For additional information about the consequences of air pollution, you may wish to visit the following sites.
Advocacy groups
This website focuses on highlighting the health risks posed by air pollution with a focus on domestic wood heaters in Australia and overseas.
Asthma Australia is a useful resource both for those suffering from asthma and those who wish to learn more about respiratory health. It has highlighted the risks of residential wood smoke exposure and campaigns against their use. It has also conducted a survey that demonstrates that the vast majority of Australians (77%) believe that woodfire heaters should be prohibited in urban areas. We agree!
Doctors and Scientists Against Wood Smoke Pollution
DSAWSP is an international coalition of doctors and scientists who highlight peer-reviewed data that demonstrates the extremely harmful consequences of wood smoke exposure.
Lung Foundation Australia is a good source of information about respiratory health.
Mums for Lungs is a British advocacy group that campaigns against all forms of air pollution, including wood smoke exposure, in the UK. We particularly recommend its resources page, which is a terrific source of PDF factsheets that you can print from the website. While these are targeted at a British audience, they contain information relevant to Australia.
My Air Quality Australia (Facebook)
This group is to build a community to help each other on topics of personal air quality (indoor and outdoor), with a focus on Australia.
A website focussing on air quality in Tasmania including residential woodsmoke pollution.
Communities for Clean Air Network
This Australian site is a terrific resource that highlights the health and environmental consequences of air pollution in general and wood smoke in particular. Check out its resources and FAQs if you want to write to your representatives.
Clean Air in London is a not-for-profit organisation that works to ensure that air quality laws are enforced rigorously in London and elsewhere. Clean Air in London works closely with other campaign groups and a wider network of supporters and volunteers to identify and build understanding of air quality issues and encourage decisive action on them.
Air quality monitoring resources
AirRater is an Australian project supported by government and academia. You can download an app that allows you to monitor the air quality in your suburb and review historical trends over the previous three months.
While it does not accurately reflect intense localised pollution because it relies on a limited number of fixed air quality monitoring stations, it nevertheless offers an indication of air pollution levels in your area. You can use the app to report when you smell smoke and the symptoms it causes to help researchers measure the impact of air pollution.
Purple Air leverages data from a global network of citizens using the company’s air pollution monitoring devices to provide data about air pollution. If there is a monitoring device in your area, it will provide a more accurate measurement of localised air pollution than government monitoring sites located far from your home.
Check out the Purple Air map to find out if there is a sensor near you.
Government
ACT Air Quality Monitoring Data
You can access the ACT Government’s air quality monitoring data at the link above. However, bear in mind that the ACT Government only monitors three air quality monitoring stations throughout the ACT and that it therefore does not accurately record intense levels of localised air pollution as experienced, for example, by those who live close to residents using a wood fire heater.
ACT Environmental Protection Authority
You can report air pollution issues to the EPA. For further information, see here: Reporting pollution.
ACT Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment
The Office is an independent advocate for a sustainable environment in the ACT and has sought to raise the ACT Government’s awareness of air pollution issues, including the environmental and health damage caused by wood fire heaters. If you are dissatisfied with the response you receive from the EPA following an air pollution complain, you can contact the Commissioner to complain and receive further advice.
Reports, Submissions and Inquiries into Woodsmoke pollution
The effects on mortality and the associated financial costs of wood heater pollution in a regional Australian city (Medical Journal of Australia, August 2021) Listen to Podcast
Senate Inquiry: Impacts on health of air quality in Australia (2013)
Molonglo Valley Air Quality Assessement (2011)
National Approach to Reducing Woodheater Emissions Scoping Paper on Regulatory Options
CLEAN AIR CANBERRA 