John Baymore on sun 27 oct 02
You may not want to here this, but wood & coal firing has been banned in
the
home town of the potteries - Stoke-on-Trent -UK , for many years. I am n=
ot
aware of any potters in Stoke-on-Trent who wood firing because of the
smokeless zone act which became a BI law in the 1960s. I do realise tha=
t
the scale of potters in Stoke in the 50s & 60s was such that action must =
be
taken because of the heath problems in stoke due to the coal firing.
Stephen & Karen,
Thanks for the note from the UK. I was already aware of it.
This is certainly true......... but it is mainly about the scale of the
former operations. Stoke on Trent had a huge concentration of industrial=
pottery operations. There was a prevalence of coal firing kilns. Coal
firing produces a lot more significant "crap" than wood firing...... due
mainly to the high sulphur content of the coal. Add Britan's somewhat da=
mp
climate to all that SOx... and you have some real air quality issues. An=
y
current handcraft potters have been caught in the "crossfire" created by
the mainly industrial problems there.
Susan Beecher's wood kiln is somewhat small and is in a basically isolate=
d
rural location with good air movement qualities. =
In the venerable "land of wood firing".... Japan....... the Kyoto area ha=
s
a similar ban. The reason is that the Kyoto area historically had a HUGE=
concentration of potters and very large wood kilns AND that the Kyoto are=
a
sits in a "basin" surrounded by mountains that trap the circulation of ai=
r.
(It is sort of like the Salt Lake City area in the USA.... but the
mountains are not as big.) It has regular inversion problems. Add the
huge concentration of people that live in that area using cars and heatin=
g
their homes (as much as they do ), running businesses, and such.......=
.
and the air quality IS a real issue there.
However...... it is interesting to note that while the potters have been
banned from wood firing there anymore....... all sorts of other air
pollution sources continue on basically unchecked. =
When I was there in 1996...... I walked each morning from my room in a
suburb of Kyoto to the local train station.... about a mile. The air
quality was TERRIBLE! My eyes watered every day. The air was a blue haze=
. =
I would walk past okusan and obasan (housewives and grandmothers) standin=
g
out each morning by the side of the road....... carefully burning their
household trash. Paper, plastic, tin cans, vegatative matter, you name i=
t.
Little burn piles in front of each house. I would also walk past the
piles of smouldering rice husks and rice straw burning in the paddies. I=
walked past small businesses that had their little metal dumpster type
incinerators burning up the prior days business rubbish. Cars and trucks=
buzzed everywhere. Factories with large smokestacks still ran. And so o=
n.
=
Why is this? It is because as a "political" power group....... handcraft=
potters are pretty much invisible. We have little political power
base..... even in Japan. Plus current handcraft potters got caught in so=
me
"crossfire" of the problems created by larger industrial type businesses=
located there, like Stoke-on-Trent.
Handcraft potters are easy targets to "shut down" in most places. Pictur=
e
it if suddenly ALL of us had to stop making pots. Horrors! The world
would stop, right? Wrong. Basically things would just go on without
skipping much of a beat.... and oil-based plastic would continue to be
"king". Few would notice. World economics wouldn't even show a
microscopic blip in any country's GNP. Yes, some would certainly
lament.......particularly in Japan ......... but way too few. The world=
would become far poorer...... and not really know it.
Susan's kiln is an easy target that is "safe" to attack for the average
person. Why? Because she is the only person (probably) in Jewett that H=
AS
a wood kiln. And while the average person probably likes handmade
pots....... they are looked at as a luxury. In most people's view, what
Susan does is not "important" or "significant". It certainly doesn't
affect the real economy of the region. So attacking it will have little =
or
no consequences to that person. And they can feel "good" about how they
have "protected" the environment....... while they drive their huge SUV t=
o
the grocery store 10 miles away to pick up a loaf of bread that they can'=
t
just buy in their neighborhood..... because they voted for zoning that
prohibited any businesses anywhere NEAR a residence, god forbid.
If wood smoke and air quality really IS an issue in Jewett, NY....... may=
be
Mr. Middleton should be rallying support to eliminate ALL the wood stoves=
and the fireplaces in the town . Just one of those full-time winter
resident's stoves eliminated would about equal the output of Susan's few
firings a year. Bet that many of those vacation homes located there have=
one too........ that's ski country right near Hunter Mountain. Boy....
there are probably so many fireplaces and wood stoves in a rural town lik=
e
Jewett. And some of those homeowners DO use coal in their stoves too!!!!=
=
Oh..... while we're at it, shut down that wood fired maple syrup producer=
too. And eliminate burning brush piles. And of course shut down the woo=
d
kiln. Yeah...... no wood fires at all in Jewett. THAT should go a long=
way to fix the smoke problem in town.
Never happen. Why? Cause it will affect too many people's interests. I=
t
is not "politically easy". "My wood stove is OK.... but your kiln has to=
go." Mr. Middleton's support would go out the window in a heartbeat, and=
e
his former "allies" would turn on him.
If Mr. Middleton was as "environmentally conscious" as one would think fr=
om
his actions on Ms. Beecher's kiln..... he would have immediately have bee=
n
"all over" the oil contamination issue that one of the web links I quoted=
mentioned.
So this situation is about politics more than the good of the environment=
and health issues, I think.
Thanks for the comments about S on T. Do you know is nay small scale
handcraft potters have TRIED to get special permission to fire with wood
there?
Best,
..............................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)
JohnBaymore.com
JBaymore@compuserve.com
| |
|
