It is the burning season in Southeast Asia. Landowners eager to clear land light fires to do the job quickly. At the best of times, it is a destructive process; when the weather is especially dry, as in 1997 and again this year, it creates a choking haze that blots out the sun and poisons the air. Although all countries use the technique, Indonesia is the region's worst offender.
Satellite photos -- when they penetrate the smog -- have already detected more than 1,200 fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan. In some cities, visibility on bad days is under 500 meters.
The dangers are well-known. Local residents, and especially the young, are threatened with crippling respiratory diseases. The haze has spread hundreds of kilometers, darkening skies throughout the region. Tourism has suffered; during the last big burn, losses were in the billions of dollars. No one has calculated the damage the fires do to the ecosystem.