smoke
smoke gets in your eyes.
end wood burning to stop air pollution in our City. We support clean air initiatives, and together we can do what is best for the collective, versus the singular.
end fireplaces
isn't it time to end the fireplace and do what we can to reduce smoke? Smoke is toxic air filled with particulates; particulate matter PM2.5 and breathing this can kill people.
what is the danger of smoke? Besides irritating the respiratory tract and the eyes, pollutants in the haze can cause serious long-term health damage.
sources of particulates are any type of common combustion including power plants, car and truck exhaust, restaurant grilling and wood burning, BBQ open-air wood burning and fast food charbroiling, grocery store food production, grilling, wood burning, and of course residential wood burning. End the fireplace.
can we end the fireplace along with all residential wood burning? Using a fireplace for heating is ridiculous since we have central heating. One wildfire can impact the climate. Millions of fireplaces can impact the climate. There are 140 million houses for 329 million people in the U.S. as of 2020.
fireplaces are wildfires
a residential wood-burning fireplace is like a small wildfire.
exposure to smoke poses immediate and long-term health risks. Immediate effects of inhaling smoke include shortness of breath, an elevated pulse, chest pain, or inflammation in the eyes, nose and throat. This is caused by small particles in the smoke haze which can enter the bloodstream and other parts of the human body, causing possible DNA mutations and other health issues.
smoke gets in your eyes.
| levels of air pollution | |
|---|---|
| good | 0-50 |
| moderate | 51-100 |
| unhealthy | 101-300 |
| hazardous | 301 |
| AQI | |
air quality index is used for reporting air quality. 0-50 is good, 100 is unhealthy, 300 is hazardous. AQI air quality index airnow.gov
if you are burning wood
then your neighbor
is breathing smoke
smoke gets in your eyes, and smoke gets deep into your lungs and passes through to the bloodstream causing heart and lung disease. Fine particulate matter PM2.5 refers to the tiny, toxic particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.
what's in our air?
notice the worsening haze. we need to curb smoke and dust.
why are you burning wood like a caveman?
we must consider a local action to ban wood burning and reduce smoke. Can we also strengthen the ventilation system requirement code for smoke-producing restaurants?
toxic smoke is produced by wood burning in fireplaces and fast food restaurants. If you smell it then it's already gotten deep into your lungs where the fine particulate matter can adversely affect your health.
there is no wall high enough to stop dirty air.
ban wood burning and strengthen the ventilation system requirement code for smoke-producing restaurants.
healthy regulation
consider this for a minute: we appropriately ban plastic bags because it indirectly affects our health. Plastic waste gets into the ocean where the fish eat it and we eat the fish and the plastic gets into our food chain and adversely affects our health.
can we also ban smoke since it directly affects our health. By reducing fine particulate matter in the air, we prevent it from getting into our lungs and into our blood.
as a city we must ensure that air pollution standards protect the public's health. San Diego is already #6 on the list of most polluted cities. Let's consider a ban on smoke in our beautiful city of Encinitas. Most polluted cities
our beautiful city
we have a beautiful city and the innate character of our society is clean air, land and water. I believe that in modern society there are activities that people might want to have regulated by the government because it is in society's interest to minimize the damages from those activities.
by setting air quality standards, monitoring levels of air pollutants, and enforcing regulations we can reduce the City's air problems. The goal is to reduce air pollution of fine particulates and noxious gases. Preventing air pollution is easier than cleaning it up.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The Special Report in 2018 concluded that holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius requires cutting global greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050. IPCC Reports
there are mitigating pathways to global warming, and the priority must be to eliminate carbon emissions. Major polluters must stop polluting, and they should pay for every ton of carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere. Restaurants must be required to use an integrated air scrubber at the site of charbroiling, and not to blow untreated smoke out the roof into our neighborhoods.
ban carbon emissions
high air quality standards protect us from toxic air pollution.
global levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) passed 400ppm, it hit 403ppm in 2017, while 100ppm is considered an unhealthy amount of greenhouse gas (ghg).
restaurants as an air pollution source
carbon emissions is adversely affecting our health, and the smoke is coming from wood burning in fireplaces and restaurants.
protecting our shared environment
restaurants are in our City and suburbs, downtown and in our neighborhoods. And with better methods to control restaurant smokestack emissions we can prevent citywide air pollution.
what is the City's policy on air quality control? A comprehensive master plan could strengthen the ventilation system requirement code thus preventing air pollution at the source.
is there a CER program? - a Community Emissions Reduction program. A CER improves health and air quality by implementing enforceable legislation that will manage air quality monitoring sensors and pollution control equipment.
toxic emissions
- we ban plastic bags - to prevent toxic chemicals from leaching into the ocean and into the food chain
- we ban speeding - to prevent auto accidents and save lives
- we ban pesticides - to prevent human exposure to toxic chemicals
- we ban leaded gasoline - to prevent tailpipe emissions which produce smog which affect our health
- we ban industrial smoke - to prevent toxic emissions that produce devastating air pollution
- we ban second hand smoke from cigarettes - to prevent exposure to toxic carcinogens in the air
can we ban wood burning to reduce toxic carbon emissions, in our homes and restaurants?
a cigarette ban was implemented by the City, adopted by businesses, and embraced with overwhelming public support. Why isn't wood burning regulated?
we have a beautiful City and we can prevent air pollution by standing together to support a local action to ban wood burning and strengthen the ventilation system requirement code for restaurants.
young, growing forests absorb carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. If the trees are cut and decompose, or are burned, then that carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Keeping trees intact can help slow the pace of global warming.
PM2.5
fine particulates are tiny airborne particles, known as PM2.5, are <2.5 microns in diameter (1/30th the width of a human hair). Fine particulates cause serious health affects because they lodge deeply into the lungs and pass through to the bloodstream, causing asthma, lung disease and heart disease.
sources of fine particulates are any type of common combustion including power plants, car and truck exhaust, restaurant grilling and wood burning, grocery store food production, grilling, wood burning, residential wood burning, BBQ open-air wood burning, and fast food charbroiling.