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Showing posts from 2016

A visual representation of what hazardous wood burning actually looks like

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Just another day here on Gabriola Island and another example of the hyper local effects of wood burning on air quality. This particular chimney (connected to an EPA airtight wood stove) is almost solely responsible for these unacceptably high readings. Note the other readings on the island from our "swarm" of PurpleAir sensors to see the localization of the effect.

Learning how to identify industrial sources of pollution

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Here's a good example from our 8 PurpleAir sensors on Gabriola Island of industrial pollution affecting the entire region. We're guessing that this is pollution from the Harmac mill in Nanaimo given the shape of the curve, distribution and timing at different sensors with those located closer to the mill spiking first. There was a uniform increase in levels across all sensors between 7-8PM tonight. This rules out other sources like domestic wood burning although a more detail-oriented eye will see those spikes as well within individual patterns - it may also suggest the arrival of an inversion.

This is really what's behind wood stoves in North America

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The HPBA is the main lobby group for the wood stove industry, and a major driver behind wood stove exchange programs. Look at how they're marketing their 2017 Expo and tell us again why you want to be any part of this BC Lung. See http://hpbexpo.com

Spoiling An Otherwise Clean Air Day

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Here's another excellent example of how wood burning for home heating pollutes a neighbourhood. Look at how clean the air is in most other locations. Our sensor on Jolly Brothers Road on Gabriola Island went into the hazardous zone, and the see-saw pattern is wood burning without a doubt.

A comparison of weekly particulate levels across sample cities and towns

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There are lots of ways to look at measurements for air pollution and different time frames that people and regulators look at. If we look at the weekly average  for particulate at the PM 2.5 scale across several PurpleAir sensors, some interesting and troubling trends become evident. Here are some 7 day averages from a sample of sensors in British Columbia and one wild card sensor - downtown Los Angeles near Dodger Stadium. LA is known around the world for the poor quality of its air. Here's what we see. The worst weekly average in Canada can be found in Prince George BC with 16.06. Prince George has an active pulp and paper mill, other significant sources of industrial pollution, and lots of people who burn wood for residential heating. In Parksville we see a weekly average of 10.85. This is mostly a retirement community on Vancouver Island and the readings from this sensor are likely due fully to wood smoke emissions from residential sources. One of our sensor

BC Lung Association is no friend to lung health

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Wood smoke will be BC Lung's tainted blood scandal one day. Tainted air!

Wood smoke is the new second-hand cigarette smoke

Wood smoke is the new second-hand cigarette smoke. This article and television news clip makes some excellent points. To read the article and view the video click here .

Clean "country" air is an illusion

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If you moved to the "country" for clean air and a healthy lifestyle it's time to rethink things. Right now air quality on Gabriola Island is mosty in the warning zone due to wood burning appliances like woodstoves and fireplaces with air quality readings of over 100. By contrast downtown Vancouver at rush hour is in the 50s and downtown Victoria is in the teens.

The local effects are staggering and patently unfair

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We have a very serious wood smoke problem here on Gabriola Island, and there is no doubt that almost 100% of the problem is due to individuals burning wood at home for residential heating. Here's a snapshot from 10:30AM on October 10, 2016, of a new sensor in the Pat Burns area. This level of particulate matter exposure is very hazardous. Note the other readings in the region, especially the sensor only 400m away (as the crow flies) with a reading of 7 at the same time.

We now have 8 sensors on Gabriola Island

As of today, Gabriola Island BC probably has the highest concentration of air quality monitors in the world. Our non-profit uses 8 PurpleAir sensors to provide real time data for an island of 14km by 4km in size with a full time population of around 4000. Why so many? The island has simultaneously some of the world's best and worst air quality, and it can vary from block to block based on the concentration and frequency of residential wood burning activities. To see our sensors go here .

The anatomy of a health crisis: One night in little Beijing (aka Gabriola Island)

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The anatomy of a public health crisis: Wood smoke and its hyper local and rapid degradatory effects on air quality on Canada's west coast. This could be the title of a scientific paper that I am working on. Here are some snapshots from this evening of how one wood stove in a neighbourhood can harm health. It is a graphic example of how localized the effects are and why more distributed monitoring is needed. Of course, it's useless to monitor unless their are penalties for exp osing people to such high risk, day after day, year after year. This time series is from October 2,2016, and it captures snapshots starting at 17:46 and ending at 20:12 Note the good clean air across all six regional PurpleAir sensors initially, and how degraded the Berry Point sensor on Gabriola Island gets. There are real people living near that sensor who are suffering and likely having their lives shortened.

