Hugh McDiarmid Jr. lives in suburban Detroit, Michigan where he works in communications for a nonprofit foundation. He was a journalist with Michigan newspapers for 22 years including a decade at the Detroit Free Press before moving into nonprofit, government and foundation work -- primarily on behalf of natural resource protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation and social justice. Views solely his own.
One of the first parent-sanctioned fun with fire I had was the traditional burning of household trash in the burn barrel at our family cottage Up North. Being allowed to light the trash barrel, unsupervised by an adult, was a rite of passage and a convenient way of getting rid of trash so that we didn’t have to stuff it into the family wagon for the trip downstate.
Alas, the tradition is probably coming to an end with a proposal to ban the practice statewide: http://bit.ly/cowhSo
Truth be told, the more we learn the less comfortable we should be about sending streams of unfiltered dioxins, particulate matter and other hazards into Michigan’s air. It’s hard to oppose polluting coal plants on one hand, and feel comfortable running your unregulated, miniature incinerator with no environmental controls on the other.
We’ll just file this away with all the other childhood fun with combustibles that seemed so right at the time. Like blowing up perch with firecrackers. Or attaching frogs to bottle rockets. (Did I say that, or just think that?) Anyway, so long burn barrel!
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I have no reason to go up north anymore. Farewell Torch.
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