The Haze

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Every year, Indonesia has a lot of fires from the burning of palm oil trees. It's something I'd never noticed until this year, now that I'm far enough south for the smoke to reach me. My friend refers to this as the annual Haze Festival. (Last year the fires weren't as bad/didn't last as long, so I didn't notice them.) Despite complaints from neighboring countries, Indonesia hasn't done anything to stop it yet; but supposedly they will in the next few years. Until then, we get to choke when we go outside.

It certainly doesn't look as bad as what I saw in China many days, but it's still bad enough to close schools several times. And for me to decide that going to the mall (with closed ventilation system) sounds like a pretty good idea. It mostly just smells bad, but it does affect many people's health a bit.

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