Incinerators emit varying levels of heavy metals such as vanadium, manganese, chromium, nickel, arsenic,mercury, lead and cadmium, which can be toxic at very minute levels – says Wikepedia!
So, what is an Incinerator? In the 1930’s until the most of the 1950’s…as the Southland Basin of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties expanded….the family incinerator dotted the So. Cal. landscape. Tiny plumes of black, gray, brown, green and white smoke would rise in the backyards of family, neighbors, businesses and cities. Some Incinerators were the Industrial Kiln types, like that one that James Bond dumped Ernst Starvo Blofeld into off the runner of a radio controlled helicopter! Don’t worry…they are still around – just in case ESB makes a comeback in the next JB episode!
Incinerators like the one Great Grandma had was this awful cement brick/slab concoction…with a screen and lid positioned on top. It seemed pretty big to a little kid…but probably wasn’t much more than 5 or 6 feet in height. One thing was certain…it was a dirty mess…all the time. The odors and ash and toxic flavors left in your mouth after dumping your trash into these vehicles was truly a dirty, messy and later found out to be….very unhealthful!
People would put virtually any thing you could think of in their incinerators…..old oil from their cars, plastic toys from Japan, Kotex, Baby Diapers, fabric rags and old towels, medical waste, paint, glue – you name it. What these odors and toxins were doing to your neighbors environment were probably pretty bad.
Kids used to play with the family incinerator and throw fireworks, gasoline or anything else they could find that would explode. We are talking about Paint Thinner, Ant Poison, Kerosine or Ammonia! There were some very serious accidents or rather stupid events which left many dead, serverly burned or disfigured for life. The 60’s brought a concerted effort to have Waste Disposal people curb side pick-up trash…on a weekly basis and in doing so…reduce smog and the various health and safety concerns.
http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Archives/History/marchcov.html
In October of 1947 was the beginning of the AQMD. If we go back, it was reported that the smoke and haze was so bad one summer day in 1903…they thought it was a total eclipse of the sun. In 1959, as you would drive along the Santa Ana Freeway (5)…and into Los Angeles “into the bottleneck”…where the Santa Monica, the Gardena and the now Century Freeways all met…..you might have to pull to the side of one of those Freeways and stop because the Plating Company by those Freeways was belching green smoke that was burning your eyes so badly that you couldn’t see or drive. If you were lucky, the wind would change and you could then extracate yourself quickly from the vicinity. Sounds impossible doesn’t it?
Fast forward to 2006, 2007 and now 2008. New residences are being built without Fireplaces! That’s right….Fireplaces are being regulated out of existence. The toxic logs that you pile up and light up with your toxic fuel starter…are now being restricted. Sounds like the end times doesn’t it? Hearth and Home….what next are they going to outlaw; the family dog? The reality is that we are not taking very good care of our environment, our neighbors, or friends or our families when it comes to exposing them the toxic fumes! How many studies have been done to determine how many people that did not smoke one cigarette in their entire lives….got lung cancer from interior fireplace smoke or the family barbeque?
Are we over reacting? Perhaps…yet, when people could care less whether their kids, families, friends or neighbors get exposed to their backyard smoke…..then welcome to incinerator land! The throwback may have never left us….as we decided in our wisdom just not to pay any attention to the environmental concerns.
Closing the door on Incinerators; started assertively for residences in the 50’s – but to this day are still commercially allowed with “enclosed systems”…which means that the toxic fumes are supposedly filtered out before any venting. The truth of the matter is: Eventually, all the landfills in the world will need to be Incinerated…as they wind up polluting our water tables and they wind up venting and polluting our air. When will we laughingly; have to eventually send all our trash into outer space? How long can we allow the use of backyard barbeques to continue unabated. Perhaps, they will find a way to utilize trash for fuel and gasoline. Perhaps, the family barbeque can one day be hooked up to refill the family vehcile. Perhaps, paying an environmental tax for mitigation….will be a good start. Perhaps, letting people trade their barbeque pollution credits with other people that don’t have barbeques in their bad yards? Perhaps, basic common sense should tell all that the use of the family Fireplace or Barbeque should have some semblance of reasonable responsiblity attached to it?
