Pollution, the Wealthy, and the Poor

Schools in Bangkok were closed yesterday and today because of… pollution. For many weeks, the air in our city has been filled with a nasty particle called PM 2.5. If the PM 2.5 levels are under 100, most people are fine. Bangkok has consistently been over 100 and has even crept up toward 200. Our air is dirty, unhealthy, and downright dangerous.

Source: NationMultimedia.com

Over these weeks I have been struck by the difference between how people who are materially wealthy are able to manage the pollution, rarely breathing bad air, while the materially poor are breathing it all the time.

Just compare our family (we are most certainly wealthy here!) to the average family in Bangkok.

All day and all night, we keep our windows shut tight to keep out the pollution. We run fans and A/C to keep comfy and cool. We have two home air purifiers headed our way in the mail. When the purifiers are up and running, our home will be practically pollution free all day and all night.

A/C units and air purifiers are beyond most Thai family's budgets, so they must either shut the windows tight and sweat (it's HOT here) or fling them open to let in "fresh" air.

I tow my kids around in a car with, again, windows shut tight and A/C running.

Most families in Bangkok get around using a combo of motorcycles, buses (often no A/C, windows wide open), and song teews (pickup trucks rigged up with two benches in the back and a roof to block the sun and rain). As they go around, they breathe the air.

My daughters go to an upper-class, private Thai preschool/kinder that has closed classrooms and A/C units. The school has canceled all outdoor activities and they keep the classroom doors shut tight.

Most Thai schools, public and private, including the school my girls used to go to, are wide open to outside air. As kids learn, they breathe very polluted air.

When working, we are indoors in our home office upstairs or out meeting with people in closed, air conditioned rooms, offices, and coffee shops. We own one car, so Michael has switched from taking buses and song teews to taking taxis wherever he goes. A taxi ride costs 10-20 times as much, but for the health of our bodies, we can afford it.

Many people in Bangkok work outdoors sweeping the streets, working construction, selling flowers at intersections, selling food and other goods at the outdoor market. Even people who work indoors often have to get to and from work on public transportation that is open to the air.

Our family is a typical picture of many foreign families and wealthier Thai families living in Bangkok - we are able to put up a fortress against unhealthy levels of pollution due to our ability to buy and maintain expensive things like A/C units, air purifiers, a car, taxi rides as needed, and private school tuition for the kids.

The average family simply cannot protect themselves from the pollution.

So, as I build up my fortress against PM 2.5, I find myself praying to God for rain and wind. I pray for our leaders to pinpoint the biggest sources of the pollution and to find solutions. I pray that we would all be willing to cooperate with the solutions. I pray these prayers for myself and my family, so we can stop hiding in our fortress and get outside and play, but I pray these prayers more so for the majority of people who are breathing toxic air day in and day out.

What I Learned in March

Buying plane tickets to Asia takes hours. And hours and hours and hours. But, now we get to go to Bangkok for two weeks in June!

What the internet is. I've been wondering what the internet actually is for months. This TED talk satiated my curiosity by showing the thin cables spanning our oceans and large buildings full of servers and routers. Fascinating.

I need pockets. My phone lives in my pant's right pocket. There's even a Samsung Replenish shaped faded area on my oldest jeans and shorts. I recently bought maternity shorts that don't have pockets, wore them everyday for a week, lost my phone multiple times per day, accidentally grabbed Michael's phone a few times, and even dug around my purse only to find both mind and Michael's phones. I need pockets.

Why it bothers me when people say, "They're poor but at least they're happy." This article put my feelings into words.

It's quite possible to eat only five teaspoons of added sugar everyday. The eat less sugar challenge is going really well for me. I have met my goal every single day, though I plan on breaking it today (our fifth anniversary!) because I had a pastry with lunch and will split a dessert with Michael after dinner. I do find that if I dip much below five teaspoons, my energy drops. So, I've been shooting for four or five teaspoons a day. Not surprisingly, I find that I don't crave sweets very often anymore.

Practically everything in this second pregnancy happens faster and earlier. At 15 weeks with Grace, my belly was only slightly rounded. I was still another week or so from feeling those first thrilling kicks. At 15 weeks with number two, I am visibly pregnant and I've been feeling my baby kicking and squirming around in there - such an incredible feeling!

Less Sugar More Health

I love dessert, and I love sugar. In November and December I ate tons of sugar. Didn't we all? Then, toward the end of January, the pregnancy cravings hit and I ate gobs of sugar for another month and a half.

On average, Americans eat about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day. According to the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association, women should only eat 5 teaspoons of sugar per day (about 20 grams or half a 12 ounce soda). Men are rationed a whopping 9 teaspoons.

I've decided to try limiting myself to the recommended five teaspoons of added sugar per day for an entire month. I plan on gaining the recommended 25-35 lbs during pregnancy, but figure it's best if those extra calories come from nutritious foods like whole grains, cheese, and vegetables rather than cookies and brownies.

I've somehow convinced Michael to join me in this challenge! Would anyone else like to join us in consuming less sugar? If so, comment below!

A few more notes:

• I will be trying this out March 18 (the day after St. Patrick's Day) through April 16. I'll then re-evaluate whether I want to continue this practice longer.
• Count only added sugar. Lots of foods have naturally occurring sugar, like the 20 grams of sugar in a large apple, but they don't count because they aren't added. Yay! Instead count sugars added into foods like sweetened yogurt, Powerade, and a fun size Snickers bar. Be on the lookout for sugars that have been sneaked into healthy foods too like whole grain breads and spaghetti sauce.
• I calculated the amount of sugar I ate in what I considered to be a pretty good day just to see where I was starting from. My total intake was 10.5 teaspoons. The thing that killed me was the two thick slabs of marmelada (a Portuguese quince paste) that I put on my toast in the morning. I consumed 7.5 teaspoons of sugar right there!
• Although this happens to overlap with most of Lent, I'm not officially doing it for Lent. Though if you want this to be a late and abbreviated Lent fast, go for it!

The following links have more helpful information including info on how much added sugars are in various processed foods:
American Heart Association.
Yale health.
This article.