With ideas of a Green Revolution being ignited by junior congress members, let me throw a few facts your way. Since I’ll be in Bangkok in a few weeks, I was noticing reports that all schools and universities are closed this week due to dangerously high air pollution. They also said that finding mask filters is almost impossible now in Bangkok. So I’m looking at possible masks to buy before going. Below is a report of particulate matter for various countries with Thailand being a little bit worse than Italy. By comparison, the USA is in such a better state despite all the naysayers who decry our industrialized country. I say yay for US!!

Here is what I found:

The World Health Organization (2015) reports on ambient air pollution concentration in cities around the globe.

For comparison, below are the emission level figures for the USA, as well as some other well populated European countries:

• The US reports an annual concentration of PM2.5 as 9.7 and PM10 as 16.
• The UK reports an annual concentration of PM2.5 as 13.3 and PM10 as 19.6.
• Italy reports annual concentration of PM2.5 as 22.7, PM10 as 32.
• Germany reports at PM2.5 at 16.1 and PM10 at 21.7.
• Thailand reports annual PM2.5 as 22.4 and PM10 as 41.4.

As you can see, Thailand’s concentrations of particulate matter do not vary immensely from that of Italy, which might surprise residents of both countries.