There was a crack in the window in the nursery. My new neighbor’s chimney was right next to the nursery window. The nursery door was closed. Winter had only started. And then one evening, the living room filled up in dense smoke. It all came in through my baby’s window. When we realized that the smoke was coming from his room, we rushed in and took him out of his crib. We immediately went to the neighbor’s house, and he said “oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that each winter when I use my wood stove for the first time, the smoke is really bad in the first few times.”
Since then we have come to know how dangerous wood smoke is. There are seven wood stoves in a 100 meter radius around my house. None of the owners cares to hear about the dangers, or about how much the entire street suffers because of them.
My entire family was never this sick, as we were during the winter we had lived in our new house. Repeating respiratory infections, all through the winter. Endless caughs. Me and my husband are healthy people, but that winter we were sick like never before.
Since I learned that the cleanest eco wood stove emits as many PM2.5 particles as six diesel trucks - and none of my neighbors’ stoves meet these standards, I have been worried sick about my children’s health. No child should live like this.
I live in a central part of a big city. Somehow this is legal.
We decided to leave our house during the winter. We own our house, and can’t really afford to rent another one during the six weeks in winter, but we can’t let our kids breathe this filthy air.
PS- I live in one of the warmest, most densely populated counties in the OECD.