Opinion Sur Joven

Smoke was everywhere. It leaked through whatever gap it found. Even subways had to be closed. Anti-pollution masks sales increased 200%. Then we found out they were useless. If you were late for something and walked faster, you’d get tired faster. The whole city smelled like barbecue… actually like burnt meat.

The Experts recommended to stop going to the gym or doing sports. Being short of breath and trying to take a deep breath wasn’t good. We’re not sure this can accurately describe the phenomenon –which was tragic and strange at the same time-, but we’re not exaggerating: when we say the smoke was everywhere, we mean everywhere.

How did it start? Someone started a fire on some lands. They say burning pastures is the best way of starting from scratch to grow vegetables later. But it got out of hand. The State didn’t manage to solve the problem either: it got out of their hands too.

And, despite the nice pictures, the experts assured this was "The Worst Atmospheric Contamination in History" in the metropolitan area and surrounding districts such as Pilar, Zárate and Campana. There was ash fall in some regions. Juan Carlos Pigñer, General Control Director of the city’s Environmental Protection Agency reported the following to Clarín newspaper after the smokiest day: “The admissible level of total airborne particles is 0,500 milligrams per square meter during an hour. Yesterday, the level reached 2,024 milligrams, that is, four times the admissible level”.

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Buenos Aires Smoked – Fabio Goldoni

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Photos by Adam Boscoe

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La Ciudad velada (A veiled city) - By åye

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Several authors.

Picture 2 and 3: Malos aires y Buenos Aires, la ciudad del humo. (Bad air and Buenos Aires [good air], the city of smoke. By loco085
Picture 4: La ciudad del humo (The city of smoke), by SoloFotones
Pictures 1 and 5: "Pucha que hay humo" (“Hell, it’s smoky”) and "Viernes, segunda parte" (“Friday, part two”). By Jotape

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By Ydnammmm

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Daniel Vercelli

All images published in this article are under the Creative Commons License. They can be used by citing their source and for non-commercial use.