Mama Beech

Last week I pondered how bad campfires actually are for our health. The effect on both the Forest School Leaders spending a lot of time alongside them breathing in heated air, smoke, particles, and any number of possible unknown toxins, and on the developing lungs of children in our care. There are ways to mitigate risks, and a good risk/benefit analysis should make how we practice as safe as we can. There is no way to totally eliminate the pollution of our bodies without saying no to fires completely. The decision has to be up to the individual - but I do think we are heading towards participation being something we need informed parental agreement for. We also need to consider the effect on both our immediate environment and how it affects our carbon footprint. I have a love of woodland... and hills... and mountains... and the coast... and nature... being outside in general! It's one of the reasons I do my job. At home, I try to be as environmentally friendly as I can, in what I...

A campfire is a treat at Chartham.  We don't have one every session even when the weather is cold. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being ratios! when we have a campfire I cannot leave the fire pit area, which has at times meant one TA left to supervise 20+ children! Then there's the time constraint. Often I have two classes in a morning, each session lasting approximately 60 minutes. This may mean keeping a fire going constantly as dampening it down after session one will make setting one for session two difficult! There is also the cost. With 16 classes a week we would need to buy in a minimum of £10 of logs a week, plus kindling... it adds up quickly. Yes, we have some trees and some woodland, but not enough to sustain campfires all week, all term, all year. Importantly, there are other considerations. To the environment for one, and to the participants also. There is a lot of study surrounding the negative effects of smoke inhalation. This US article by Kurt R...