How to understand PurpleAir sensor readings

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Air pollution has a unique signature depending on the source or sources, location, baseline, magnitude of change, and the mechanisms by which it is produced. He re are some simple ways to identify what's happening when reading PurpleAir monitors like what we have  here . The first image is from a rural community. Note the good quality air with PM2.5 levels between 1 and 2 with a sudden but short-lived spike to 7.5 at 11:15AM. This is a pattern I have seen before and it represents a dirty diesel truck (most likely a water truck) going past the sensor. The second image represents normal variation on a good air quality day.  The third image is from a city with the sensor reflecting activity from a local pulp and paper mill and local traffic. The last image is a rural community snapshot of a good day punctuated by what happens when a wood stove or fireplace is lit nearby. Note the sudden and dramatic increase in pollution and the saw tooth pattern as the stove get to

Bearing witness to harm by thorough documentation

Documenting wood smoke pollution is an important and necessary step toward increasing awareness of its behaviour and effects. Taking photographs and measurements of wood smoke pollution is not a crime - even if uninformed local police departments believe that doing so is a kind of criminal harassment. For example, Metro Vancouver suggests that the following be pursued if wood smoke from a neighbour is having an impact on you: - Keeping a wood smoke diary to record the frequency of incidents and their impact on you and your family. - Talking to your neighbours to see if they are affected and willing to make impact statements. - Taking photographs or video of the smoke, especially if it enters your property. - Contacting Metro Vancouver as soon as you observe wood smoke so that an Officer might attend the scene. - Giving permission to Metro Vancouver to set up monitoring equipment on your property.

The hyper local effects of wood smoke

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The PurpleAir PM2.5 network shows in real-time exactly the contribution of wood smoke to the air shed. Here's a snapshot of air quality readings from just a moment ago from one of our sensors on Gabriola Island. Note the readings of the other sensors nearby and in Parksville. This is not industrial pollution, vehicles, road dust or anything else except a neighbour near this sensor who continues to burn wood in spite of the evidence of harm. Note the telltale pattern of combustion with cooling and the addition of more wood. Also, compare this to the air quality reading from the same minute taken at a monitor close to the Harmac Pulp and Paper Mill in Nanaimo.

A week of data from one of our monitors

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With the PurpleAir monitors that we now have running in Canada, data can be downloaded and analyzed like this. Here's data from one sensor on Gabriola Island for the first week of September 2016 on a minute by minute basis. This chart is based on 12,748 samples.

Live Feed Of Air Quality From Gabriola Island And Parksville

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The PurpleAir monitors are working extremely well and provide useful real-time data that looks like this in map form. By clicking on an individual monitor and going to the Real Time tab you will see trend data like this. To access our monitors click  here .

Article in the Nanaimo News Bulletin about our PurpleAir network

Here's a nice article in the Nanaimo News Bulletin about our new air quality monitoring network.  "Gabriola Islanders are taking air quality monitoring into their own hands. The Gabriola Clean Air Society is using citizen scientists in a monitoring network aimed at educating people about how varied air quality can be and what people can do to address pollution. Four air quality sensors are now on Gabriola Island and one in Parksville."

We are building Canada's first low-cost, air quality monitoring network

The Gabriola Island Clean Air Society is building Canada's first distributed, low-cost, air quality monitoring network using citizen scientists. This technology comes from PurpleAir and it will help achieve the following objectives on our island. First, there is no air quality monitoring done on Gabriola Island on a regular basis. This equipment provides real-time, 24 hour data. Second, the network of monitors may help provide early warning to our fire department and other emergency responders regarding fire threats. Think of it like having smoke detectors in your home but in this case in your community. Third, a new proposal to create five anchorages for large ships off the shores of the island means that this network will provide baseline data on existing air quality plus track any changes resulting from ship activity. Fourth, the network will also allow us to understand more fully the relative contribution of off-island point sources of air pollution including an active pulp and