In the meantime, Happy Memorial Day and enjoy the Last Great Barbeque Season – 2008!
Talk to your pal Pulido about the ban on fireplaces.
Your more likely to get cancer from train emissions/soot but Pulido has no problem building fireplace-less lofts by the hunreds right next to the train depot.
Sometimes you two perplex the hell out of me. I’m not sure if you are serious or writing tongue in cheek. I too remember incinerators. I also remember a skyline you could not see half the time and dozens or hundreds of ‘unhealthy’ smog alert days yearly. I remember the Glass company in Santa Ana putting out so much stink you could smell it three cities away. I also remember the Firestone rubber company belching out it’s black smoke in LA.
How much have we grown in size since the 50’s? Ten times or more? How much cleaner is the air today despite the influx of population? Probably 10 times or more too. I don’t have the numbers but I’m sure you do. Since the skyline is no longer brown or green, I’d have to say we have made pretty fair progress in 50 years. How far would you want us to go? My neighbors can BBQ all they want. I have yet to get sick from the aroma of a cooking steak or hamburger 50 yards away from me.
I guess the lesson here is that we adjust when our freedoms are taken away for public health and safety reasons.
I’m sure many felt that eliminating home incinerators infringed on their rights. The same kind of comments came when you suggested eliminating SUV’s and big pick-up trucks.
If the ozone layer thins sufficiently will we outlaw tanning?
They laughed out loud when we said that someday
you would not be able to smoke on airplanes…in
restaurants, talk on cell phones in your car or
worry about throwing your McDonald wrappers onto
the tarmac of their parking lot!
Soot is one thing…the real killers are invisible
and include NOX and Carbon Monoxide and heavy metals….all serious killers…that come from where? Fireplaces and Barbeques! In the good old days..people died at 45 to 50 years of age! Now days..72 for men and 77 for women! You guys choose what the future brings – with your live and let live philosophy! We used to have metal
and wood shop in high school too…until too many kids lost their fingers and hands.
Somi=twins. A lot of what you say is true but you can’t just regulate life out of existance. Every now and then the powers that be get it right. Incinerators, lower emissions have proven that in Southern California. Yet in central California wood burning stoves are the norm and burn days (incinerator days) still exist but regulated for safety. There is a medium without over or under regulation.
You mention shop class and kids losing fingers. Kids are dropping dead at football practice and sports games. Should we outlaw that too? I’m almost sure that any parent would prefer a 3 fingered son to a dead one.
You mention smoking on airplanes. I agree. But how many people do you know that have flown frequently not ending up with a case of the flu or a cold because of the recirculated air? Should we wear air tanks on our flights?
You mention cell phones in cars. You are right. They are a distraction. But if you believe the laws were passed out of safety over making a buck in court you should reconsider it otherwise you would outlaw eating, drinking a soda or even smoking in cars as well. All are as equally distracting.
Finally you mention throwing paper wrappers on the tarmac of a McDonalds parking lot. While tarmac is technically the ingredients of pavement, when I was in the service a tarmac was a flight line and Mcdonalds just had a parking lot. That paper trash you mention also gave some one a job to pick it up. However he was out in the sun so perhaps we should regulate that too.
People live longer today because of medical advances not because we have eliminated every possible health hazard out in the world. If I were to follow your logic I would have to wrap myself in a space suit just to drive to the store. But of course driving to the store is unsafe because someone might be talking on a cell phone.
I’m afraid your comment about “live and let live” is slightly skewed. The truth is is “live and let die” because that is the sad truth of it and you can’t legislate that out of existance.
#5 –
Well said. I’m impressed. 🙂
SMS