Last month, I wrote an opinion piece about the air quality situation in the Philippines. As I mentioned in that article, I’m mixed-race, coming from both the Philippines and the Netherlands. Recently, I had the chance to visit the Netherlands again after three years. I spent a day in Amsterdam, and instantly, I was reminded of how clean the air felt there.
As a naturalised Amsterdammer who moved here many years ago from one of the most polluted cities in Europe – similarly suffocated by traffic, construction or uncontrolled garbage fires and with little to no regard to air quality from either local or central governments – it felt like a literal breath of fresh air. I find it amusing though how the locals in Amsterdam constantly complain that the city is polluted and “dirty”, which may be technically true compared to their pristine home villages; while I tell them that it feels like clean mountain air compared to where I came from. In the end, it’s all a matter of perspective…