Most areas of Bangkok now have an alarming rate of land subsidence, a rate of more than 5 centimeters per year (AITS). Even as we reached an emergency states long ago, how could we have blatantly disregarded that our city has been deliberately built on swamp land? It is now The continuing land subsidence could submerge our city in a salt sea. (Attitude).
One of the most serious environmental problems in Bangkok is the air pollution. From the rooftop of my apartment, in any direction I see nothing but the city though a layer of smog as if it is painted in a white haze. Our use of motor vehicles is the major source of the pollution. The city has more than 7.5 million registered vehicles which significantly increased in the past year as a result of the government's $3300 tax incentive scheme for first-time car buyers (Yongcharoenchai). As Bangkok is both the center of civilization and economic growth for our Thailand, significant number of vehicles and factories have emitted so much pollution that it reaches dangerous level-its PAHs is 2.2 times higher than the safe limit leading to increasing cancer patients.
Unquestionably, Bangkok requires energy and electricity as its essential backbones. However, our city is excessively dependent on the energy imports which undermines its security of energy supply - importing almost 25% of its natural gas supply and over 50% of its primary energy supply (Weischer).In fact, in 2013, our city suddenly faced an imminent power shortage because of the unexpected disruption of natural gas supplies from Myanmar (UPI). "The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment is to get everybody involved" Richard Rogers.
As a Bangkok planner, I totally agree with Rogers that everyone has to collaborate to effectively address the environmental problems in the city. Even as it is on the verge of the land subsidence crisis, has anyone ever thought that the city will be submerged in the near future? To effectively address the problems, I will establish environmental organizations in Bangkok to educate, empower and enable our people to understand and take control of their environment's future.
