“I didn’t want to go anywhere near London.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The crisis finally prompted the British government to ban coal use for home heating, eventually leading to dramatic improvements in air quality.<\/p>\n
Dr Wood contemplated this public policy success story after moving to Tasmania in the early 1990s and learning of terrible air pollution from wood heaters across its valley regions.<\/p>\n
With concerns about air pollution surfacing once again<\/a>, he believes more could still be done to address the longstanding problem.<\/p>\n The smog in Launceston during winter. (Supplied)<\/p>\n ‘A matter of urgency’<\/p>\n Despite Tasmania’s clean, green reputation, air quality plummets across many valley regions during winter, as the landscape and weather traps smoke, which is largely emitted by residential wood heaters.<\/p>\n But when Dr Wood first started as an environmental scientist for Tasmania’s then-Environment and Land Management Department in 1990, the problem was far worse.<\/p>\n “I just couldn’t believe the air quality condition here,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n he said. William Wood was an environmental scientist with Tasmania’s then-Environment and Land Management Department from 1990-1993.\u00a0 (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n Neither could James Markos, who started work as a respiratory physician at Launceston General Hospital around the same time.<\/p>\n “I was not [previously] aware of just how much fog and smog there was,” he said.<\/p>\n “It was just amazing.”<\/p>\n James Markos, a retired respiratory physician, was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia this year. (ABC News: Emily Smith)<\/p>\n Dr Wood and Dr Markos were both members of the 16-person working group set up to investigate air pollution, environmental health and respiratory diseases in 1991.<\/p>\n Their 100-plus-page report, published in 1996, linked wood heaters to air pollution and increasing respiratory disease, and called for “all possible measures” to address the issue “as a matter of urgency”.<\/p>\n NZ has ultra-low emission wood heaters. Why doesn’t Australia?<\/a><\/p>\n A new generation of low-emission wood heaters that produce a fraction of the particulate pollution of current models could save lives by improving air quality, researchers say.<\/p>\n Dr Wood said the cause then gained momentum, leading to media campaigns, brochure drops and even lessons about wood heater use in schools.<\/p>\n From 2001-2013 the federal government and the Launceston City Council funded a wood heater buyback program.<\/p>\n “The public awareness and these incentives did reduce pollution,” Mr Markos said.<\/p>\n In 2013, researchers found air pollution dropped significantly in Launceston between 1994 and 2007<\/a>, saving lives.<\/p>\n Tasmania’s air pollution issues are largely due to wood heaters.\u00a0 (Flickr: Ian Sutton)<\/p>\n Air pollution up this winter<\/p>\n But Dr Markos worries interest in air quality is waning.<\/p>\n He put it down to cost of living, suggesting more people were reverting back to wood heaters if they had a cheap supply of timber, to save on electricity.<\/p>\n “[But that comes at] a cost to the community, the health cost, and that’s what is not being factored in at the moment,” he said.<\/p>\n Dr Wood believed population and education also played a role.<\/p>\n “There are probably more people here now and I think people have forgotten probably how to use the wood heaters,” he said.<\/p>\n Launceston City Council promised in 2022 to develop a clean air strategy, but has not yet done so. (ABC News: Georgia Hogge)<\/p>\n John Innis, an air quality specialist with Tasmania’s Environment Protection Authority, said air pollution had been higher this year.<\/p>\n “Smoke levels do seem to have popped up again this winter, compared to other years”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n he said.<\/p>\n But he said that was partly driven by the weather, pointing out a windy winter in 2016 swept much of the pollution away, whereas this year had been calmer and colder.<\/p>\n He said some parts of Launceston were more affected by smoke than others, noting wood heater use was higher in outer areas, and a single, poorly used wood heater could have a profound impact on local air quality.<\/p>\n ‘World’s cleanest air’ to the north<\/p>\n Air pollution causes cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness and cancer, with the World Health Organization estimating it led to 4.2 million deaths globally in 2019.<\/p>\n But it usually stems from multiple sources \u2014 including industry, traffic, large populations and energy production \u2014 making it difficult for many cities to tackle.<\/p>\n Launceston is a different story.<\/p>\n It is three and a half hours’ drive from Kennaook\/Cape Grim, an area famous for having the cleanest air in the world.<\/a><\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n During summer, Launceston’s air quality is excellent.<\/p>\n Dr Markos said its winter air pollution was almost entirely due to wood heaters, along with climate and topography. This makes finding solutions for the problem easier.<\/p>\n “Although we have high pollution in our system [in valley regions of Tasmania], we are better off because we could do something about it,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n he said.Possible solutions for Launceston<\/p>\n Other countries, like New Zealand, have restrictions on wood heater use and the ACT plans to phase them out by 2045<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the idea has faced fierce opposition in Tasmania.<\/p>\n During the recent state election campaign, both major parties ruled out a wood heater ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Launceston City Council plans to deliver a new Clean Air Strategy before next winter, after years of delays.<\/p>\n A wood heater buyback scheme helped reduce the number of wood heaters in Launceston, but some say cost of living pressures may have increased their numbers again. (Unsplash:\u00a0Matias T<\/a>)<\/p>\n But the council’s chief executive, Sam Johnson, said he expected air quality to remain an issue into the future.<\/p>\n Dr Wood suggested other public policies would yield results, like subsidies for home insulation and heat pumps, and education programs on wood heater use.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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