Recently most days here in Northern Thailand average around 38C on the thermometer, combine that with high levels of humidity and you get a real feel of 44C. Rather than blistering, it’s stifling, such conditions are lethargy inducing and regardless of whether you’re sat in the shade to escape the sun, sweat exudes from every pore to leave you feeling sticky, clammy and a little irritable. Talcum powder is a must. The only saving grace are the thunderstorms that arise bringing a breath of cool, drying air (they don’t always bring rain), although can verge on category assignation at times, which when living in a wooden hut with a corrugated roof, is a little scary.
I read of a scientific study recently that humans can live in environments that have an average, yearly temperate of 29C or less. Anything more than this is considered inhospitable and as a result of climate change, (regardless of your view as to how or why this is happening) more and more of Earth’s surface will average above 29C thereby diminishing the area of land that humans can inhabit. Combine that with a rising sea level and our projected population growth and that’s a lot of people living in a very small area. Now might be a good time to invest in talcum powder stocks (not financial advice). Just like animals, humans need space to roam and just like animals kept in small, zoo enclosures, humans also do not fare well (psychological, emotionally and physically) when also kept in continuous, close proximity with other humans (consider cities and high-rise tower blocks). Humans living in such conditions are those pacing, caged lions and rarely know it mentally, although physically their bodies know.
As a result of the tropical climate here, ecosystems in general have a vast array of critters and creatures. The speed of life, death and decay in tropical climates is faster than that of cooler climates yet ironically, human living, from observation, tends to be slower and less impulsive. The slow life here is revered rather than frowned upon. One particular critter that helps accelerate decay is the termite, and the termites and I been battling it out over the wooden house I’ve been living in the past few months. Not only do they live in the ground surrounding the house but they live in the wood of the house itself and many nights I’ve fallen asleep listening to cupboard doors being munched away. Until recently I had accepted this was how things were, it was apparent that they weren’t in my immediate living space where my possessions could be damaged and having spent time digging the garden over I had become well acquainted and fascinated with their nest galleries, some of which were vast in size measuring more than 20cm deep and wide – was it used as a theatre hall? With the recent change in weather however and increased dampness, the rate of termite activity was on the rise and they were becoming bolder.
I researched ways of combating their activity using effective but non-environmentally damaging chemicals that could lead to a collapse of their colony. It seemed pertinent however to inform the landlady of the termite development so she could make an assessment on damages and plan a course of action. From this I found myself again in a situation similar to that of the mist nests where I felt my views on the environment and conservation were at odds to those I was dealing with, mixed with cultural and language barriers, and emotional triggers. The proposed plan of action was to use an insecticide to spray under the house which has been built on raised concrete columns, thereby killing the subterranean and house-bound termites. At first this seemed like a perfect course of action, it would eliminate the threat of damage before the wet season. Yet I was feeling more and more uncomfortable about this decision especially not knowing what insecticide would be used. I am very conscious about my environment and do not unnecessarily expose myself to harmful chemicals, EMFs, light or any other pollution and should there be a threat to this then research is necessary! There was also a risk to the geckos (both small and large) and anything else living in or around the house and suddenly it seemed I’d landed in a situation I didn’t want to be in.
It’s important to point out here that Thailand is one of the top users of harsh pesticides and insecticides in Asia. With food exports standing at nearly 40% of their GDP, crops need to be bulk produced and losses in yield are less likely to be tolerated. Hazardous chemicals of this nature can cause neurological and nervous system damage, kidney damage, headaches, vomiting, muscle spasms, birth defects and death of which many farmers fall prey to. Sifting through news reports it appears that Thailand cannot be held entirely to blame for its pesticide use as recent attempts in 2019 to ban hazardous chemicals were met with resistance from the Americans whose diplomatic strategies include revising trade deals and threatening boycotts, thereby preventing a full stop to the use of such chemicals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Ted McKinney asked Thailand to “postpone action on glyphosphate”, one of three hazardous substances, citing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessment in 2017 that glyphosphate “poses no meaningful risk to human health when used as authorized”. The World Health Organisation classifies glyphosphate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” and yet somehow human politics allows the strong-arming of smaller countries into maintaining dangerous practices. Of course it’s difficult to believe everything the WHO states given the current global situation, especially when financed by one of the richest men in the world, yet I think they’ve got this one right, although “probably” should really be replaced by “definitely”.
