! December 2013!! !

Attention drivers! Turn off your idling engines http://www.edf.org/transportation/reports/idling !!

Reducing vehicle idling will cut pollution and save you money !Four ways to be idle-free Turn off your ignition if you're waiting

more than 10 seconds. Contrary to popular belief, restarting your car does not burn more fuel than leaving it idling. In fact, idling for just 10 seconds wastes more gas than restarting the engine.

Warm up your engine by driving it, not by idling. Today's electronic engines do not need to warm up, even in winter. The best way to warm the engine is by easing into your drive and avoiding excessive engine revving. The vehicle's engine warms twice as quickly when driven.

Warm up the cabin interior by driving, not idling. Easing into your drive is also the best way to get your vehicle’s heating system delivering warmer air faster.

Protect your car engine by idling less. Frequent restarts are no longer hard on a car’s engine and battery. The added wear (which amounts to no more than $10 a year) is much less costly than the cost of fuel saved (which can add up to $70-650 a year, depending on fuel prices, idling habits and vehicle type). Idling actually increases overall engine wear by causing the car to operate for longer than necessary. !

Reasons to stop idling Make the air healthier by cutting down on hazardous pollution in your town or community. Help the environment. For every 10 minutes your engine is off, you'll prevent one pound of carbon dioxide from being released (carbon dioxide is the primary contributor to global warming).

Keep money in your wallet and save fuel. Save between 1/5 to 7/10 of a gallon of fuel for every hour of not idling. !What harm does idling do? Idling pollutes the air and harms health. Idling tailpipes spew out the same pollutants that form unhealthy smog and soot as those from moving cars. Nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds are the main health-harming pollutants in vehicle emissions. Diesel engines emit more than 40

hazardous air pollutant. These pollutants have been linked to serious human illnesses, including: • asthma, • heart disease, • chronic bronchitis and • cancer. Children, the elderly and those with asthma and other chronic health problems are especially vulnerable to the health dangers of exhaust. Pollution from idling contributes to global warming. Idling cars and trucks emit carbon dioxide (CO2), a main heat-trapping gas. !

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!Effects of Air Pollution on the Pulmonary System

by Erwin Diener, Ph.D., FRSC. Professor Emeritus, Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Univ. of Alberta ! The lungs consist of two bellows whose microstructure is designed to exchange inhaled oxygen (O2) molecules for carbon dioxide molecules (CO2). Being one of the !body’s excretory products, CO2 is to exit from the blood’s fluid into the !pulmonary air spaces, from where it is exhaled. Since the inhaled O2 has to be carried by red blood cells from the lungs to every cell of the body’s tissue, and since the body’s excretory CO2 released by the tissue ends up in the blood too, there are CO2 - carrying veins leading to - and oxygen - carrying arteries leading from the lungs.! In humans the sites of gas exchange represent about 700 million tiny balloons of only 0.2 mm in diameter each (alveoli) amounting to a total surface area of about

70m squared. The skin of each balloon (alveolus) is made from a layer of flattened cells attached to each other, side by side, like !!

!cobblestones. A fine mesh of tiny blood vessels (capillaries) wraps around each !alveolus, covering about 70% of its surface. The cells that form the capillaries and those that form each alveolar sac are permeable to both O2 and CO2; they embody the location of gas exchange.! Depending on the particle size of inhaled particulate matter (P.M.), particles get stuck throughout the bronchial tree, the smallest ones being able to penetrate as far as the alveoli, !where they will reside permanently. Particles are loaded with many kinds of chemicals, generally classified as hydrocarbons, which interact with the very molecular structures that constitute the delicate sites of gas exchange, causing them to undergo alterations that affect their functional fitness. This results in reduced gas permeability and the loss of the tissue-elasticity required to withstand changes in air pressure during breathing action. Most insidiously, some of these structural alterations within the molecular landscape of cell surfaces along the bronchial airways and within the alveoli are recognized by the immune system as representing altered “self”.! The property to distinguish between “self” and “not-self” resides in types of specialized white blood cells whose task it is to screen the three-dimensional molecular motives displayed by all cells anywhere within the body, for “self” signatures. Naturally, the traditional targets being recognized by these immune cells, as being “not-self”, are infectious microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and other potential parasites present in our environment. Each of us knows from personal experience the consequences of the immune system’s detection of “not-self” on surfaces of inhaled pathogenic microorganisms. The

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Sunshine Coast Clean Air Society AGM!Sunday, January 26th @ 1 pm!

Stalashen Club House!Wilson Creek!

