Many towns and villages in Illinois as well as other states permit open burning for recreational purposes. Sadly, the ordinances to not seem to take into account the resulting air pollution (including toxins that are unwittingly introduced by burning all types of materials beyond just firewood), nor do these seem to include limits that address weather conditions (such as ozone action days, etc). The failure of these ordinances to limit open burning creates an unsafe situation particularly for young children, the elderly, and those with existing health issues such as asthma or other lung diseases. While many towns and villages have adopted ordinances that restrict smoking of tobacco products, open burning seems to pose even greater health and environment problems yet it goes unchecked in these same communities. Please let me know what experiences (hopefully successes) you have had in tyring to raise awareness of the problem and change behaviors and local ordinances. Thanks much.
Virginia Chandler
United States
Open Burning--Recreational Bonfires
Sign in or Sign up to comment
...
Virginia,
I agree with your comments about recreational bonfires. They have become very popular now and pollute several residential blocks with heavy smoke at a time. You can't go for a walk or have any windows open in the evening without inhaling smoke. I don't see much difference between these fire pits and the now banned ash pits that people used to burn their trash in. Both are a source of pollution.
Jean
Illinois
Jean Dubach
molecular population geneticist
Wildlife Genetics lab
United States