Tag Archives: Wood smoke

Cash rebates encourage residents to switch from wood stoves, reducing air pollution

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Vancouver Island’s Strathcona Regional District (SRD), in partnership with the BC Lung Association, has evolved its wood stove exchange program. It now offers rebates, ranging from $300-$750, for upgrading stoves to less polluting, more efficient models and converting to natural gas or pellet sources—or to heat pumps—in an effort to reduce air pollution. The program is underway and runs through until the end of 2022.

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Encouraging the province to become more involved in forestry research

CKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At their July 14th Meeting, the Strathcona District Board moved that “a letter be sent to the Minister of Forests encouraging the province to become more involved in research and distribution of science-based information.”

As Mayor Martin Davis of Tahsis, who made the motion, explained, “In the last several years there has been a real drop off of participation of Ministry of Forests in providing the research and background that we would hope would be impartial. I think that is a real lack. To depend on the logging companies for our information is really not the best place to be going for this. There should be independent research we can depend on.” 

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The launch of Cortes CPR (Climate Plan for Resilience)

The official launch of Cortes CPR (Climate Plan for Resilience) took place just days ago.  (They were talking about it last January.)

“We’ve put out our new Facebook page and an introductory letter to the community in the Tideline. We’re really trying to get the ball going because we’ve done a lot of preliminary research and organizing behind the scenes,  but now we want to get it out that we are working on this plan,” said spokesperson Ashley Zarbatany.

“We’re looking to partner with different organizations. We’re going to be reaching out to stakeholders and rights holders and we are also looking for volunteers for our data collections team.”

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A Climate Action Plan for Cortes Island

“What exactly do we need to do as a community to survive, and thrive, through what is coming. Through the climate crisis; through climate breakdown; to mitigate as much as possible so that we can forego the extreme worst case scenarios and avoid them,”  said Ashley Zarbatany.

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The burning question: airborne pollutants from wood stoves?

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As far as climate change and human health are concerned, no wood stove is the best wood stove, according to some experts.

Continue reading The burning question: airborne pollutants from wood stoves?