The Australian Broadcasting Corporation recently covered the health effects of wood heating, with an emphasis on the suffering of smoked-out neighbors. They called wood smoke pollution “a silent killer.”
A study by the Centre for Safe Air in Tasmania found that PM2.5 pollution from wood stoves causes more than 720 premature deaths each year in Australia. This, according to the ABC, “is more than the deaths attributable to the same type of emissions from the national fleet of 20 million vehicles, or from energy generation, or even bushfires.”
Centre for Safe Air researcher Dr Fay Johnston noted:
Wood heaters really punch above their weight when it comes to putting pollution into the atmosphere, relative to the benefit they give us in terms of heat.
The ABC article pointed out that the study’s pollution modeling relied on regulatory monitoring, which doesn’t actually capture the intensity of chimney emissions for nearby neighbors. “It’s here, at the very local scale, that smoke can be thickest.”
The article discussed the My Air Quality Australia Facebook group, which has 3,000 members, many of whom are struggling with wood smoke pollution. Some of them were quoted by the ABC. Their stories about vengeful wood-burning neighbors and disinterested and unhelpful authorities will be familiar to many.
One person pointed out that about 10 percent of Melbourne’s 5 million residents suffer from asthma, “which is aggravated by wood smoke”:
“That's 500,000 people and it still feels like no-one cares. How is that even possible?”
Note: If your neighbor’s wood burning is affecting you, please think about adding your own wood smoke story here on our website.
