Santa’s Decree
All through the valley and all through the dale
Santa soon would arrive looking quite pale
His sleigh was all loaded with gifts and sweet toys
For wee little babies, the girls and the boys
As Santa stooped over checking all of his treasures
He wanted to take all preventative measures
He checked his black boots and the toque on his head
Then hooked all the reindeer onto the big sled
He reached for his gas mask to protect him from smoke
Going down into chimneys did make him choke
His wheezing was heavy as they sped through the night
The Woodsmoke all over had become such a fright.
Though the tears shed down the cheeks of the gentle old soul
His wish for the children was soon to be told
His mission would bring him to each city hall
And a letter he would leave for one and for all
He swooped through the clouds and down from the sky
And landed with ease and exclaimed “oh my”
He slipped out of his sled and onto the lawn
Knowing all his deliveries must be made before dawn.
The City Hall lights lit his way to the door
He tucked in his letter which fell to the floor
Inside the letter was Santa’s Decree
It would also be tucked under each Christmas tree
“My name is Santa and I do declare
I am here to bring every person the gift of fresh air
There must be no woodsmoke, no burning or fire
There must only be healthy voices all singing in the choir
I want children to breathe without wearing a mask
And families to be safe and healthy at last
The air they inhale must be free of those toxins
Of mercury, of lead and deadly dioxins
There must be no more soot and black stacks all about
There must be clean air each day, inside and out
Now my decree I do share and advise all to take heed
My Decree will help you to follow the lead”
As each city Mayor declared Woodsmoke no more
The voices did rally and the children did roar
Gone were the woodsmoke hazed skies from before
The windows were open and so were the doors
The air was so crisp, so pure and so clean
And the gift from Santa would always been seen
Back home and exhausted Santa was proud of his night
The gift he had given would last them for life
No more would they suffer, become ill and die
From the Woodsmoke that used to fill all the cities and skies
Santa picked up his newspaper and read with delight
The woodsmoke had ended and now there was light!
Every city hall had posted Santa’s Decree
The gift of fresh air was met with much glee
Anonymous
(The writer wishes to remain private)
Monday, November 28, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Biomass report raises concerns
Biomass report raises concerns
Letter to the Editor
"Fuelling a Biomess," a Greenpeace Canada report released Nov. 2, raises important concerns about the use of forest biomass for energy on a large scale, and explains how it is not the carbon-neutral, clean and green fuel that governments and industry have claimed.
The report warns of adverse impacts for the climate, our forests, and the health of people, if the current trend toward biomass projects, such as escalating pellet production (and associated deforestation) continues.
I think that pollution and health hazards of industrial biomass burning outlined in the report apply to residential and commercial wood burning as well. In Lethbridge and other cities that, according to the World Health Organization, have clean air overall, some residents can still be forced to breathe air that is unhealthy, if they live or work near a source of localized pollution like a wood fire pit, wood stove or fireplace, or wood-fired oven. Neither can the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) protect people in wood burning neighbourhoods from wood smoke, one of the most harmful forms of air pollution.
Will Greenpeace Canada's new report help encourage provincial and federal governments to avoid rushing to support the bioenergy boom? Instead of the burning of trees, governments may instead invest more in truly clean, renewable forms of energy.
By extension, could the report's challenges to pervasive wood-burning myths perhaps help more municipal leaders and citizens across Canada to also recognize residential wood burning as a serious health and air quality issue? In our own and other communities, might new and better policies (including, hopefully, proactive bans preventing wood smoke in neighbourhoods) be on the horizon?
Cathy Baiton
Lethbridge
Source: Lethbridge Herald (Canada) November 13, 2011
Also: The Wood Smoke Activist Network, December 2011 Newsletter
Web site: http://WoodBurnerSmoke.net
Webmaster---Banning wood burning and all associated wood products (like pellets) must be done ASAP. Biomass is a "biomess" for the environment and the health of the people who have to breathe its poisonous emissions.
One last comment---the writer above states, "....(including, HOPEFULLY, proactive bans preventing wood smoke in neighbourhoods) be on the horizon?
Let's not "hope" for woodsmoke bans. We have to do something about it now. WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION NOW. Attend your city/town board meetings and tell them you want to end/prohibit/ban all wood burning-indoor and outdoor. Meet with your local Fire Chief who should support your efforts 100%. Write letters to your locally elected officials and leaders and tell them you want a ban. Inform your regional and national leaders you want them to pass by-laws to end the deadly pollution of wood burning. Find and join with other people who care about their children's health and their own health, and go to meetings and write a group letter. Find out why your local health boards are not educated on the deadly effects of woodsmoke, and then ask them to present a request to the town leaders to end/prohibit/ban all wood burning--including wood pellets, and pellet plants. Don't just HOPE! Take action now...or continue to suffer the horrible effects of woodsmoke. Choose Life or choose Death. Which do you choose for your family...and yourself?
