Belize's Smoke Pollution

[Mike Buckley]

As a frame of reference for the smoke pollution I and my wife experienced while in Belize, consider that we spent most of our time in in the rural areas. We never visited its largest urban area, Belize City, which has a population of about 60,000, other than to quickly pass through it on the way to somewhere else. Our first four days were spent making day trips using San Ignacio as our center, which is one-third the size of Belize City by population and the second most populated urban area in the country.

It's no surprise that such a relatively poor country with a relatively small population has smoke pollution issues; the easiest and least expensive method of disposing of certain kinds of materials is to burn it. Though we never endured physical irritation from the smoke, we saw and smelled it every day as we passed by relatively small, controlled burns of piles of leaves, brush, dead trees and the like. This occurred both in the farming areas and the residential areas of towns and villages.

The first photo shown below is of just one of the four controlled fires that were burning at the same time along the hilltop above San Ignacio. (The house is not on fire.) The second photo captured less than 15 minutes later is a typical scene in a residential neighborhood just a few steps from the road. Small mounds of brush such as that one will smoulder for several days, spouting smoke into the air the entire time.

[george013]

Sure he didn't burn his wife?

When there's no garbage collecting system you can only burn it. And some stuff composing. I think it's done in America too on the "very rural" places. Garbage can be a problem, also after collecting.

Still a blue sky.

George

[Manfred M]

Unfortunately, this is something one sees in developing countries all over the world. There seems to be a permanent haze in any larger town or city in India, and we found that in the north-eastern parts of the country (Assam and Arunachal Pradesh), the evening fires ensured a blue haze everywhere. In northern Thailand, there was a constant smell of smoke and fire when we were there a few years ago (at this time of year), where farmers were burning vast areas of forest to convert the land for agricultural use.

It makes me quite happy to live in a place where these types of activities do not normally occur, outside of the occasional large forest fire.

Thanks for sharing, Mike.

[Shadowman]

Nice set.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, guys!