More on the KL Haze

Yesterday afternoon, the Haze had lifted somewhat due to winds which gusted through the city. This actually allowed the sun to break through the gloom and alleviating the situation; even the acrid smell of burning was gone. However, in the evening as the wind dropped, the situation worsened again and the Petronas Twin Towers were barely visible from the expressway as we drove home.

This morning, the sun has broken through again and it's a regular sunny morning in Kuala Lumpur as the Haze seems to have lifted considerably. My grandfather, ever the pious man, is attributing this to the many fervent prayers that have been made by Christian, Muslim and Buddhist alike in the past few days in this multi-cultural city.

The forest fires though continue to rage in over 900 'hotspots' in Sumatra and there seems to be no end in sight. The fires are largely the result of an irresponsible method of land clearance and logging by which trees are felled not by saws but by fire! This is illegal but nothing seems to be done to stop it and indeed fire engines can't get to the spots to put out the enormous fires which are in dense and hilly terrain.

As these fires are still continuing, the smoke (this morning at least) must be going else where. I am indeed thankful for the respite that the Lord has given us but I wonder which poor souls are now suffering from the smoke?! The only real solution is to fight to put out the fires; I am scandalised by those who pray that the wind changes direction to blow the smoke away from KL. Well and fine for us, but someone else suffers! And if there's anything to be learnt from environmental crises, it's that we're all inter-connected, inter-dependant and responsible for one another in some way or other.

Lord, have mercy!