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ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
How effective are indoor air purifiers against wood heater and bushfire smoke?
Bushfire season is not the only time we have to shelter in our homes from smoky air outside. In some parts of Australia, smoke from domestic wood heaters in winter can also harm our health and has been linked to premature relatively few households burn wood for heat in Australia, the smoke given off can affect many more. Like smoke from bushfires, or controlled burns at other times of the year, it can seep through cracks in your home and build up inside. From making the most of your indoor air purifier to other simple steps you can take, we spoke with top air-quality experts about how to reduce exposure to smoke pollution from external sources in your home. While burning wood might smell relatively "natural", that doesn't mean inhaling it is good for you. Beyond its immediate effects on our lungs and heart, smoke exposure is linked to a range of other problems from gestational diabetes to eye conditions. A major focus of concern are tiny particles, generated by combustion, called PM2.5. These are just 2.5 microns (or 2.5 millionths of a metre) wide or less, and include the smaller "ultrafine particles", which are less well understood but of growing concern. Smoke particles can be absorbed by the blood stream, activating the immune system and causing inflammation. They can even enter the brain and may affect cognitive abilities. People with heart or lung conditions such as asthma, pregnant women, older people and young children are at particular risk from the health effects of smoke inhalation. The latest research shows just how variable the effectiveness of portable air purifiers (also called air cleaners or scrubbers) in the real world can be. A global review of evidence, released this year, found portable air purifiers removed anywhere between 54 to 92 per cent of PM2.5 from indoor air. Units fitted with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are generally regarded as most effective at removing smoke particles, as well as pollen, dust, mould spores, bacteria and particles containing viruses. But even the efficiency of the best HEPA filter purifiers varies widely. Many factors influence how well a portable air purifier works beyond the filter itself, not least how well sealed a home is. Unfortunately, a lot of houses in Australia, especially older ones, are quite "leaky", which means more smoke can get in from the outside. This constant influx of particulate pollution can decrease an air purifier's effectiveness. For instance, a study conducted in Australia found air purifiers with HEPA filters removed 30 to 74 per cent of PM2.5 from indoor air during a controlled burn. A similar study in the US, where there are more tightly sealed homes, showed HEPA filter effectiveness ranged from 50 to 77 per cent. Interestingly, although HEPA filters are regarded as the "gold standard", there is growing evidence that DIY air purifiers can be useful, although they haven't been fully evaluated. If you do have a leaky house, do your best to seal gaps where you can. But keep an eye on the air quality outside too, so you can flush the house with fresh air once the wind blows away the smoke outside. If you don't, the air quality inside could end up being worse than outside. You can use apps such as AirRater to check the outdoor air quality, and most air purifiers will have a sensor to tell you what the air quality is inside — if you can't smell the smoke yourself. While some air purifiers cost more than $1,000, you don't need to pay that much for a decent product — and you might get away with spending just a few hundred. Still, even a small outlay eats into the household budget, especially once you add the cost of replacement filters. So think about specific rooms in your house you need to keep clean. These are likely to be the ones where you or your family spend a lot of time. The bigger the air purifier, the more expensive it usually is and the more noise it could make. Check the product information for how loud it is, in decibels (dB), when it's running. As a guide, a whisper is about 30dB, a conversation is about 60dB, and a loud engine is around 95dB. You might decide, for example, you want a larger unit for the lounge room where the kids can play in the day, and a smaller quieter one for the bedroom at night. Research on using air purifiers to deal with smoke from wood heaters inside the house is relatively scarce. Clean air groups have called for the introduction of tighter standards for wood heaters and low-emission technologies to reduce pollution. But in the meantime, if you have a wood heater some tips to reduce, but not eliminate, smoke include: Thanks to Sharon Campbell, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania; Donna Green, University of New South Wales and Centre for Safe Air investigators; Amanda Wheeler, CSIRO Environment; Lidia Morawska, Queensland University of Technology; and Geoff Morgan, University of Sydney.