Letter to the Editor
"Fuelling a Biomess," a Greenpeace Canada report released Nov. 2, raises important concerns about the use of forest biomass for energy on a large scale, and explains how it is not the carbon-neutral, clean and green fuel that governments and industry have claimed.
The report warns of adverse impacts for the climate, our forests, and the health of people, if the current trend toward biomass projects, such as escalating pellet production (and associated deforestation) continues.
I think that pollution and health hazards of industrial biomass burning outlined in the report apply to residential and commercial wood burning as well. In Lethbridge and other cities that, according to the World Health Organization, have clean air overall, some residents can still be forced to breathe air that is unhealthy, if they live or work near a source of localized pollution like a wood fire pit, wood stove or fireplace, or wood-fired oven. Neither can the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) protect people in wood burning neighbourhoods from wood smoke, one of the most harmful forms of air pollution.
Will Greenpeace Canada's new report help encourage provincial and federal governments to avoid rushing to support the bioenergy boom? Instead of the burning of trees, governments may instead invest more in truly clean, renewable forms of energy.
By extension, could the report's challenges to pervasive wood-burning myths perhaps help more municipal leaders and citizens across Canada to also recognize residential wood burning as a serious health and air quality issue? In our own and other communities, might new and better policies (including, hopefully, proactive bans preventing wood smoke in neighbourhoods) be on the horizon?
Cathy Baiton
Lethbridge
Source: Lethbridge Herald (Canada) November 13, 2011
Also: The Wood Smoke Activist Network, December 2011 Newsletter
Web site: http://WoodBurnerSmoke.net
Webmaster---Banning wood burning and all associated wood products (like pellets) must be done ASAP. Biomass is a "biomess" for the environment and the health of the people who have to breathe its poisonous emissions.
One last comment---the writer above states, "....(including, HOPEFULLY, proactive bans preventing wood smoke in neighbourhoods) be on the horizon?
Let's not "hope" for woodsmoke bans. We have to do something about it now. WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION NOW. Attend your city/town board meetings and tell them you want to end/prohibit/ban all wood burning-indoor and outdoor. Meet with your local Fire Chief who should support your efforts 100%. Write letters to your locally elected officials and leaders and tell them you want a ban. Inform your regional and national leaders you want them to pass by-laws to end the deadly pollution of wood burning. Find and join with other people who care about their children's health and their own health, and go to meetings and write a group letter. Find out why your local health boards are not educated on the deadly effects of woodsmoke, and then ask them to present a request to the town leaders to end/prohibit/ban all wood burning--including wood pellets, and pellet plants. Don't just HOPE! Take action now...or continue to suffer the horrible effects of woodsmoke. Choose Life or choose Death. Which do you choose for your family...and yourself?
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Woodsmoke....Where do we go from Here?
Woodsmoke....Where do we go from Here?
“Where do we go from here?” is a question that must be asked by every citizen who cares about the longevity of their life, the quality of their health and the environment, now and in the future. Wood burning habits, pervasive in nearly every urban neighbourhood, continually pollute, destroy and fill the air with many of the same toxic compounds that are found in tobacco smoke.
By community leaders and elected officials adopting bylaws to ban all outdoor open-air burning and implementing regulations to phase out the use of all wood-burning devices, communities then can truly wear the mantle of “green and healthy” places in which to live.
If not, then we are residing in unhealthy communities. As long as wood burning exists in urban areas, we are not caring for the environment. We are not caring about the well being and overall health of our residents. Last, but, not least, we are certainly not protecting the health of the future generations, who will suffer the immediate short-term and long-term negative health effects of living being exposed to woodsmoke-filled communities.
Where do we go from here? Ask yourself that question if you care about your community taking proactive action to ban wood burning from all devices. Ask yourself, have you voted into power leaders who do care about health and the environment. Ask yourself, what does “green” really mean? We cannot have communities boasting about being “green” when plumes of toxic smoke billow forth from wood burning and thousands of outdoor open air fires exist each season from April until October. “Green” does not and cannot be applied to air that is polluted, permeated and saturated with acrid Woodsmoke.