All Invited

bronchial tissues, triggered by the immune recognition process, respond by increased production of mucus, by shedding infected cells, by sporadic bronchial constriction, by prompting the nervous system’s trigger for coughing and most importantly, by dilation of blood vessels so as to facilitate access of various types of white blood cells to infected areas. This localized increase in blood supply accompanied by the influx of large numbers of white blood cells equipped to destroy the pathogens and pathogen-infected cells by various molecular means, embodies a process we call inflammation. ! We can draw the conclusion that any deviation from what the immune system recognizes as “self”, regardless of the underlying cause, results in an immune attack against “not-self”. It follows from common logic that an alveolar or bronchial cell’s molecular signature of “self” turned into “not-self” by way of chemical interaction with hydrocarbons from P.M., must result in the “auto-immune” destruction of that cell. Hydrocarbon loaded particles, once permanently lodged in large enough amounts deep inside the lungs, will instigate a chronic state of inflammation accompanied by auto-immune processes that gradually lead to tissue destruction.! !

They Like us! SCCAS and Social Media

by Jools Andrés, Executive Director!! The Sunshine Coast Clean Air Society has been busy building its social media base over the past few months and we are seeing positive results. Our audience (Likes) on Facebook has increased by over 100 since June (274 as of this writing) and we have a Twitter following of about 100; surprisingly, that puts us in the top 20 percent of all Twitter users.! Our Woodstove Exchange Program funders, BC's Ministry of Environment, have been so impressed with our social media efforts that they asked me to create a webinar to tutor other program coordinators across the province to help them establish their social media programs. Over 20 participants went through the Powerpoint presentation, live and online, with me last June.! Director Ryan Logtenberg has been managing a small paid Facebook advertising campaign for SCCAS this fall, which brought our reach to over 4,300 individuals for the week of October 31.

These ads have promoted views of the BC Ventilation Index monitoring data.! It is our hope to take our Facebook use to a new level with an educational campaign promoted through Facebook advertising in early 2014; the development of this initiative will depend on our receiving funds through a grant applied for in mid-October. Concise information on specific topics, such as open burning, targeted to the over 13,000 Facebook users on the Sunshine Coast, will aim to bring awareness, and hopefully change, to habits that degrade the quality of our air shed.! Twitter produces a different kind of exposure than Facebook. It is more immediate and exchange oriented, as well as being farther reaching, geographically. (Most of our Twitter connections are from distant locations around the globe, while our Facebook audience is primarily local and regional.) Twitter audience building is directly related to the amount of information and cross-referencing that is posted, as well as by promoting other Twitter accounts. Since Tweets are limited to 144 characters, the best messages are punchy and contain a funny sort of topic-lingo as well as a relevant link. ! Both Facebook and Twitter have to be updated often to appear dynamic and be effective. Whether or not you are a social media user, this is the way that organizations promote themselves these days. It is a cost-effective means of engaging the public and realizing our mandate to enhance the quality of life through education.! Like us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CleanAirSociety and follow us on Twitter at @CleanAirSociety.!!!Thank you, Louis Legal! Louis Legal has been a Director of the Sunshine Coast Clean Air Society from its inception, along with our founders David and Rosemary Holmes-Smith. As such, he’s been an unofficial historian for us. Recently he served as our Treasurer, been instrumental in collating documents for our charitable status application, mentored the ongoing successful Wood Stove Exchange Program, given us a scientific perspective on projects as a retired

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meteorologist helped us prioritize our projects, and much more. ! For personal reasons, Louis needs to dedicate his time to family matters and has submitted his resignation. We have benefited by his many contributions and will miss him. Thank you very much, Louis!!!

Coal Dust: a Major Air Pollutant by Elizabeth McNeill & Louis Legal!

Did you know there’s a proposal to ship coal from the Fraser Surrey Docks to Texada Island, which would then be shipped to Asia and burned thus causing more air pollution that drifts worldwide (back to us) and increases global warming? Did you know that large ships would pass by the Sunshine Coast from Surrey to Texada Island, and we would be the target of the coal dust coming off the decks that would settle on our shores and affect the intertidal zone and our beaches? Did you know that there isn’t an adequate spill response if there were an accident?! There are many reasons to be concerned about this project. The Clean Air Society’s focus is to keep our air on the Coast clean and promote health. Coal dust would degrade our air.! Coal dust contains toxic heavy metals, including mercury, and is associated with emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Diesel particulate matter, expelled from the locomotives bringing the coal to !Surrey from Wyoming, would impair pulmonary development in adolescents, increase cardiopulmonary mortality and pulmonary inflammation, increase severity and frequency of asthma attacks, emergency room visits and hospital admissions in children, increase rates of heart attacks in adults, and increase the risk of cancer. Death and illness from coal pollution in China, with the extra burden it causes to climate change from greenhouse gas emissions, are well known. Natural gas is a better transition fuel from fossil fuels because greenhouse gas emissions are almost half of what coal produces for the same amount of heat. Natural gas, compared to coal, is healthier for breathing and air quality. Coal is called dirty for a reason.! Medical officers for the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health Authorities along

with the Provincial chief medical officer have all asked for a comprehensive health impact assessment to determine the impacts of airborne dust and potential contamination of air, land, food, and fish harvested from contaminated waters. So far Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks, the

entities who support this coal transportation project, have refused to commission a health impact assessment. ! The SCRD, Paul Martiquet, M.D., our Medical Officer on the Coast, and our MLA Nicholas Simons are all opposing this coal shipment proposal. The B.C. Nurses Union along with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment oppose this project. Oregon and Washington rejected proposals to create port facilities on their coasts for coal shipments to Asia based on public health concerns.!! For more information: !Coal Train Facts: www.coaltrainfacts.org!Dogwood Initiative: Beyond Coal: www.dogwoodinitiative.org/beyondcoal!No More Coal Exports: www.nomorecoal.com!S.C. Conservation Assn: www.thescca.ca!realporthearing.org !!

