Air Pollution in Mongolia

             Chinggis has relatively clean air during the winter. We live in a large valley near a river, so if the winter air is moving even a little, then most of the small city’s pollution is blown away. Still there are nights when the temperature drops drastically, and the air just doesn’t move. The hot air doesn’t really rise because it is quickly cooled.  During these nights, to walk through town is to navigate a smoggy haze of coal dust and particulate. Every breath is a taste of coal and your clothes become saturated with the scent. During certain cold nights of the winter, Chinggis City has air pollution levels that are worse than anywhere in the US.  The air next to a bonfire is probably healthier, but Chinggis has nothing compared to Ulaanbaatar.

           UB is a city that was designed to support a quarter million, but now houses 1.5 million people. Winter in Mongolia is deadly, so to escape the cold in the coldest capital in the world, many inhabitants use coal or wood burning fires. The smoke from these ger fires, coupled with cars and power plant emissions, has led to an environment where the particulate level during the winter can be as high as 80 times the World Health Organizations recommended levels.  In December, an article from Bloomberg said that UB’s air pollution was 5 times higher than Beijing.

            The effects of this environment on personal health can be devastating. Children are especially at risk of developing pneumonia and chronic respiratory diseases.  Walking through the capital during the winter is sometimes like walking through a Hollywood depiction of a war zone. Smoke is everywhere. It doesn’t rise or leave, it just hovers in the air seeping into lungs, clothing, hair, and even under fingernails. The scent of the city never is entirely gone, even in the most ventilated apartments.

            Mongolians living in UB recognize this seasonal pollution issue, and this winter, there were a number of demonstrations and protests by the people of UB for cleaner air. The government in Mongolia is trying to start a number of initiatives to curb the pollution.  A 2014 study on air pollution in UB listed over 20 different ways that regulation of power plant emissions and ger fires could lower the pollution levels. For years the country has been pushing people in cities to live in apartment buildings rather than gers, but the country has a long way to go before this problem is eradicated. For now the harsh reality of winter in Mongolia is not just the cold, but also the pollution.

Photo Credit: http://theubpost.mn/2016/10/03/pollution-and-viable-solutions/

Photo Credit: https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2010/03/26/nomad-green-air-pollution-in-winter-in-mongolia/

            It’s about to get real y’all. As a PCV living in Mongolia, I cannot for the life of me understand why my own country has trouble recognizing the importance of environmental protection and initiatives. We, Americans, live in a country that owes our clean air to laws like the Clean Air Act of 1970. For almost 50 years, we have lived with clean air and the expectation is that we will continue to do so, but I don’t think most of us fully understand what these laws do to improve our way of life. I certainly didn’t. Until I lived in Mongolia, I took clean air as a given, but now I realize that with rises in the world population any pollution free environment is no longer a natural state. Rather, it is a state brought about by hard work on the part of the people living in that area to improve the environment.  If we don’t make an effort to curb pollution in everything we do, then our natural environment will shift to its new natural state: a state of hazy air, polluted waters, and littered grounds. What we consider “natural” is not something that can be achieved without combined efforts to make it so.

I am optimistic for our environment. I am optimistic about Mongolia’s pollution. The people of Mongolia recognize this is a problem and are working to fix it. In 10 or 20 years the pollution of UB may be a thing of the past, but taking care of something you can see and walk through is easy. My hope is that, as developing nations clean up the pollution that is affecting their populations, countries like the US can pave the way in tackling problems of pollution that are not so obvious in areas of clean energy, waste disposal, and environmental protection. I recognize that to many my hopes may seem naïve, but what is life without optimism. 

            So I hope that you will join me in this effort to think about an environmental consciousness. I encourage you, the next time you step outside and take a deep breath of fresh air, to recognize that this natural state is the accumulation of a lot of hard work, that the air you breathe is clean because people a half century ago didn’t like the haze that was settling over our cities and dreamed of something better.

~Caleb   

Sources:

Amarsaikhan, D. et al. (2014). A Study on Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 2, 123-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gep.2014.22017 Retrieved From: http://file.scirp.org/pdf/GEP_2014042109521953.pdf

Kohn, Micheal. World’s Worst Air Has Mongolians Seeing Red, Planning Action. (2016, December 23) Retrieved from:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-22/world-s-worst-air-has-mongolians-seeing-red-planning-protest

A Second Year of Work

For Sally and I, our second year of service at site started last September. It has been a good year so far with a number of ups and downs that are consistent with Peace Corps Service.  Many Volunteers kick off their second year with extreme optimism about what they will accomplish. I was definitely in that group. I looked to the second year as opportunity to really achieve something great, but PC service is nothing if not a constant period of adjustment, change of perspectives, and re-evaluation of hope.

In many ways, the second year has been easier. I now know who I can rely on for help, how the school schedule works, and more than a years’ worth of experience with Mongolian culture. Yet for many volunteers, myself included, starting the second year with super high expectations can be a challenge. We jump into the new school year with the expectation that the difficulties we faced in the first year will be just a breeze this year. As the sports and dance competitions wash over us, as the annual parties occur, as students stop showing up to clubs or activities, it becomes increasingly apparent that we (the second year volunteer) are not free from these challenges. At this point, I realized that I needed to revisit my expectations for service. I started the second year believing that many of the big projects I was unable to accomplish would be possible with my experience. What I’ve come to realize is that to measure the value of service in large, visible, exciting new projects is a fallacy that a PCV must logically set aside.

