It's a good thing I petitioned my proprietario, a.k.a. landlord, last year to put air conditioners in the house where we live in Casal di Principe, Italy - an area that's what you might call a suburb of Naples, though suberbia generally evokes an image of something quite different from where I live. The first summer we spent here, we had no air, and it gets quite hot. So we'd open all the doors, and turn on some fans, wear light (or no) clothing, and try not to move too much. Attempting that this year would have been bad. Very bad, because our house would fill with smoke.
My journey to work begins eastbound on the SS7 - which is basically a 4 lane highway (2 in each direction). There is a certain spot on that leg of my trip where the highway must go down into a slight valley, because oftimes there will be a sudden dense fog that is there for a couple of clicks, and then it's gone just as suddenly. For the last three days, I've entered that fog only to find out it wasn't fog. It was smoke.
I scanned the horizon - visibility is poor. There is no smog in the United States to rival this - not by a long shot. Plumes of smoke in random places in every direction I look rise into the air and then spread out and hang there. The air is acrid. Breathing is often difficult. Burning garbage piles across the greater Naples area are the source, and to say it's disgusting is an understatement.
Local officials admit the problem is rampant, but no one is willing to do anything about it for fear of vanishing off the face of the earth. See, the Camorra, or what you'd call the mafia, runs a lucrative illegal dumping business to the tune of about 3 billion Euros a year. Were a politician to do something as intelligent as build a new incinerator, it would take money out of the pockets of the Camorra, and, in Naples at least, it's easy to just disappear one day if you piss off the wrong group of people.
I'm one of the luckier ones, I suppose - I only notice an increased respiratory distress. My wife has that as well as nausea, stinging eyes, and a burning sensation on her skin.
In some ways, we're almost glad they burn it - the alternative is huge mounds of garbage cooking in the 90 degree temperatures all day. Potential outbreaks of plague and cholera and who knows what other diseases are a realistic concern.
The streets in my neighborhood are lined with garbage. People just take bags of the stuff from their houses, put it in their cars, and throw it out the window.
Next time you feel a desire to rant about something in America, ask yourself the question "What day is garbage pickup day?" When you realize you have a definitive answer (and you will) count it as a blessing.