Dear Editor
Why is it that when a man states his opinion it is a concern, but when a woman states the same opinion, it is a complaint. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely a concern and it is not a male/female issue, I have heard many men state the same concerns.
In our townships there are many piles of brush in the fields, so much so that I have seen people out taking pictures of them like they are now tourist hot spots, they have become attractions. There was once a letter written about them in the now defunct Winchester Press.
My concern, and don’t get me wrong this is definitely a concern not a complaint, is the disposal of these piles of brush. People tend to think that they light a match and the garbage is gone, but what about the wind currents? What about the person who tends the fire? What about the fireman that is called in when the fire gets out of control? The fire smolders long after the fire is out and the smoke has to go somewhere, it doesn’t just disappear.
We have gone for a drive in the past and saw the smoke, it is hard to miss the smell when you drive through it. We have seen the smoke and concerned that there was an unreported fire and that someone may be in danger we have followed the smoke only to find out that it was a brush fire.
We have gone through three gazebos because the wind has taken them down and we have talked to other people who have lost buildings due to wind, you may not be able to see it, but it is there.
In school we have learned the importance of trees, how they provide shade, give off oxygen, filter the air, their roots soak up water – was someone not telling the truth?
With the information that we now have on climate change, lung cancer, you can’t smoke in restaurants anymore, you can’t smoke in public places, they do not want you to smoke anywhere that you may expose other people to the damages of smoke. But yet you can burn these piles of brush. We have been exposed to forest fires in other provinces where the wind currents have brought the smoke here and we have been told to stay inside with our windows closed.
We have had days and nights where our windows are closed yet you can still smell the smoke and it is hard to breathe.
Maybe these facts should be made aware to new residents as a matter of transparency in case they have breathing issues. I am sure that finding a solution for the safe disposal of trees won’t be easy but than I am sure that living with cancer, which they say will kill a lot of people this year, is not easy either.
And how this will affect our climate is also a concern.
They say that when you know better, you do better, it does not seem to apply to this matter.
Pam O’Malley
A Concerned Citizen