So after a mid-service crisis and a change of perspective, I have come to realize the value of the small stuff. This does not mean that the daily frustrations of PC service- the lack of attendance, the miscommunications, the sudden schedule changes- do not bother me; rather I have reached a place where all is expected. My expectations have become realistic. I now know that I will not be single-handedly bringing Special Olympics to my city, because my city and the organizations involved are not ready for this. And that is okay. I realize now that the hours I spend with one person trying to improve their English, so that they can study aboard is equally valuable in terms of service.  And here lies the beauty of PC service. We continue to lay a foundation, so that even if we are unable to bring about the changes and improvements we desire, then the community members and future volunteers can build off of our legacy. The students that we work with can become people who help future volunteers bring about better changes and improvements. 

My second year has been a continuation of a number of projects and clubs that I started last year. I have English speaking clubs and English movie clubs for both high school and middle school students. I also go to my dorms on a weekly basis to watch a movie with the students there. For my English teachers, I offer an advanced English class that meets multiple times a week. This year I have also started holding regular office hours in which students and teachers can meet with me for one-on-one assistance or just as an opportunity to chat with a native speaker.  As a Community Youth Development volunteer, my job is to try to focus on soft life skills, so I often us my clubs as a platform to have discussions on empathy, planning, etc.

Sally and I also do a number of projects together. On Mondays, we offer a number of classes to adults in the community. These include beginners English classes at the Emergency department and the Courthouse, an English teachers methodology class for teachers in the city, and a trio of community speaking classes with separate levels of advanced, intermediate, and beginner.

I have also recently started an advanced speaking community class for high school students. I’ve been rather proud of this class because it cuts across schools and allows students of similar skill level to meet together to play games and improve their English.

The cutest class, by far, is a ballroom dancing class that I assist Sally with at her school. She has a number of young students that worship her and love the opportunity to spend time with her outside of the class room. So far we have been able to teach a large group of excited 5^th and 6^th graders the basics of western waltz, swing, and salsa.

So while the second year of service has brought on a number of challenges both old and new, it has still been a worthwhile one so far.

~Caleb 

Winter Blues

I would like to take a moment to apologize to those of you that have been our constant readers on this Mongolian Adventure. The past month or so we have failed to post updates on our lives. The reason for this is a combination of work and winter.

It is hard to convey what a long winter is like to people who have never experienced it before. This winter set in with snow falls in mid-September and permanent snow in early October. By the end of October the temperature was permanently below freezing and has stayed there ever since. The long months of winter are ones where we can’t go outside for any length of time.  November was bitterly cold. December wasn’t too bad, but January was quite cold with a number of days where the temperature didn’t rise above zero degrees Fahrenheit. 

By the time February rolled around, I found myself excited about the prospect of setting aside winter parkas in a month and optimistic about the snow melting hopefully by March. Yet even then we are not at the end of winter. I consider the growth of things that are green to be the end of winter. This doesn’t happen until the middle of May. So much of March and April, while above freezing, are barren brown months.

How does one cope with this kind of oppressing cold that lasts for a solid 6 months? For me, life becomes a rhythm. I start just going through the motions. Days and weeks pass quickly, sometimes without much happening to separate one day from the next. I become accustomed to the cold, and the prospect of always being indoors doesn’t seem so bad because walking between buildings is a constant reminder of the cold that is uninhabitable.

Time passes, and when spring does finally come and I can stand outside basking in the warmth of sun that is not bitter, then it is like waking from a deep sleep. Everything comes to life and I realize that I had only been half-living in a conscious hibernation for months.

I realize that to the analytical mind this might seem like a state of depression or seasonal effect disorder, but it is not for me an intense time of sadness. It is merely a time of waiting. It is as if my biology is telling me that the world is asleep and I must wait for it to wake up again. When it finally does, it is profoundly beautiful.

View from the Sky Lounge, my school is in this direction. 

View in the direction of our apartment and Sally's school

This is also not to say that our winter has been uneventful. We have been quite busy with work and other activities. In January, Sally and I went to eat at a new restaurant in town that is at the top of the city’s tallest tower (16 floors). The Sky Lounge offers a great view of our city and feels like a rite of passage because we have been watching the building being built for the entirety of our service.

Also in January was a regional language training that brought the PCVs from the eastern provinces to our city. For three days, those of us that attended underwent intensive Mongolian training and refreshing. It was fun to see our friends that live in our border provinces. 

I started an advanced speaking club that is for all of the advanced English students in our aimag center, thus facilitating an activity that crosses communities and schools.

Sally and I have also been teaching a number of community English classes. On a busy Monday, we can end up teaching 6 different classes to adults in the community.

Sally is working hard on her creative writing master’s as well. We are fortunate that this is something she can do while we are here in Mongolia. This takes up a lot of her writing time and is why I have been the main contributor on the blog for the last season or so.

On a final note, I think it is important to stress that even though the winter is long and oppressing, it is still beautiful in Mongolia. Most days are bright and sunny with a light that creates the illusion of warmth. Also, this winter has been much easier for us. I honestly have not felt very cold this winter. I think a part of this is that we are used to the cold.

~Caleb