Air quality should be on the public agenda

I was delighted to read Nancy M. Kelly's letter to the editor [Sentinel Review, Aug. 12]  on the subject of fire pits.  Ms. Kelly accurately highlights the relationships between fire pits, polluted air, human health, and associated health care costs.

On the website  healthycanadians.gc.ca, our federal government opens the topic with a blunt headline: AVOID WOOD SMOKE.  The reason follows:  "...wood smoke contains a number of pollutants that can be harmful to your health".  The main pollutants and their effects are listed, as are the groups especially vulnerable to wood smoke:  people with heart or lung problems, and children.

Many nearby cities (e.g. Brantford, Cambridge, Waterloo, Hamilton and Guelph) don't allow open air burning in residential areas.

Wouldn't it be a good thing if local air quality, fire pits, and related health concerns were higher on the public agenda as the municipal election approaches.

For further reading, including links to health and environmental websites, go to: cleanairforwoodstock.blogspot.ca.

The above text was published as a "Letter to the Editor" in the Sentinel Review,  August 20, 2014.

A peculiar inconsistency of Woodstock's bylaws

There was an article in the May edition of What's on Woodstock entitled "Smoking bylaw is often forgotten in parks and playgrounds".
Author Karyn Matwey reminded us that it is illegal to light up within 30 metres of playground equipment or within 15 metres of recreational fields.  As the bylaw itself states:

"...it has been determined that second-hand smoke is a serious health hazard because of its adverse effects and risk to the health of inhabitants and workers in The Corporation of the City of Woodstock."

Why, then, does Woodstock have an open air burning bylaw that permits backyard fire pits, and only four metres from a property line?  A wood-burning fire produces hundreds of times more toxic smoke than a cigarette.  This smoke blankets neighbourhoods and fills nearby homes.  Why protect kids from smoke in playgrounds, but not in their own backyards and bedrooms?

It's time to stop poisoning the air that we all have to share.

For more information, see cleanairforwoodstock.blogspot.ca

The above text was published as a "Letter to the editor" in the Sentinel Review on June 27, 2014.

Clean Air Day... but not, alas, in Woodstock

It's the end of Canadian Environment Week, which included Clear Air Day on June 4th. These dates were noted on our City Services Calendar, but not otherwise marked by the city; we must go to Environment Canada's website to learn that "Clean Air Day is a celebration of environmentally friendly activities that promote clean air and good health across Canada. What a perfect time to make lifestyle changes that help reduce our environmental footprint".

It might be a tad embarrassing to promote such a day in a city where open air burning is legal, and the sign outside the Vansittart Ave. Fire Hall proclaims "IT IS FIRE PIT SEASON GET YOUR PERMIT".

But don't blame the Fire Department; before Council passed the Open Air Burning Bylaw in May of 2013, one of the options presented by Fire staff was NO BURNING, which Council rejected. One wonders how the Fire staff must feel, as they process and approve Open Air Burning applications, knowing that as a result of their actions many vulnerable groups - children, seniors with heart conditions or COPD, and asthma sufferers to name a few - will be exposed unnecessarily to toxic smoke.

A few searches on the internet for wood smoke and health yield a great deal of unsettling information, including the similarity of wood and tobacco smoke, the toxins present in wood smoke, the effect of particulate matter on the lungs, the relationship to smog, and carbon emissions produced. It is hard to imagine another policy that is so detrimental to both the environment and human health.

Many nearby cities - Guelph, Waterloo, Brantford, and Cambridge for example - don't allow open air burning in residential areas. Why does Woodstock?

The above text appeared as a "UR Opinion" on the Sentinel Review's website on June 9, 2014.

Air quality and Woodstock's "burning" problem

"The public has the right to breathe clean air".

So states the City of Woodstock's "Smoking in workplaces and public places bylaw" brochure. Unfortunately this "right" does not extend into residential areas and backyards, due to the city's Open Air Burning Bylaw.

Why should we be concerned about the wood smoke coming from fire pits?
Wood smoke contains many of the same toxic substances as tobacco smoke, including carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and dioxins, as well as fine particulate matter (a major component of smog). Those most in danger from wood smoke are children, seniors, and anyone with asthma or other lung or heart conditions. If you can smell the smoke, you are inhaling the toxins.

Authorities in California have equated the particulate emissions rate per minute from a bonfire to that produced by the secondhand smoke from 800 cigarettes. We know to protect our children from secondhand tobacco smoke, but who is running around the fire pit at backyard gatherings, and asleep in nearby homes?

It may come as a surprise to readers to learn that millions of Ontarians are protected from open air burning by the Ontario Fire Code... but not residents of Woodstock, due to the Open Air Burning Bylaw, under which permission to burn is readily granted.

Further information about the bylaw, including the number to call "If you're concerned about an open-air burn" can be found on the City's website.

For further reading, including the sources for the above information, search online "clean air for Woodstock".

The above text appeared as a "UR Opinion" on the Sentinel Review's website on May 22, 2014.