Whining about woodsmoke makes no sense
It is sad to read about the poor unfortunates who can’t stand the smell of wood smoke and/or agriculture regardless how faint. This is a reminder of realizing just where we live.
When the first pioneers arrived in our valley they stayed to farm and harvest timber. This was to become our two largest resource industries and built the prosperous lifestyle enjoyed by most today.
Listening to a conversation some time ago, I remember a lady wrinkling her nose and complaining after they had built their dream home overlooking vast open fields, that the neighbouring property smelled like a farm. Guess what? It was a farm and had been a farm for over 70 years.
Up until the 1980s it was a common event each fall after the first rains for the forest companies to burn slash. Every community from Port Renfrew, Shawnigan Lake, Lake Cowichan and Duncan witnessed orange/red sunsets and poor visibility throughout the surrounding valleys. This past summer, inversion smoke from the Interior fires could only just be used as a comparison, and this was every year between local forest fires.
During that period there was no endless stream of people lined up at the local hospitals with breathing problems. Does this mean that the general population was hardier back then? Perhaps today’s population, who seem to be made up of so many delicate individuals, have not experienced the outdoors? Too much time connected to their handheld devices and computers complaining?
Take a drive up to the Rathtrevor Provincial Park and campgrounds near Parksville this fall. Every site will have a fire burning as the campers sit around the individual fires in their lawn chairs enjoying the ambience of being outdoors and away from home for a few days. In all the years spent camping there in the fall, there has never been witnessed a steady stream of first responders hauling off the gasping and faint. Wake up people, and find another cause that actually makes some sense.
Al Lundgren
Duncan