“Green” implies healthy, wholesome, fresh, renewed, hopeful, vital, everything that wood burning is not.
Where do we go from here? We go back a few decades when our leaders finally accepted the truth about how deadly tobacco smoking was. Bylaws were adopted to ban tobacco smoke from planes, hospitals, schools, restaurants, workplaces, other venues and now even outside in parks and playgrounds. That is where we must go.
We must recognize the deadly, grave, unhealthy negative impact that wood burning is making in all our communities. We must apply the exact strong initiatives that were taken to ban all tobacco smoking and prohibit the use of all Wood burning in urban areas.
Millions became ill, suffered and died from tobacco. Millions are ill, suffering and dying from woodsmoke. Applying and adopting tobacco bans saved millions from death. Millions of lives could be saved by banning all Wood and biomass burning in residential neighbourhoods.
Where do we go from here? We go forward into healthy, truly “green” communities where there is fresh, pure, unadulterated air to breathe every day and each day thereafter.
Linda Beaudin
Cornwall (Ontario, Canada)
Source: Northumberland November 24, 2011
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com
Webmaster---After reading this informative and dynamic letter, elected officials and leaders in all communities need to step-up right now and really, truly "go green"...and end/prohibit all wood burning, (pellet plants, residential fire pits, OWB's, etc.). Woodsmoke is harmful and deadly to the environment...and harmful and deadly to all of us. Let's get moving, and really, truly..."Go Green"!
“Where do we go from here?” is a question that must be asked by every citizen who cares about the longevity of their life, the quality of their health and the environment, now and in the future. Wood burning habits, pervasive in nearly every urban neighbourhood, continually pollute, destroy and fill the air with many of the same toxic compounds that are found in tobacco smoke.
By community leaders and elected officials adopting bylaws to ban all outdoor open-air burning and implementing regulations to phase out the use of all wood-burning devices, communities then can truly wear the mantle of “green and healthy” places in which to live.
If not, then we are residing in unhealthy communities. As long as wood burning exists in urban areas, we are not caring for the environment. We are not caring about the well being and overall health of our residents. Last, but, not least, we are certainly not protecting the health of the future generations, who will suffer the immediate short-term and long-term negative health effects of living being exposed to woodsmoke-filled communities.
Where do we go from here? Ask yourself that question if you care about your community taking proactive action to ban wood burning from all devices. Ask yourself, have you voted into power leaders who do care about health and the environment. Ask yourself, what does “green” really mean? We cannot have communities boasting about being “green” when plumes of toxic smoke billow forth from wood burning and thousands of outdoor open air fires exist each season from April until October. “Green” does not and cannot be applied to air that is polluted, permeated and saturated with acrid Woodsmoke.
“Green” implies healthy, wholesome, fresh, renewed, hopeful, vital, everything that wood burning is not.
Where do we go from here? We go back a few decades when our leaders finally accepted the truth about how deadly tobacco smoking was. Bylaws were adopted to ban tobacco smoke from planes, hospitals, schools, restaurants, workplaces, other venues and now even outside in parks and playgrounds. That is where we must go.
We must recognize the deadly, grave, unhealthy negative impact that wood burning is making in all our communities. We must apply the exact strong initiatives that were taken to ban all tobacco smoking and prohibit the use of all Wood burning in urban areas.
Millions became ill, suffered and died from tobacco. Millions are ill, suffering and dying from woodsmoke. Applying and adopting tobacco bans saved millions from death. Millions of lives could be saved by banning all Wood and biomass burning in residential neighbourhoods.
Where do we go from here? We go forward into healthy, truly “green” communities where there is fresh, pure, unadulterated air to breathe every day and each day thereafter.
Linda Beaudin
Cornwall (Ontario, Canada)
Source: Northumberland November 24, 2011
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com
Webmaster---After reading this informative and dynamic letter, elected officials and leaders in all communities need to step-up right now and really, truly "go green"...and end/prohibit all wood burning, (pellet plants, residential fire pits, OWB's, etc.). Woodsmoke is harmful and deadly to the environment...and harmful and deadly to all of us. Let's get moving, and really, truly..."Go Green"!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Woodsmoke from cooking fires linked to pneumonia
Woodsmoke from cooking fires linked to pneumonia
Researchers at the University of Liverpool and the universities of California, Berkley and del Valle, Guatemala, have found that cases of severe pneumonia among young children are reduced by one-third in homes with smoke-reducing chimneys on cooking stoves.
