Smoking and Choking

I will admit, that I like ye olde fireplace fire........but now, I don't like the smoke in the air when it feels like I have Asthma.

And here in the Capitol of Californication, it hardly ever gets cold enough to freeze anything.............so, a lot of people probably don't really need to light the fire...........it's just a warm living-room homey thing.

As soon as I got to work today, I smelled wood smoke coming from the ventilation duct. As the day progressed, I was coughing more and more. Talking with coworkers later on, they too, commented they were coughing, and had burning eyes. My partner called someone in Engineering, and he dropped by.........probably thinking we were talking about burned popcorn.

Engineer of the Night, wasn't very sympathetic to our complaints of things making us cough, sneeze and burning eyes........because after all, "No one else has complained yet".


We got a heckuva response
From the Engineering dude.
If it had been Mark
He would never have been so rude,
When we called about the smoke
Piped in by our new ventilation piping,
The dude said, "It would be too expensive
And no one else complained, only you are griping".

I said, "Well, we are the healthy ones
What about those who can't complain?
Asthmatics, with C.O.P.D.
Respiratory Failure
Just struggling to operate their brain",
No, Engineering dude, once again stated
"I'm sorry, no one else has lodged a complaint",
Denouncing our legitimate concerns
Oh, I held myself back with some restraint.

I guess, maybe he is a perfect example
Of someone, who takes his job easy,
Don't rock the boat, ruffle the edges
Maybe he gets queasy,
Afraid to pose
Questions of impropriety,
Like piping in particulate-matter smoke
Intolerable to most of our society.

He talked about charcoal filters
Although, I dont know if that's a viable solution,
And anyway, Engineer said it would be too expensive
And "no one else" complained about the air pollution,
Then I begin to wonder, how much do you want to breathe
Is it as important to you, as Valet Parking?
Go find your car later, without much help
Or listen to your loved one, wheezing and barking.

Your Nurses too, are coughing
Like infected banshees, on the roam,
Where, in reality, they are suffering
From neighborhood households, burning loam,
And really folks, do you want
Your caregivers, coughing like deathrow survivors?,
Coming up from the deep-blue sea
Like gasping, deep-sea divers?

But night-time Engineer said
"Well, no one else complained",
I guess he's the wise man in the bunch;
Let's have him Ordained.

1-2-15

Some Data  regarding Smoke Air Pollution:

http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Communications-and-Outreach/Air-Quality-in-the-Bay-Area/Wood-Burning/Wood-Burning-Rule-Information.aspx

http://www.sparetheair.org/~/media/Files/Communications and Outreach/RedWoodSmoke.ashx?la=en

http://www.epa.gov/airquality/community/details/i-woodstoves_addl_info.html#activity2

http://www.cleanairplus.com/blog/activated-carbon-filters-air-purifiers.html

Our Engineers are in complete support, apparently.