Another urgent plea

A few months ago I made an urgent plea that folks stop burning
vineyard cuttings and other debris, because of the devastating
health effects that it has on the most vulnerable of our neighbors,
including young children, the elderly and others with heart and/or
lung problems. After all, at its worst, the situation is not only
scary, it’s life threatening.
The responses that I got were all positive, in that they said
that the points that I made were correct and that the solutions
offered, (mulching, etc., instead of burning), were the right ones.
However, I was cautioned that it’s so much cheaper just to dowse a
pile of debris with some diesel and set a match to it, that my plea
would largely go unheeded. It’s that simple, I was told. No offense
meant, of course. It’s not personal; it’s just an economic reality.
But, is it really?
If those who burn their debris were given the bills for the
ambulance rides and hospital visits, etc., for treating the medical
problems that they exacerbate, (not to mention the cost of human
suffering involved), they would see right away, from a purely
economic standpoint, that burning debris is really not the cheapest
alternative.
In order to get the economics right, we have to admit that the
actual costs of burning debris are far greater than those of the
available alternatives. It’s just that, as it stands now, the
people who do the burning and get the benefits from it, make their
neighbors, (who get sick by the breathing the smoke), pay the true
costs for them – whether they like it or not.
Put simply, if those who do the burning were charged the actual
costs, they wouldn’t do it, given the truly cheaper, available
alternatives. More importantly, if they cared about their
neighbors’ health, (not to mention their own), they wouldn’t do it.
It really is that simple. It really is about economics. And it
really is that personal.
As with smoking tobacco, it’s a smoker’s right to risk his/her
own health in doing so, but only when s/he bears the costs of
taking those risks and avoids foisting either those costs or risks
onto others who would otherwise choose to avoid them. Due to
undeniable and hefty healthcare costs, we’ve enacted increasingly
more proscriptive laws in response to the actual economic realities
involved. After all, that’s what our legal system is supposed to
do.
By profession, I’m both a theologian and a lawyer. The
theologian in me always hopes that people will do the right thing
for the right reasons, (in deference to the golden rule). The
lawyer in me just wants people to do the right thing, even if it’s
motivated entirely by the self-interest involved in avoiding a
lawsuit or a fine or other penalty.
In this case, as your neighbor, I hope that doing what’s right,
for everyone’s sake, is motivation enough. I want to believe that
putting a bunch of laws on the books prohibiting burning debris
isn’t the answer. Come on, you guys, (and I’m talking especially to
you commercial farmers and vintners), this is Healdsburg. Please,
don’t burn your debris. It’s going to stop at some point. Let’s
stop it now, before even more harm is done. Let’s stop it because
it’s the right thing to do.
Toni Lisoni is a Healdsburg resident.