The research, published in the Lancet, highlighted the health effects of exposure to smoke from open fires and dirty cooking stoves, the primary source of cooking and heating for 43% of the world's population, affecting some three billion people.
Previous research has linked exposure to household cooking smoke to respiratory infections, but these latest findings form part of the first-ever randomised controlled trial on reducing the impacts of air pollution on health.
The team worked with rural communities in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Households with a pregnant woman or young infant were randomly assigned to either receive a woodstove with a chimney or to continue cooking with traditional open woodfires.
The researchers found that using chimneys to vent cooking smoke outside homes led to a one-third decrease in cases of severe pneumonia. A smaller decrease was reported in all pneumonia cases – both severe and non-severe - possibly because the reduction in smoke from these stoves was not sufficient enough to result in a significant change.
Children exposed to open fires every day, however, inhaled the equivalent of smoking three to five cigarettes a day. Researchers found that the larger the reduction in exposure to fires without chimneys, the greater the impact on pneumonia.
Dr Nigel Bruce, from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, explains: "Pneumonia is the chief cause of death for children aged five years or under worldwide, responsible for about 20% of total deaths in these age groups. It is caused by viral and bacterial infections. Smoke from burning solid fuels, such as wood and animal dung, reduces the lung's defences against infections, particularly bacterial.
"Increasing awareness of the effects of woodsmoke on health will help us to significantly reduce the numbers of cases of severe pneumonia, as well as respiratory disease in adults. The use of open fires and inefficient traditional stoves for cooking is also a cause of burns and can have a negative impact on the environment and increase pressures on natural resources."
The research follows growing worldwide attention to the need for cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient cookstoves. In 2010 the United Nations Foundation launched the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an international public-private initiative championed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Source: University of Liverpool
http://www.sciencecodex.com
Webmaster----Immediate ATTENTION must be given to Residential Woodsmoke Pollution (all indoor and outdoor wood burning) where in countries/nations that do not have the need to burn wood everyday. Other cleaner, healthier alternatives (natural gas, propane, electric, etc...) are available! The banning/prohibiting/ending of WOODSMOKE everywhere will save lives, and our fragile environment.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool and the universities of California, Berkley and del Valle, Guatemala, have found that cases of severe pneumonia among young children are reduced by one-third in homes with smoke-reducing chimneys on cooking stoves.
The research, published in the Lancet, highlighted the health effects of exposure to smoke from open fires and dirty cooking stoves, the primary source of cooking and heating for 43% of the world's population, affecting some three billion people.
Previous research has linked exposure to household cooking smoke to respiratory infections, but these latest findings form part of the first-ever randomised controlled trial on reducing the impacts of air pollution on health.
The team worked with rural communities in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Households with a pregnant woman or young infant were randomly assigned to either receive a woodstove with a chimney or to continue cooking with traditional open woodfires.
The researchers found that using chimneys to vent cooking smoke outside homes led to a one-third decrease in cases of severe pneumonia. A smaller decrease was reported in all pneumonia cases – both severe and non-severe - possibly because the reduction in smoke from these stoves was not sufficient enough to result in a significant change.
Children exposed to open fires every day, however, inhaled the equivalent of smoking three to five cigarettes a day. Researchers found that the larger the reduction in exposure to fires without chimneys, the greater the impact on pneumonia.
Dr Nigel Bruce, from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, explains: "Pneumonia is the chief cause of death for children aged five years or under worldwide, responsible for about 20% of total deaths in these age groups. It is caused by viral and bacterial infections. Smoke from burning solid fuels, such as wood and animal dung, reduces the lung's defences against infections, particularly bacterial.
"Increasing awareness of the effects of woodsmoke on health will help us to significantly reduce the numbers of cases of severe pneumonia, as well as respiratory disease in adults. The use of open fires and inefficient traditional stoves for cooking is also a cause of burns and can have a negative impact on the environment and increase pressures on natural resources."
The research follows growing worldwide attention to the need for cleaner, safer and more fuel-efficient cookstoves. In 2010 the United Nations Foundation launched the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an international public-private initiative championed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Source: University of Liverpool
http://www.sciencecodex.com
Webmaster----Immediate ATTENTION must be given to Residential Woodsmoke Pollution (all indoor and outdoor wood burning) where in countries/nations that do not have the need to burn wood everyday. Other cleaner, healthier alternatives (natural gas, propane, electric, etc...) are available! The banning/prohibiting/ending of WOODSMOKE everywhere will save lives, and our fragile environment.
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