Fire, clean air and Contentment.

Fire, clean air and Contentment. 12/05/2009

Reg and I began touring Australia, from mid autumn until mid spring partly to get away from the smoky pollution from neighbours fireplaces. I love these Amish fireplaces, they have the look of a wood fire without the pollution. Not that a well stacked and vented fire made from well seasoned dry wood, needs to be polluting, just not everyone understands how to burn timber without making heaps of irritating smoke.

Wood smoke contains many of the same chemicals as cigarette smoke, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hazardous metals, and known carcinogens such as formaldehyde, dioxin, benzene, and toluene. Inhaling wood smoke appears to be just as dangerous - or even more dangerous - as inhaling tobacco smoke. An EPA study concluded that breathing wood smoke particles during high pollution days is equivalent to smoking 4 to 16 cigarettes. Medical studies have linked air pollution with lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, congenital heart defects, asthma, and even brain damage. People most at-risk for damage from air pollution include asthma sufferers, diabetics, those with congenital heart failure, and children.

We began our travels from the necessity of seeking cleaner air during winter and now we are simply hooked on the lifestyle and travel half of each year, because we love it.

There is something very satisfying about watching flames dance in a fire. While we escape the cold south to get away from chimney smoke; we love sitting around the campfire, burning old dry wood which combusts well with little smoke. There is something very beautiful and peaceful almost meditative, about controlled fire.