“According to an international study on air pollution residents in towns and cities that have PM2.5 annual average levels of 10 µg/m³ were breathing air that was as harmful as smoking 166 cigarettes a year…” www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Wood smoke—whether visible or invisible—is toxic.

A wood-burning restaurant in San Francisco is severely smoking out nearby homes. #WoodBurningRestaurant

New on our website: More evidence links wood smoke and dementia www.familiesforcleanair.org/more-evidenc...

“A campfire is like a small, man-made forest fire that you are inhaling. We know that has health impacts... cardiovascular and respiratory effects. That is settled science. It’s not up for debate anymore….” —Prof. Scott Weichenthal, McGill U. www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

“Over 1.2 million people with lung conditions in the Netherlands are affected by poor air quality, mainly caused by household wood stoves, barbecues, and fire pits, the Dutch Lung Foundation (Longfonds) said.” nltimes.nl/2025/09/14/h...

Good to see the message spreading: “Evidence shows that wood-burning heaters contribute to pollution and exacerbate health problems, but many people are unaware of the dangers.”

"Left unchecked, toxic air will keep shortening lives and worsening health everywhere. But the good news is that solutions are at hand." @janeburston.bsky.social, @cleanairfund.bsky.social in today's letters page. #airpollution is a solvable problem! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

There’s still a widespread assumption that smoke needs to be visible to be harmful. As this tragic story illustrates, that simply isn’t true.

Clean air advocates in Canberra are speaking out…

Great to see this continuing! “We’re urging residents to give up wood burning, so we can tackle London’s toxic air and create a healthier Hackney for everyone.” news.hackney.gov.uk/news/hackney...

We were part of the opposition against this terrible pellet plant plan in California.

New story on our website: “…listening to people chopping up their firewood at all hours of the day and night is triggering for mine and my children’s post traumatic stress disorder.”

It costs your health👇

How much has your neighbor’s wood burning cost you?

Great idea. Don’t be fooled by pictures suggesting wood burning is nice It’s toxic It harms you, your family & your neighbours.

Wood stove owner learns how it is polluting his home, says he regrets decision to install a wood stove: youtu.be/haIaG844J08?...

“Britain's financial watchdog is investigating Drax Group's biomass sourcing disclosures following last year's investigation by the country's energy regulator, sending its shares down more than 12% on Thursday.”

New story on our website: “Wood heater nightmare in Melbourne”

There are currently almost 160 personal stories on our website. But we want more of you to share your stories! New blog post: www.dsawsp.org/blog/wood-sm...

A resident of East Greenwich, Rhode Island who is being smoked out by a neighbor’s illegal fire pit asked local authorities to enforce the town’s law against backyard burning. The Town Council’s response? Consider making backyard burning legal.

“Internal records, studies and interviews with current and former agency officials reveal another motivation [for avoiding masks]: Embracing masks would mean admitting how dangerous wildfire smoke really is.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/u...

Is wood smoke affecting you? We’d like to hear about it! Share your story at the link below. #WoodSmokePollution #WoodSmokeStories #AirPollution

“…There’s nothing surprising about a fire pit generating air pollution, but I didn’t realize how intense and localized that air pollution could be, even though I was four stories up in a half-a-city-block-sized area. This is air quality on a microscale.” www.wired.com/story/why-yo...

In a TV news segment about lung cancer: “In patients that have a history of wood burning, wood-burning stoves, or things used to heat, any smoke exposure—not just smoking, but smoke exposure in general—that’s a risk factor,” Dr. Phillips [a pulmonologist] explained. www.wspa.com/news/ask-the...

“This is why most developed countries have banned open burning and apply severe consequences for violation…” www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/13/h...

A new personal story submission on our website: “…Take a walk on a clear winter day in Shoreline, Washington and you most likely end up coughing and wheezing…“ The “inalienable right to pollute” in Shoreline: www.dsawsp.org/personal-sto...

A lovely study so now we will be able to track pollution to individual buildings to warn the owners they are in danger of harming themselves, their family and neighbours. #AirPollution

“Experts say the Great Smog of London, which killed thousands in the winter of 1952, holds lessons for [wood-burning] Tasmania.” We know pollution from wood burning is linked to serious health effects and premature deaths, but once again the message here seems to be to delay action.

“While only about 10% of Australian homes use wood burning as their primary heat source, they create more than half of Australia’s fine particulate pollution.”

It’s time to stop romanticizing air pollution. Great work by @mumsforlungs.bsky.social!

. @GovUk & @ScotGov allowing #WoodBurning in new homes, not gas (eco stoves produce 100s x more PM2.5 than gas)? “We lived smoke-free in our home until “trendy” stoves installed in fully insulated, centrally heated homes. Now air is full of woodsmoke evenings & every weekend Sept to May.” @dsawsp

“Wood heaters are so polluting, it only takes a relatively small number of homes burning wood to expose millions of people in a city to pollution,” said Professor Fay Johnston from the Centre for Safe Air.

Long-term exposure to wood heater smoke causes more premature deaths in Australia each year than emissions from road traffic, energy generation, or “even bushfires.” #WoodSmokePollution #AirQuality #AirPollution

“Soot, from sources like vehicle exhaust emissions and burning wood, was found to increase the relative risk of dementia by 13%...” www.bbc.com/news/article...

A new study “adds to mounting evidence that exposure to air pollution — from traffic fumes to wood burners — increases the risk of developing dementia.” #Dementia #Alzheimers #AirQuality #WoodSmokePollution

“Drax now emits more [CO2] than the next four largest polluters combined and more than the six most emitting gas power plants combined.” Yet it still gets around £2 million per day in taxpayer subsidies.

We’ve been contacted before by people whose neighbors continued to burn wood in conditions like this. (Example in comment below.)

DSAWSP board member Dr Dorothy Robinson was interviewed on ABC Radio Sydney on the health hazards of wood heating. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

“Black carbon, the sooty particle that darkens smoke plumes, hangs around for barely two weeks yet warms 1,500 times more per ton than carbon dioxide. Road traffic, wood stoves, and wildfires are the leading sources...” www.earth.com/news/cutting...

“Looking at this image it's easy to see why in the last twenty years the Victorian government has produced no effective policy or practice changes to reduce wood smoke pollution…” www.c4cleanair.net.au/post/just-sa...