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!The Sunshine Coast Clean Air Society wishes to thank the following for providing us with financial aid during 2013:

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� !! !!!These contributions allow us to educate Sunshine Coast residents on relevant issues and also support programs and initiatives that enable us to improve and protect regional air quality. These include the Burn It Smart and Wood Stove Exchange Programs as well as backyard / open burning bylaw implementation in communities up and down the Sunshine Coast.

www.cleanaironthecoast.com!www.facebook.com/CleanAirSociety!!!!

Check Out Our Daily!

Ventilation Index!at!

www.cleanaironthecoast.com!

Reducing Hydro Bills - Our Experience

by Joe Harrison!!Older folks worried about cutting wood and hydro bills should consider a heat pump. ! It’s essentially a refrigeration unit outside your house that extracts heat from the air and magically delivers it to a radiator inside. Our existing baseboards occupy 65 amps on the breaker panel. Our new heat pump has 20 amps and delivers heat to three computer chip controlled wall units that double as air conditioners in summer. They also filter and extract water from the inside air to prevent black mould and steamy windows.

(air exchange heat pump)

We expect to slice our Hydro bill in half. We added our six bi-monthly Hydro invoices for last year, divided by 12 months, and the average monthly expenditure was a surprising $180. Even more worrisome are the coming 25% Hydro increases.

We paid $7293 to Al Wallace of Sechelt Plumbing in October and so far we have no complaints. Our annual return on the investment will be at least$1080 or 14.6%.

Because baseboards are so inefficient in our house which sprawls with many windows, we had to

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supplement with oil costing $2500 last year. It’s December and minus five. So far: no baseboards, no oil, and the meter says we are on track to save.

Before we installed the heat pump, we needlessly worried about the noise of the fan outside the bedroom and the three wall unit fans in different areas inside. We have been pleasantly surprised with a warmer house costing much less to heat.

In below minus 5 degrees, you need backup heat because heat pump effectiveness is reduced by a third.

Will it work for you? Phone me and arrange to come by and check it out.

Joe Harrison 604 883 9958

!Extortionate Rate Increases

by BC Hydro by Jeff Hoag !

This little house costs $277 per month to power now - $340.00 per month by 2017.

! !This represents a 109% increase from the 2007 rates. Hydro tells you that the rate increases will cost the average household $8.00 per month. This little house has experienced rate increase of 71% or $97 per month since 2007. The monthly rate by 2017 will increase by another $103 by 2017 for a whopping 109% increase in 10 years. !

Net effect of Increased Hydro Rates: Transition to dirty and fossil fuel heating

Increased health costs from air pollution and related diseases

Increased Greenhouse gas emissions Less consumer spending power

!New Burning Bylaw for Half

Moon Bay by Jeff Hoag!!

A new burning bylaw had been implemented in Halfmoon Bay. This bylaw is a huge step forward in helping to improve the air quality in Halfmoon Bay. Highlights of the bylaw are:  " the burning of Class B burn piles is permitted only from April 1st -15th and October 15th -November 15th when the Ventilation Index as issued by the Province of BC is rated as ‘good’ for the central Vancouver Island Coastal Region." This is very important in that it not only cuts 4 months out of the previous outdoor burning window but also requires that the ventilation index is favourable. Ventilation Index.  " No person shall cause, allow, permit or suffer the manufacture, storage, transfer or disposal of a substance that emits smoke or smoke containing particulate matter in or around a building or premises that disturbs, or would tend to disturb, the health, comfort or convenience of individuals in the vicinity of the building." This is a broad based statement that enables a complaint against people who are disturbing health, comfort or convenience. Halfmoon Bay has a new bylaw officer that is very responsive to complaints. Please ensure that you have the address of the smoke origination. Your complaint is confidential! The number to call is 604- 885-6817. The bylaw officer will contact the person and let them know that the next time they offend, they will receive a fine. It is imperative that we all chip in to have people notified if they are burning illegally.   Full Bylaw

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Contact a Bylaw Officer to Report an Illegal Backyard or Open Air Burn!

Gibsons: Sue Booth sbooth@gibsons.ca!(604) 886-2274!!

Roberts Creek & Half Moon Bay: !(604) 885-6817 !

bylaw.compliance@scrd.ca! !!Sechelt: Jane Bowers (604) 740-8466!

jbowers@sechelt.ca !