For the last six years, Breathe Clean Air has been asking for change that will clean up our air and protect everyone’s health. All local government members have been well informed about the risks of fine particulate matter and the other toxins in wood smoke.
Yet this smoke, visible from a Courtenay resident’s front window and drifting towards Lake Trail School, remains legal in the community.
Ongoing exposure
And these additional images were all taken within half a kilometer of this same location while the same community member was walking (and forced to breathe this in) on public sidewalks in the last month.
Education not working
And wood piles at three different but also very nearby homes, all visible from the road, were all exposed to the rain (one pile is from a live tree cut this year). At least one of these people have been given a moisture metre and CVRD’s pamphlet on how to improve burning practices.
When will we recognize that ‘better’ burning education does not work, particularly without bylaws with significant penalties and dedicated enforcement?
How much longer do the majority of people who do not use wood heating have to wait to have the right to breathe clean air?