HAWAII AIR POLLUTION

We all know that China has terrible air pollution, and India might be worse.  Greenpeace India has reported that more than a million citizens die annually from this plight.  I've been in both New Delhi and Beijing.  Here are two photos from my hotel rooms:

That's India Gate on the bottom.  I will never again, ever, go to Delhi and Beijing.  In case you are confused, New Delhi is a city in the state of Delhi.

The real time Air Quality Index for Honolulu?  Below, 15, is incredibly low:

15	Good Updated on Friday 7:00 Primary pollutant: pm10

Current		Past 48 hours data	Min	Max
PM2.5  AQI	13		13	76
PM10  AQI	15		13	29
SO2  AQI	1		1	6
CO  AQI	5		5	15
Temp.	20		20	27
Pressure	1018		1016	1020
Humidity	100		61	100
Wind	1		0	2

Here is the latest world Air Quality Index map.  Both Hawaii and China are terrible:

From the same source, note that Hawaii is at 151.  What's happening?  First, green is good and red is unhealthy, while maroon can be deadly:

If you go to that map above and zoom in, it turns out that the 151 is in Pahala, which is just downwind of the erupting volcano.  Honolulu, it turns out, is fabulous at 15.  However, something is not right, for I look outside my window and there is serious volcanic haze (VAZE) pollution.  I remember New Delhi and Beijing looking similar in all my visits there.  Here is what this VAZE looks like this week (although I can't find any real-time map), with the emission coming from those two stars on the Big Island.  I recently wrote about my personal encounters with Puu Oo Crater, which is responsible for all this natural air pollution.

On Wednesday I quit golfing after 9 holes because the VAZE was terrible.  I felt okay, and could have continued, but I worried about volcanic particulates settling in my lungs:

I could hardly see downtown Honolulu from my apartment.  Then on Thursday I went to the SONY Open.  The VAZE had diminished a bit, but still, not good at all, although you got to be impressed with the blue sky below:

I followed Justin Thomas around for a while, and below, he is stymied by trees, but managed to hit his shot just a few yards from the hole.  I was standing right behind the flag.

Walking up to their balls, Jordan Spieth and Thomas.  Well, he eagled the final hole (this is confusing, but the first nine during the Open is the back nine--and Thomas started at the 10th) and ended up with a 59, eleven below par.  This is where I had my lunch, a chili cheese dog with beer, right behind the 9th green:

Those are my knees.  I then bought a shave ice, added the contents from a small bottle of gin, ate some Fritos and, according to this cigar ad, smoked a $1000 Gurkha Churchill reserve, at the 350-yard mark (from the 18th tee):

Yes, according to this web page, this cigar normally costs $1500, but is on sale for only $1000.  Of course, my sealing plastic is brownish color, and the one being sold is green, so on further research, I found that you can get 30 of my color for $304.50, or, around $10 each, still rather pricey.

The astonishing thing about where I was sitting was that the drives went past me.  I asked the person making the measurements what was the longest so far, and he said 408 yards.  Yesterday I was ecstatic about a 248 yard drive I had on the fourth hole at Ala Wai.  There was no wind, as was the case today at Waianae.   

I still feared that the VAZE was doing damage to my respiratory system, so I left just around when Justin Thomas was finishing with his 59.  Let's see, four times eleven would mean a minus 44.  The PGA record is -33 for 72 holes by Steve Stricker at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic, but this was a 5 round tournament, and he shot a 77 on the final day to end up third.  So Ernie Els' -31 at the 2003 Mercedes Championship at Kapalua stands as the all-time PGA tournament record.   Can Thomas beat that?

Okay, so this is Friday, and, while the Real-time Air Pollution Index in Honolulu is reported to be GOOD, my eyes tell me otherwise.  So what will I do?  I'm headed for the Ala Wai Golf Course for I do need the exercise.  And what is the RTAPI for Beijing today?  Better than Honolulu:

Beijing AQI: Beijing Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI).

46	Good Updated on Saturday 2:00 Temp.: -7°C

Current		Past 48 hours data	Min	Max
PM2.5  AQI	46		25	204
PM10  AQI	30		5	126
O3  AQI	12		6	32
NO2  AQI	24		10	49
SO2  AQI	4		1	15
CO  AQI	6		2	50
Temp.	-7		-8	7
Dew	-21		-27	-10
Pressure	1031		1017	1031
Humidity	33		10	77
Wind	2		1	12

Oh, Delhi?

R.K. Puram, Delhi AQI: R.K. Puram, Delhi Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI).

959	Hazardous Updated on Friday 23:00 Primary pollutant: pm10

Current		Past 48 hours data	Min	Max
PM2.5  AQI	249		165	462
PM10  AQI	959		92	959
O3  AQI	20		5	53
NO2  AQI	66		18	78
SO2  AQI	26		10	53
CO  AQI	113		0	113
Temp.	12		5	19
Pressure	1018		1015	1019
Humidity	62		29	100
Wind	1		1	5

Government policy caused the air pollution in China and India.  Hawaii's problem is nature.  I wonder, sometimes, if the Hawaii Tourism Bureau and the State of Hawaii government are purposefully dampening the public health seriousness of this danger.  I've seen studies which are scientifically credible, but the language is so sufficiently vague that nothing happens.  There are TV and news reports that show mild alarm.  On the other hand, short of face masks and remaining in a filtered and air-conditioned room, I don't know what else can be done.  This situation cannot be legislated, and praying will not make a difference.  People can leave, and from personal discussions, my impression is that the population of Kona is dropping.  In a bad case scenario, our economy will go into depression because tourists will stop coming.  This is becoming a Halloween nightmare and I have no simple solution.

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