The hot season with its sickening pollution levels is part of life in Chiang Mai. When farmers and other groups burn fields and forests, smog covers the city; people start coughing and prefer to stay indoors. Sensitive groups, such as people with airway allergies and asthma, see a doctor and sometimes check into a hospital for proper treatment. Long-term effects of the pollution include heart disease, lung cancer, and brain damage. Besides making local people sick, pollution also affects tourism and the ex-pat community. As a result, many of the foreigners in Chiang Mai choose to leave the city this time of year; they escape to places in the south of Thailand that still have clean air or visit other parts of the world.
The government regulates where and when farmers can burn. In addition, non-profit groups and volunteers try “to stop people from burning,” with little effect, because burning agricultural waste and clearing the forest are profitable and long-standing traditions.
A New Perspective
At AirDeveloppa, we see the pollution problem through an entrepreneurial lens. People already use air purifiers to control the air quality indoors. You may have seen our cost-effective air purifier in some places. Furthermore, we have a new product in development that will help you find clean indoor spaces outside of your home.
Local Business Owners Offer Clean Air
Small business owners, who run restaurants, coffee shops, co-working spaces, and health clubs, can help by offering a clean indoor space to their customers. An indoor space where customers enjoy time outside the house. Everyone in Chiang Mai can easily see the clean indoor spaces by installing our application on their smartphone. They can see which local businesses care about their costumer’s health and choose to visit these places.
Any small business with an indoor seating area can purify the air in that space and rent our AirDeveloppa AirCheck device. Their shop’s indoor air quality will show on the map in the mobile application. That is how new customers can find them; it’s a marketing opportunity. Clean air indoors means more customers come in the door!