This strategy is not only used by the Americans, a quick YouTube shows up that many African and Asian countries are used as dumping grounds by the EU for toxic electronic waste, claiming the countries are purchasing this waste as second hand goods, knowing full well that a lot of their sorting practices are done by hand without PPE. Continuing down the recycling rabbit hole, another quick Google search identifies that 45% of the UK’s household waste is recycled. Dig a little deeper and it turns out that the figure of 45% indicates only how much waste is sent for recycling, not how much is actually recycled. As much as 82% of your household waste has been sent to incinerators in 2018/2018 in the UK alone. And of the stuff that is recycled where does that land up? The majority of it is not dealt in the UK at all but is sent to Malaysia after China closed its borders to any further imports of rubbish. Much of what enters these countries cannot be recycled and is either incinerated or dumped in landfills. That’s not to say that recycling doesn’t happen and that there aren’t success stories but the rate of recycling is far, far lower than is needed partly due to the cost, partly due to the technology available and partly due to politics. It’s pretty sickening that these supposed “first-world” nations use poorer nations as dumping grounds; out of sight, out of mind. Yet again, the governments of these nations cannot hold all the blame, each of us is responsible and has contributed to the world we find ourselves in.
So what is the solution? If you are of the engineering persuasion then new technologies still need designing to make recycling more cost effective and efficient and allow more materials to be recycled. If this is outside your remit then the simple solution is to go inside of yourself and understand your desires. By doing this you work through your negative emotional patterns that have you believing you need a brand new smartphone to keep you up-to-date and addicted to social media; that your purchasing of “fast-fashion” keeps people believing that you have excessive disposal income and heaven forbid that you should never be seen wearing the same clothes twice; that your parenting techniques allow your child boundless material possessions, etc. By working through your dysfunctional and delusional thought processes you desire less, you spend less, you consume less and your impact on the environment diminishes without any forcible action.
Going back to my housing crisis, it perhaps won’t surprise you to know that the insecticide used to fumigate the house (both outside and inside – luckily I’d packed everything away), was far harsher than I’d naively wanted. I moved out temporarily as I was told it would take a day for the smell to disappear. I visited the house the following day and walked around to see the damage, I feared that my houses’ one and only tokay gecko wouldn’t have made it. A croak from somewhere to my left brought my attention to my beloved tokay gecko lying beneath the house with a younger, juvenile lying dead beside it. The adult was still alive, but laying in an area so exposed during the day was uncharacteristic and moving going closer towards it, it was clear it was incapable of running away to hide. A while later when it appeared that builders would do some further repair work on the house, I wrapped the two geckos up in my t-shirt and took them to my Mum’s garden where the one could see out its final hours in relative peace and quiet. I carried a lot of guilt for the death of those geckos and many more whose bodies lay strewn around the house. The strength of the insecticide was so much that one week later I still have not moved back in and don’t foresee it happening anytime soon. I have reflected on what I could have done differently and on the politics of dealing with other human beings over things that should not have to be discussed. My stay here is short and my rights are no more than that of a tourist but what happens here and how they treat the environment has as much impact on me as it does their own fellow neighbours. The impact of each and every one of us is felt by the rest of the human species and yet most people don’t behave appropriately, or have the inclination to change, or lack the knowledge to behave differently. My conclusion was that it would have been inappropriate to attempt to lecture them on how they should insecticides and the damage caused to both the environment and their health when I hold such little rapport with them, but in hindsight I could have treated the ground myself with a “safe” insecticide. People should be treated with the same respect you would like to see them treat the environment; shoving your “Western” ideals down someone else’s throat no matter how well-meaning is surely only going to strain relationships further.
This leads me onto one final point that I considered as result of this experience – how do you weigh up the consequences and impacts of your personal choices on the environment. I want to read research papers that have definitively broken down the carbon and environmental cost of pretty much everything. For example, if I were to build a home, which building material in that particular location has the least impact. Is the impact of treating structural wood with pesticides, fungicides etc of less consequence than not, but then continually replacing the wood as it decays? The same can be said for repainting and varnishing homes which must have some toxic impact on the environment. Is it best to remedy your home with such things to keep it from falling into disrepair knowing that it cannot be recycled in future, or is better to allow for decay and then rebuild at a later stage when it’s no longer structurally safe? Are buying clothes made from recycled plastic of better value to the environment than buying cheap, cotton clothes? Without this sort of data every choice made is marred by the limit of information you hold and your willingness to seek it out. One solution of course is to simply reduce your capacity to consume thereby eliminating much of your environmental impact. No one needs even half of the variety of items as they believe they do.
**Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If you have any links to the research papers I mentioned an interest in, please feel free to comment them below. Please also leave a comment if you found any of this interesting and/or would like me to write more on any given topic. All the best**
TheForceOfDao 
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