Stop Burning Wood

To the Editor:

Dr. Jennifer Heidmann noted in her July column (“The Last Straw,” page 5) that pollution from factories and cars was estimated to cause about 42 million excess deaths worldwide in 2019. She then stated, “Here in Humboldt County, we have some of the cleanest air in the world, scrubbed by the Pacific.”

This brought to mind a 2023 article by Australian air quality experts titled, “Imagine the outcry if factories killed as many people as wood heaters,” which points out that burning wood for heat is the largest source of air pollution in many Australian communities.

If Humboldt had factories near our homes that emitted as much life-shortening air pollution as wood stoves do, there would be outrage. We have a cultural tendency to overlook wood-fire emissions, and don’t recognize this outsized source of harm for what it is.

For various reasons, wood smoke is a particularly toxic form of air pollution, and wood stoves emit a lot of it, right where we live. This includes EPA-certified stoves, which are not nearly as clean-burning as many have been led to believe.

The most toxic components of wood smoke are invisible — you don’t have to see plumes of visible smoke to be harmed. Unfortunately, this pollution is not scrubbed away by the ocean. In our towns, it sinks and pools around homes and neighborhoods, creating localized air pollution hotspots.

A large and growing body of research provides strong and compelling evidence: reliance on wood heating in Humboldt damages our health and contributes to premature deaths. Pollution from wood stoves is even linked to a higher risk of dementia.

Wood burning is a serious public health issue we need to start recognizing.

Ellen Golla, Trinidad, is outreach director for Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution (dsawsp.org).