A Month Back in Bangkok

A Month Back in Bangkok, and What I learnt from the Past Lessons: Part II
Written by Charin Polpanumas

My friends were not the only Thai who left me a reluctant impression on environmental issues; in fact, compared to the Japanese, or even to Americans, almost anyone did. Despite all the hypes going on here in a developing country about reusable shopping bags and water bottles, I suspect most Thai could not careless about taking plastic bags and dumping plastic bottles, into the same bin with newspapers and wet garbage. The only people who participated in the eco-friendly campaign seemed to be either those highly educated, or those following as if into a fashionable trend. If that is what you are thinking, ‘No, we are not simply a simple-minded, selfish race.’ Think about how many people are blessed enough to get a copy of ‘The Inconvenient Truth,’ let alone reading it, while they have to work 10 hours a day in a 35-degree-Celcius environment at the same time—no weekends. True, environmental breakdowns are hurting us as stingy as they do the rest of the world; however, poverty and down-to-earth standard of living are also at our throats. As far as my experience and common sense go, the government is definitely trying, albeit at its pace, and a large portion of the country are willing to trade in their rights in clean air, water and a healthy lifestyle for 150 yen an hour. This has opened for such corporate exploitations as the allegedly intentional toxic leakage from Mae Moh electricity-generating facility. On the big scale, it will be unlikely for Thailand, and I doubt any developing countries, to change. But on the small scale, the slowly and gradually increasing number of people participating in the eco-friendly hypes could contribute to a more vivid renovation in our ways of thinking and doing. And for once in my life, I appreciate Thai people’s being overly susceptible to fashion.