An Editorial
Definition of Smog – A form of air pollution producing a gray fog from burning fossil fuels. A form of air pollution produced by the photochemical reaction of sunlight with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that have been released into the atmosphere, especially by automotive emissions.
Back in the 70’s my first real job was as a field engineer for a manufacturer and it kept me traveling most of the time. One of the things I still think about today was the smog. Flying into a number of major U.S. cities impressed me with how bad the smog was. Starting a descent into metropolitan areas from Washington to Chicago to LA seemed like the plane was diving into a dirty gray lake. Today in America our skies are remarkable clear from smog mostly thanks to technology applied to our internal combustion engines.
While America and Europe may have overcome smog it is still an increasing problem in many regions of the world. We just got back from a 30 day trip through Asia and seeing the smog was like going back in time to those 70’s. Our first stop was Mumbai, India and as I looked at my days photographs it became obvious that the smog was going to be an issue with contrast and saturation in my images. Moving around the city the traffic was hard to deal with as it was literally a non-stop flow of mostly motor bikes.
Perhaps the one advantage that smog has is that it produces strangely beautiful sunsets and the sunsets across the bay from Marine Drive in Mumbai were always spectacular.
From India to Sri Lanka, Vietnam to Taiwan, smog was a constant presence. While I’m not sure what laws have been put into place to try and reduce emissions, one issue that complicates the problem is the vast numbers of motorbikes. Even though the emissions from motorbikes is small compared to cars and trucks, in many places in Asia the number of motorbikes on the road simply overwhelms that advantage.
I’m not sure just how localized a problem smog is but at the same time I can’t believe that air pollution in Asia won’t have some impact on the whole planet. It would seem that the ability and motivation to deal with pollution is first and foremost an economic one. Emerging economies just don’t seem to have the financial resources to handle smog, and I would bet that most people would accept smog if it meant improving their standard of living.
The questions are; do we, in the west, have an ability or responsibility to help emerging nations with their air pollution? Will growing economies help fund pollution remedies? If so, how soon?
The Intentional Travelers 