to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, along with lung cancer. It also can contribute to infant mortality if it is exposed to the womb. Another problem caused by the fires is global warming because of the excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
I never heard about the fires in Indonesia and maybe that is because I don't watch the news or live in Indonesia and the surrounding countries but it seems like a very serious concern. The problem is that people are dealing with it without protection. People are wandering around without masks. But water-carrying planes from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia have been attempting to put out some of the fires in Indonesia. Its nice to see other countries helping. But many people are asking if once the fires are put out, will the government move on and forget about this crisis or will they get serious about preventing this from happening again? One way to prevent these fires from happening is stopping deforestation. Many of the fires are caused by trees being cut down then lit on fire. Another way that always works is education.
Source:http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hellish-fires-in-indonesia-spread-health-climate-problems/
Article by Brittany Patterson on October 22,2015.