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Glen Innes Hereford Bull Show and Sale celebrates 80 years
Roger Kneipp spent his first bull sale at the Glen Innes Saleyards in northern New South Wales in a pram, and now, aged 80, he hasn't missed a single one. The Glen Innes Hereford Bull Show and Sale is Australia's longest-running multi-vendor sale, which celebrated its 80th year at the event last week. Mr Kneipp was just three months old when his parents took him to his first sale and as he grew up, it became a tradition. "I was homeschooled. Mum and Dad would go to the sale, so I got to go to every sale," Mr Kneipp reflected. That young boy quickly grew to love Hereford cattle. "I've stuck with them and they've been good to us, and they are a good breed of cattle," he said. Mr Kneipp has a well-established stud, Dundee Echo Park Herefords, located just outside Glen Innes. Hereford breeders say their product has been overshadowed by the likes of Wagyu and Angus, which are favoured for the marbling that makes the meat extra tender. This has seen the number of Hereford cattle decline in recent decades. Looking through some old newspapers, Mr Kneipp remembered the days when his favourite breed was everywhere. "There's a lot less Hereford cattle [now] than going back to the years I remember," he said. The largest yarding catalogued was 797 bulls in 1985, a site Mr Kneipp can still remember vividly. "It was a four-day event ... two days for the horned Herefords and two days for the polled Herefords," he said. Mr Kneipp sees the future of Herefords in crossbreeding with other lines of cattle. "A lot of the bulls do get sold for crossbreeding ... they are doing well in other breeds," he said. Jane Leake is the custodian of the oldest poll Hereford stud in the country, known as Bahreenah Poll Herefords. Like Mr Kneipp, she has a long history with the Glen Innes Hereford Bull Sale. "Doing the research for this year's 80th ... I discovered that we actually sold a bull up here in 1953, which was probably the first or second sale I think my father brought bulls too," Ms Leake said. Ms Leake said some characteristics of the breed had remained the same over the decades, however, the animals bred today were much larger in mass. "I was around when we had the belt-buckle bulls ... they were much shorter, and frame score-wise we could probably see chest and up over all the bulls," Ms Leake said. "Whereas now, I've got a bull at home that I can't even see over." Eighty years on and Mr Kneipp is still winning prizes for his heifers. He won the junior heifer show and the top female price of the sale at $6,000. The two-day event also delivered a pleasing result for Inverell breeder David Hann from Courallie Herefords. He won a range of classes, including junior, senior grand champion and grand champion, as well as the top two prices in the sale. It was the two-year-old 940-kilogram senior champion bull Courallie Ultron that fetched the top price of $14,000. "He's been a pick ever since he was born. He's out of a very good cow which we'll probably flush later on in the year," Mr Hann said. But his junior champion bull Courallie Ultimo was judged grand champion bull over Ultron. Mr Hann's four bulls averaged $9,500, compared to the sale average for bulls of $7,200.
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Gen Z grew up on YouTube. They say a ban is a blow to culture and community
Without YouTube, Leo Puglisi's life may have looked very different. The 17-year-old launched an online news channel on the video-sharing site in 2011. And by the ripe age of 14, he was interviewing the Australian prime minister. Today, 6 News Australia boasts more than 35,000 YouTube subscribers and Puglisi has made a name for himself across the media landscape. "It really was the only site where I was able to do this when I started out," Puglisi told the ABC. Puglisi has raised concerns that young people will be "cut off" from those opportunities with YouTube being roped into Australia's social media bans for under-16s. He argues that the government lacks understanding of the diverse and widespread use of the platform. "It's not as simple as scrolling through brain rot videos," he said. But other young Australians say the platform has become largely toxic and addictive, and they are ready for change. Few generation Z Australians have known life without YouTube. The video platform turned 20 this year, and is the second most visited website globally after Google. "A lot of people my age, including myself, remember early YouTube videos and there will be a nostalgia," Puglisi said. Eighteen-year-old Callum has been a big YouTube user since about age six. "It has been a very, very constant presence in my life," the Melbourne teenager said. Callum remembers waking up early to watch YouTube gaming clips on the smart TV while the rest of the family was asleep. Although his experiences have been largely positive, Callum admitted he would have become addicted if it were not for his parents' strict screen-time rules. When he was about 14, he also started being fed extremist content through YouTube's algorithms. "It's very easy to fall into the far-right rabbit role," Callum told the ABC. "I was watching YouTube, and I started seeing more videos of Matt Walsh and I nearly got into that." Matt Walsh is an American far-right commentator who regularly posts anti-LGBTQ+ videos. "I started asking questions to people around me, and then I got pushed back on," Callum said. "I realised, 'oh, this is happening to me'. And I made sure to try and remove that from my feed and