Wolfville Community Oven Environmental Scan The environmental scan of the WCO refers to both an environmental risk assessment and research on what other community ovens have done to manage the maintenance and environmental impact of their oven. Obstacles ❏ Noise Pollution: The WCO will not be located close to any residential areas and with proper facilitation, events should not disturb the peace. Another issue that was discussed was the possibility of noise keeping wildlife away. This however should not be a problem because the oven will not interfere with any pre existing habitats. ❏ Air Pollutants: Burning apple wood is considerably less harmful than burning coal. 4 ❏ Seasonal weather and operation: The oven takes longer to heat up during the winter months and wind/air flow for the fires is key for it to start it up and keep it burning hot. The fire will heat up and burn hotter depending on the size of the chamber (2.5 hours for the small Alexandra Park oven in Toronto) ❏ Maintenance: Dust and ash from the wood burning can be difficult to manage, using water has been found to push the ash in between and under the bricks which can build up over time. Bricks can erode and crack over time as well, such as the Dufferin Park oven that after 15 years had to be renovated and removed. It can also cause heat leakage from the oven if there is a fault.5 ❏ Chimney Swifts: There is a large population of these small birds in Wolfville, they have nested in a chimney near the area where the oven will be located. During the summer, the Chimney Swifts will come out at dusk, circle around the sky and will all synchronically dive into their nest all at once. It is a summer spectacle that many residents will come out to watch on a warm summer's night. Upon doing research it is determined that the amount of noise/smoke pollution that will be given off by the oven will NOT be detrimental to the health of the birds. In order to cause any behavioral or health changes the birds would have to experience large amounts of toxic by-products from burning materials such as coal, paper, or plastic and the noise amount would need to be close to the amount of that on the streets in a city. The chimney swifts could provide entertainment to residents while the use the community oven on beautiful summer nights in Wolfville.6 Safety and Health To ensure that the Wolfville Community Oven is a safe space for members of the community to gather it is important to be aware of the health risks associated with wood smoke and safety risks of using the oven. This section outlines 4 The Community Bake Oven Handbook | The Working Centre. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2018, from https://www.theworkingcentre.org/community-bake-oven/2651-community-bake-oven-handbook 5Public Bakeovens. (2015). Dufferin Grove Park Oven's History. Retrieved from http://www.publicbakeovens.ca/wiki/wiki.php?n=DufferinGrovePark.History 6 Birds, wildlife impacted by smoke, but how much isn’t certain. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2018, from http://www.spokesman.comhttp://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2017/sep/07/birds-wildlifeimpacted-smoke-how-much-isnt-certain/ 5 38
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