Jeanne Melchior on tue 25 jan 00
i've been reading with some interest the posts on the EPA attempting to shut
down wood fired kilns. I love woodfiring and woodfired pots, but I am also an
active environmentalist and have had dealings with quite a few air pollution
issues. It is indeed a complex situation, but the restrictions suggested by the
EPA are due to science, not politics, and the restrictions are probably far
less stringent (thanks to politics and big business) than health concerns would
warrant. Talk to people at the American Lung association, for instance, if you
want to find out some of the serious problems caused by dirty air. The growing
numbers of people on the planet, especially in urban areas, will certainly
cause all of us to look at how we do business. Artists are not above doing
this--and I believe, that much of the time, are in the vangaurd of activists.
I don't think we have solutions for the vast array of problems facing us, but I
believe that we can find solutions. We can only do that though, if we
acknowledge the problem. And lets face it--kilns release into the air toxic
chemicals that are not good for us. Back in ancient times when there were far
fewer people breathing here, not to mention far fewer firing on the face of
Earth, it was less a problem. I would hate to see woodkilns shut down--I think
that artists are producing some of the more interesting artifacts around. But at
the same time, I think we need to keep looking for ways to reduce air pollution
(and other kinds as well) and keep this world liveable . Open dialogue such as
this is a first. step. I for one, am getting a little more hesitant about firing
pots that I think have a poor future. I still take chances with things--but I'd
like to get to the point where I am even more selective. Mindful firing is just
one minor suggestion for taking that first step towards cleaner air.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Melchior
In southern Indiana, which has some of the most polluted air in the United
states.
Norman van der Sluys on wed 26 jan 00
I wonder if you have a large number of wood-fired kilns there in Southern Indian
would venture that other sources of pollution are the cause of your polluted air
also note that you say "especially in urban areas" in your post. Well, my read
of the thread is that this kiln is not located in an urban area. In my communit
have had problems with urban people insisting that us country folk follow the sa
rules and regulations as city people "for our own good." When the source of thi
problem has been city people retiring to their country homes and meddling in loc
politics we have handled it swiftly and surely with recall elections. Interfere
from the State has been more difficult to handle, and wehave just had to learn t
live with Federal stupidity. Thus, my garbage is trucked 50 miles to the outskir
of Grand Rapids where it is mingled with the trash of a half million other souls
the lightest stuff often escaping in the wind to decorate the netting surroundin
the "landfill" while the rest is sealed in our beloved clay, deprived of oxygen
protected from dessication so that can labels and newspapers can be read 50 year
hence.
Pig farmers who used to clean out their barns and spread the manure on the groun
discing it in, several times a year are now required to use expensive equipment
liquify the manure and store it in lagoons, pumping it once or twice a year onto
land. Guess which stinks the most. And the pollutant (that used to be considere
fertilizer) ends up in the same place, probably penetrating to the ground water
little faster since it is already liquid. Then there is nuclear waste, which we
can't decide what to do with, but our lame-brained "scientific" answers invariab
involve two principles: 1) Select a handling method that requires expensive
specialized equipment. and 2) Concentrate all the bad stuff in one area so it ca
really dangerous.
Now I do not believe, as do many of my neighbors, that the EPA is populated with
demons, but I find your simple faith that the EPA's regulations are based on sci
rather than politics to be touchingly naive. Agriculture is just beginning to em
from an era when pesticide and herbicide research was driven by "what use can we
find for this industrial byproduct?" Then the farmer takes the fall for poisonin
the food supply.
I believe that research should be done on making wood fired kilns efficient and
clean, but environmental and other regulatory agencies often make innovation
difficult to impossible by insisting on simplistic beaurocratic formulae. Deali
with that beaurocracy can be more difficult than solving the polution problem
itself, and to say "just go along and do what they say" doesn't do much for our
quality of life.
A final note to put things in perspective. A long time ago (maybe 20 years or so
there was great concern about people being poisoned by mercury contamination in
Great Lakes getting in the food chain. Someone did a study that involved exhumin
remains of residents of the Detroit area in the first half of the 19th century.
What they found was a great deal more mercury in the remains than is found in mo
specimens. Seems they heated with coal a lot back then, and were breathing the
stuff in and growing gardens in soil that the ash had settled on.
Those of us who are concerned with the environment should tackle the real source
polution rather than worrying about how many people will contract lung disease f
the anagamas in rural areas of this country.
Norman van der Sluys
Jeanne Melchior wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> i've been reading with some interest the posts on the EPA attempting to shut
> down wood fired kilns. I love woodfiring and woodfired pots, but I am also an
> active environmentalist and have had dealings with quite a few air pollution
> issues. It is indeed a complex situation, but the restrictions suggested by th
> EPA are due to science, not politics, and the restrictions are probably far
> less stringent (thanks to politics and big business) than health concerns wou
> warrant. Talk to people at the American Lung association, for instance, if yo
> want to find out some of the serious problems caused by dirty air. The growin
> numbers of people on the planet, especially in urban areas, will certainly
> cause all of us to look at how we do business. Artists are not above doing
> this--and I believe, that much of the time, are in the vangaurd of activists.
>
> I don't think we have solutions for the vast array of problems facing us, but
> believe that we can find solutions. We can only do that though, if we
> acknowledge the problem. And lets face it--kilns release into the air toxic
> chemicals that are not good for us. Back in ancient times when there were fa
> fewer people breathing here, not to mention far fewer firing on the face of
> Earth, it was less a problem. I would hate to see woodkilns shut down--I thi
> that artists are producing some of the more interesting artifacts around. But
> the same time, I think we need to keep looking for ways to reduce air pollutio
> (and other kinds as well) and keep this world liveable . Open dialogue such as
> this is a first. step. I for one, am getting a little more hesitant about firi
> pots that I think have a poor future. I still take chances with things--but I'
> like to get to the point where I am even more selective. Mindful firing is jus
> one minor suggestion for taking that first step towards cleaner air.
> Sincerely,
> Jeanne Melchior
> In southern Indiana, which has some of the most polluted air in the United
> states.
Jeanne Melchior wrote:
>
martin howard on thu 27 jan 00
Norman van der Sluys is correct in that we should all tackle the real source
of pollution.
My research over the last 12 years shows that one of the main problems is
factory farming. But these farmers are reacting to what the public will buy
for food. So the problem comes back to us, the buying public. Do we want the
produce of factory farms, or do we prefer organic, free range meat,
vegetables, fruit and nuts and are we prepared to pay for them or grown them
ourselves.
The next problem is our transport. We demand to move far and fast. So cars
are designed to do just that. Is there no other way of organising our lives?
As potters we can organise our lives to a certain extent; fire at a lower
cone; install the right machinery to lower pollution emissions etc. Use
local recycled materials rather than demand RMs which cause a lot of
pollution in their manufacture. The answers are endless. But they all come
down to us personally making decisions to change our lives in a positive
direction to reduce pollution locally, nationally and world-wide. We
individuals have the power to save the world. No-one is powerless in this
struggle for clean air.
Martin Howard (retired Town and Country Planner)
Webb's Cottage Pottery
Woolpits Road
Great Saling
BRAINTREE
Essex CM7 5DZ
01371 850 423
martin@webbscottage.co.uk
www.webbscottage.co.uk Should be ready for 2000 :-) or 2001
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