Every breath we take

I AM joyful. For weeks, nay, months I was wishing fervently for the monsoon season to hit us. Water was being rationed (and still is, at the time of writing). Many days choked with haze. One would think as Malaysians, we would be used to it by now, perhaps wearing gas masks as we went about our daily activities.
On some days, the haze could be smelt from our first waking moment. During an Ashtanga Yoga class, with the windows closed, I could even smell the haze in my sweat. It didn't help that our yoga school was experiencing water rationing as well. "No water, no air," our guru remarked dryly the next day.
Since January, driving down to Port Klang for sessions, I noticed bush fires along the Kesas Highway. By February, the bush fires warranted the fire brigade being brought in. The haze was so bad that visibility was but for a few metres. A friend who drives down to Nilai observed the same along his commute. This time, we can't point to Indonesia. These are our forest fires.
The haze affects everybody. Let us take a look at our more developed counterparts in the West. According to European commissioner for environment, Janez Potocnik, air pollution is the number one environmental cause of death in the European Union, with over 400,000 premature deaths in 2010.
Further in his speech in October 2013, Potocnik noted that the external costs of air pollution were between €330 billion and €940 billion a year in 2010. This has a direct impact on a nation's economy. For example, 100 million lost workdays each year, with a direct cost of about €15 billion in lost productivity. Bad air also adds €4 billion to EU's healthcare costs because of hospitalisation.
In a report by the European Environmental Agency, Reuters summarised that, on average, air pollution in the EU was reducing human lives by roughly eight months. In the report, attention was also brought to the link between air quality and low birth rates.
In the midst of this, Paris offered free public transport to commuters so that air pollutants from cars might be reduced. "What a great idea!" I thought, "If only they would do that here because of the haze." With some thought, I realised that such an innovation would never work in Malaysia because if one were to use public transport in the capital, one would probably spend more time in the haze than if one were to drive oneself.
In the EU, some regions in Germany, Europe's largest polluter, considered banning all cars to reduce toxic air last year. The European Commission initiated legal action against the UK in February for breaches of air pollution limits.
I understand that the air pollutants in this region cannot be compared to the air pollutants in the EU. The types of risks, there are not the same as those here. But I still would like to point out that there are hazards in the haze and that it affects our nation and the economy.
Air pollution in the EU arises mostly from industrialisation. We have both industrial pollutants as well as forest fires, whether deliberately brought about by farmers and planters, or not. While some polluters have been brought to book, what do we do? Every year we point fingers at Indonesia but this time we did nothing.
We should be outraged. The haze has been with us for a decade and a half. Some young Malaysians don't even know a life without the annual haze. It is time for Malaysians, especially our leaders, to step up and do something, rather than turn a blind eye to pollution caused by greed.
As Gandhi said, "What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another."

Daniel freelances in writing and fitness training, and has a deep passion for health, fitness and travel. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com