This guest essay by Rebecca Freedman, an emission specialist with the British Columbia Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport, expands on a comment posted at The Woodpile. We hope it prompts a dialogue among those whose work involves communicating with the public about wood heating.

I commented in response to the Wood Smoke Emission Reductions Through Public Education article, in which John wrote:

“The lack of good quality public information is not for lack of intelligence or creativity. I think the biggest reason why emission reduction through public information is in its infancy is because it is a very difficult task and that the agencies with resources, like government and manufacturers, are populated by technologists and marketing specialists, not sociologists and educators.”

The statement piqued my interest because I work for the government of British Columbia and, with both a marketing and education background, I believe in the critical role that public education and behaviour change must play in reducing wood smoke emissions. I run a province-wide woodstove exchange program, giving funding and capacity to local governments to promote exchanges, offer incentives, and deliver education. We currently have 23 programs running and over 3000 exchanges in three years.

We've promoted the Burn It Smart public information workshop model because it is very comprehensive and offers the opportunity for wood burners to learn from people who are trained and certified under the Wood Energy Technical Training (WETT) program, experts who can answer all their questions.

The problem is that we don't get very many people out to these resource-intensive sessions. Typically our coordinators spend $1500 to $2000 for each workshop, market them in the local papers, get retailers on board with the promotion, involve delivery partners such as the local fire department, and offer great door prizes (sometimes even a new stove!) – all great stuff from a marketing perspective. Yet, for the most part, the number of people coming out to the workshops has been really low. In one of the most populated regional districts in BC, a Burn It Smart workshop scheduled a few weeks ago was cancelled when only 5 individuals registered for the event!

So I've been thinking a lot about education and how we can reach more people. It is something that I discuss with my 23 program coordinators on a regular basis. Here are a few observations to add to the discussion:

One issue that John alluded to is that people may not even be aware that they are causing a problem. How often do people actually step outside their homes to see what their chimney is doing? People may see the advertising for the workshop or receive the Burn Wise info sheets but unless they gain the awareness that they are doing something wrong, these educational efforts won't resonate with them.

A few of my coordinators are trying something different. Instead of messaging about burning it smart, they are marketing a 'check it' message - check your wood to make sure it is dry, check your chimney to make sure it isn't smoking, etc. Another coordinator wants to organize neighborhood walks as a way to get people outside and discussing wood heating and outdoor impacts. We'll have to wait and see how successful these approaches will be.

I agree with the point another reader made that somehow the vendors are key to education delivery because they are the ones able to have face to face conversations with customers. I do appreciate the comment about how busy vendors are but we've got to explore this one a little more. We know that new stoves are not meant to be operated the same way old stoves were. Fostering proper operation of the new appliance is as important a role for the vendors as making sure they are selling the correct appliance for the customers’ heating space and needs. Providing an educational pamphlet at the time of sale will not be enough.

Social marketing and social learning research tells us that the most powerful form of information exchange is through face to face interactions. On that note, is there something more that installers could do while they are in people's homes to demonstrate proper operation? Are there other message-delivery people we can involve? We've tried to get firewood vendors and insurance companies involved by creating fact sheets for them to aid in the conversations they might have with customers. But the insurance companies prove to be a challenge because they care about fire safety and building codes, not about emissions.

Proper storage of wood so that it seasons is another issue. One of my coordinators is constantly coming across poor wood piles and is convinced that if we can correct this behavior we can make a big difference. People do take pride in their wood pile; it is a sign that they are self-sufficient for their heating needs. Perhaps we need to be fostering this sense of pride and make the examples of good wood storage more visible in communities. Much like the block leader approach to recycling, in which people are more likely to put their blue box out simply because their neighbors do, the creation of neighborhood norms and expectations for good wood storage could be very powerful.

There are some good case studies right now about home energy use and the power of social norm appeals where people get feedback about how their energy usage compares with their neighbors. People tend to want to conform with the norm (the majority) and will adjust their behavior accordingly. Perhaps there is something we can do for wood burners to motivate them towards the norm (proper wood burning) in order for them to be more receptive to the operational techniques promoted on this site. Can we provide feedback on the number of cords of wood that the ‘good wood burners’ use in a neighborhood compared to how much wood a ‘poor wood burner’ goes through? Can we provide feedback on the number of homes being heated with wood in a neighborhood that don’t have smoky chimneys and let people know if they are in this category or not? Would this sort of feedback make a difference? This would make a great little study for a university course somewhere!

Over this next year I will be putting my mind to how we can promote the education around wood burning once our incentive money dries up. We, like many others, will have scarce resources, so it is more important than ever to explore cost effective education that produces results.

RF