environement

How Indonesia’s gigantic fires are making global warming worse

UPDATE: Emissions from Indonesian fires have continued to rise since this article was published and now are estimated to be roughly equal to Japan’s annual carbon dioxide emissions. See here.

Experts say that along with dramatic global coral bleaching, thousands of fires across Indonesia represents the next sign of an intensifying global El Niño event. And the consequences, in this case, could affect the entire globe’s atmosphere.

Indonesian politicians in the provincial parliament sat in silence wearing face masks

Indonesia's measure of pollution recorded air in Palangkarya at more than 10 times the level regarded as dangerous on Tuesday.
Schools in the Central Kalimantan capital were closed again on Tuesday.
Politicians in the provincial parliament sat in silence wearing face masks after smoke entered the building.

Further respiratory fatalities around Indonesia looked certain on Tuesday as toxic pollution from hinterland fires and underground hotspots again sent breathable air far beyond levels deemed dangerous to health.

Jokowi pledges Indonesia peatland ‘revitalization’ to stop the burning

President Jokowi and minister Luhut Pandjaitan have made increasingly robust pledges over the last week.
The governor of East Java told Mongabay he had instructed officials to get on top of fires burning in areas hit by drought. Jambi Mayor Syarif Fasha said all health centers would be open 24 hours a day and equipped with oxygen cylinders that can be used or 20 minutes free of charge.

AIR QUALITY AND EARLY-LIFE MORTALITY: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA'S WILDFIRES

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES

AIR QUALITY AND EARLY-LIFE MORTALITY: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIA'S WILDFIRES
Seema Jayachandran
Working Paper 14011 http://www.nber.org/papers/w14011

NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
May 2008

Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away?

In the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st Century (so far), Indonesia has been blotted out by smoke. And the media.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 30th October 2015

Obama Pushes Indonesia to Save Burning Peat Forests

By Brittany Patterson and ClimateWire | October 26, 2015

NASA images of fires and links

The heat is on: Neighbors breath fire over hazardous haze from Indonesia's burning forests

The heat is on: Neighbors breath fire over hazardous haze from Indonesia's burning forests
ANNABELLE LIANG, VIJAY JOSHI, The Associated Press