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The past couple days I noticed there was more haze in the sky and distant buildings were harder to see but I didn’t notice any difference in breathing. But now the paper says two days ago Phnom Penh (arrow) was the second most air-polluted city in the world, behind only Dhaka, Bangladesh. Today the visibility is much greater and the air quality number is 84, much lower than the previous 190+. Air pollution is not something Phnom Penh is noted for.
This is a view from my new room in Phnom Penh, up on the 12th floor. It’s quite a switch from where I lived before! The golden building is the Golden 42, one of the first tall buildings in Cambodia–and still unfinished. It was started about 12 years ago and has gone through three different owners, none of whom could come up with the money to finish it. It now stands on one of the most commercially valuable corners in Cambodia, unfinished, empty, maybe even abandoned.
What would we do without plastic bags? (Probably we’d have a much cleaner environment!)
You can buy almost anything on the street in Phnom Penh. The rainy season has started now and this entrepreneur has switched his stock to rain wear to make sure everyone can stay dry in the daily rains.
The rainy season starts in late May or early June. It seems to be starting a little later each year now. But it’s in full force already this year.
This is Street 53BT where I live in Phnom Penh. We occasionally get some water pooled up but today we had a prolonged heavy downpour and this water will be with us for a day or so. It was deep enough that my pedals were going in the water as I rode my bicycle through the flood.
Today the task was to pull together all the elements and ideas raised during the first two days to put develop a strategy for CACD’s addressing climate change.
Each of the four small groups sought to organize a plan according to what they have done and what they want to do.
The coffee breaks and lunch were held outside today.
Another small group at work.
Today was Day 2 of the climate change strategy workshop. We had video presentations from speakers in Australia and India, and then the small groups went to work again.
This is the small group on climate and health giving a report on their group discussions and ideas.
CACD, the Catholic Alliance for Charity and Development, is holding a three-day workshop on its response to climate change here in Cambodia. Today was the first day.
About 40 representatives from Catholic NGOs and agencies are participating in the workshop at the Caritas Cambodia national office.
The major presented is a local professor who is excellent. He speaks well, knows his material, and presents it in a really engaging way.
At the end of the day the group divided into four topic discussion groups. This one focused on engaging young people in climate change learning and activity.
This is Street 53BT in Boeung Tum Pun where I live and this is the flood I stepped out of my house into when we got the first rain of the season a few days ago. April and May are the two hottest months in Cambodia and they were REALLY hot this year. This overnight rain helped to bring the temperature under 100ºF.
The past week the daily temperature has been 100º to 104º every day, with the temps going down to 86º at night. And we don’t have air conditioning….