block those kinds of videos." This week, the government announced that YouTube would no longer be exempt from the national social media bans for under-16s. The platform had initially been spared based on its educational uses. The U-turn came after eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant sounded the alarm. She cited research that found young people used YouTube more than any other social media platform and it was where they were most likely to experience harm online. "Overall, I think it is good that YouTube doesn't get an exemption from the ban," Callum said. Audrey was already barred from using YouTube unless it was for schoolwork. The 11-year-old was mainly using the platform to watch shorts, YouTube's short-form videos, similar to TikToks or Instagram reels. "My parents banned YouTube from me because they said it had a negative effect on my attitude," Audrey said. Not having access to YouTube was not a huge concern for the young Sydneysider. But she had been looking forward to interacting with friends on other social media platforms. "I think it's a good way to communicate and have fun," she said. The federal government says the ban is needed to protect the mental health and wellbeing of children and teens. Under the new laws, social media companies will face fines of up to almost $50 million for failing to take "reasonable steps" to bar under-16s from their platforms. Thirteen-year-old Abby said growing up in the social media age could be stressful, but it also had its benefits. "I feel like at times I enjoy it. I like how it's an easy way to speak to friends, and you can sometimes learn new things," she told the ABC. "But I feel at other times I wish that I never got it, because I'd be spending my time on things that are more important." She said generally the bans were not a big topic of conversation among her friends. And when they do come into effect, she suspects many of her peers will find ways around it. "In order for it to really work, no one should have it," she said. "I feel like we need to work hard on making sure it's either not used at all, or parents are checking it." From December 10, children will not be allowed to have YouTube accounts that allow users to watch age-restricted videos. But they will still have access to YouTube Kids. Audrey said some young people — even at age 11 — were already finding ways to bypass age verification technologies. YouTube has been testing facial analysis tools to prevent under-18s from viewing unsuitable content. "I feel like it's quite easy to break that code," Audrey said. The Man Cave — a Melbourne-based organisation that helps support the mental health of young men — spoke to 4,293 teenage boys about the social media bans. About 46 per cent said losing social media would disconnect them from society, not just from entertainment, but from friends, learning and support. And 62 per cent admitted that they would actively find ways to bypass the proposed ban. Man Cave CEO Ben Vasiliou said the teens were aware that social media could be harmful, but it was also an important place for connection, particularly for those from rural or marginalised communities. "We are not for or against the ban, but we are about designing policies with young people, not for them," Mr Vasiliou said. Although the approach was "drastic", 16-year-old Tom King respected that the government was taking action. "The idea of Australia taking an active and prolonged stance against billion-dollar US corporations, I would absolutely support that any day of the week," he said. "Whether that's the right action, I don't know." The Melbourne teenager said there was a time when YouTube felt "innocent", filled with how-to videos that "complemented life". But it had shifted in recent years towards largely toxic and addictive content. "It truly is just about how far can you disengage a child to the point where they're just completely reliant on this really cheap dopamine," he said. YouTube has argued that it is a video streaming platform, rather than a social media site, and therefore should not be captured by the ban, citing evidence that it is widely used in classrooms and by parents. Educator Matthew Fyfield conducted research with Monash University into the use of instructional videos in the age of algorithmically driven streaming platforms. He found that YouTube was a valuable educational resource, and was the go-to platform for most teachers streaming videos in class. "But it's not the kind of platform you want to put in the hands of young people when they're trying to do their homework," Dr Fyfield said. "We've found some really troubling realities with the YouTube algorithm in particular." He said the platform was designed to optimise session length, and used infinite scrolling to distract you from whatever you were doing. "It's the novelty of what's coming next, and that kind of dopamine addiction is why we find ourselves an hour and a half after we started watching YouTube saying, 'Why am I still here?'" he said. Educators can continue to use school-approved educational YouTube content through their own accounts. And young people can still watch videos without logging into an account. Leo Puglisi is calling for better consultation with young people, saying the government had missed the crucial point. "A blanket ban doesn't actually tackle what the government says it's tackling," he said. "YouTube is an important communications tool for young people. Restricting it doesn't really solve the problem of the harmful content and the impact that can have and in relation to staying safe online."
