To tell you the truth, I don't know how it was before, but more and more often I feel that the air is not suitable for breathing and it is difficult for me to bear it. I remember very well that when winter began, there was always, even in the capital, that specific smell of coal being burned for heating. It wasn't a pleasant smell, but it certainly wasn't overpowering on the breath.
And even in the capital, which is and always was, particularly polluted, this smell, mixed with all the other gases and vapors, was not an obstacle to breathing, it was not impossible to endure.
But what happens now? I no longer live in the capital and the air even on a normal summer day can be unbearable. And in winter it can even become deadly.
It's not just the traditional smells of winter, but the poison from the chemical plant nearby, as well as the thermal power plant where garbage is burned for energy. And it's not just that. People around also burn garbage for heating. And it's not just that.
I don't know what's going on, really, since even one burning of the leaves in someone's yard already works really bad for me and makes this smell unbearable to my nose. Maybe because it's almost never just a clean burning of the leaves. Together with them, all kinds of imaginable and unimaginable garbage are burned. Or maybe my nose is just too sensitive.
Copyright: @soulsdetour
 | Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you. |
This is very disturbing really. Complaints like this remind me of movies which depict the effects of poor decisions in relation to and on the environment. It's scary too. In my part of the world, there's one particular state I went to and the air was so bad, you'd see it physically turning the walls and your feet, if you were barefooted inside your house, black. I've also seen posts on X about stuff like that.
I know that there are fights against these adverse effects, I just hope that we win, because loosing would very much be disastrous.
I think we are headed to lose. And it's a long, one-way process that's been going on for a long time. Where I live, for example, there is a struggle, political and oligarchic, between the owners of a chemical plant and a thermal power plant. Both plants pollute the environment, but only one is publicly attacked and talked about. Absolutely nothing is done to stop the other.
And in the end, no one will be stopped, because it is a fight between the rich and powerful, in which the only victims are the common people, who are systemically poisoned, develop chronic diseases from an early age, die earlier, etc. As far as I understand in Western countries, whichever company pollutes more simply pays more, nothing more. Nobody is actually doing anything, just empty talk and eye washing.
You've put it so aptly there's nothing more to say. It's really all about the money for these polluters. It's as though our hands are tied, but I still believe the fights mean something. We have to continue fighting and speaking up. Maybe one day, it'll be like mandating law firms to take up pro bono work. You know, like mandating these companies to clean up after themselves or there'll be consequences. I do think it's only the law, coupled with punitive measures (excluding settlement) that'd turn things around.