I ECHO the sentiments of the reader's letter in a recent issue re. bonfires.

So, here we are: the 'burning seasons' again. Summer and autumn stink: the 'Smokies' are at large. Talk about keeping children away from matches!

'Albert's Dree Wiker' may be an amusing read but experiencing one or two or three bonfires is very unpleasant. We all know the dangers of passive smoking, I'm doing it and it's not from cigarettes either!

The quaint image of burning autumn leaves ... if only. Organic or inorganic, if it will burn, then it's going to burn. Why bother with the dustbin to dispose of all that household waste? Go to a high place and look at the view, especially on a sunny evening. You'd think there was a war on. Bonfires everywhere and smoke lying low and heavy on the landscape.

Living in Pillowell, I have experienced three 'white outs' (visibility in my garden down to a few metres) in as many weeks – and all from the same 'neighbour' (not very neighbourly if you ask me). If the wind direction hadn't changed I'd have had one more to be going on with!

So, it's windows shut and the children indoors for the duration. I, like many, I suspect, can count on the fingers of one hand the number of days this year when my nose hasn't been assaulted by the noxious fumes generated by thoughtless, selfish 'neighbours.' People, generally, are more enlightened regarding the environment but few take any realistic steps to lessen their impact upon it. That they really do know better doesn't stop the Neanderthal fire-making tendencies getting hold when some make the link between nice sunny day, pile of garden rubbish (and anything else combustible that will make a nice cloud; that old sofa or that tub of something or other maybe), and a box of matches.

These 'Smokies' either don't realise or care (I suspect the latter) that when they light up, someone else gets the fall-out, their day ruined and their washing smoke-dried.

I know of 'enlightened', 'green' people who moan when nearby bonfires intrude on their outdoor activities yet happily light their own, polluting the atmosphere for others, not once or twice a year, but weekly.

The letters which frequently appear in your columns concerning dog and sheep mess, and the associated health hazards, smack of double standards when, as is like, the same people think nothing of sending their 'mess', ie smoke containing God knows how many dubious if not carcinogenic compounds, across countless properties (if it were a factory behaving in such a manner there'd be a hue and cry and environmental agencies involved pretty quickly, I'm sure of that. Of course, an offending factory is an easy target, but 'smokies' ...?)

You can at least walk around dog mess, not pleasant I know, but with smoke there is no escape! Some say that Forest traditions such as wandering sheep have no place in the twenty first century, well, does the 'tradition' to blight whole neighbourhoods with bonfire smoke belong in this environmentally enlightened age?

The increase in asthma in children is well known, not to mention the countless people suffering other respiratory problems. Don't you think we owe it to them to be able to breathe clean fresh air? Surely the right to clean air is more important than the 'right' to have a bonfire? What right have the 'Smokies' got to impose their pollution on others, do they go round and ask? "Whatever happened to 'community', to respecting others?" is a question often heard.

Well, alienating people by satisfying nasty, selfish habits certainly don't help. Environmental and health concerns regarding the controversial siting of mobile phone masts is a well publicised and emotive issue (and rightly so) and may be a tougher nut to crack, but local air pollution? Well, that's easy, or should be: just don't light up, resist the box of matches!

You can compost plant waste and we pay the council and Biffa to deal with the rest. Because we live in this increasingly inconsiderate "I don't care, I do what I like" age, is it any wonder that the environment is getting dirtier, smellier and noisier? Remember: the environment isn't somewhere else, it's your neighbourhood, people enjoying their gardens; it's all around! Be more considerate: try composting instead of combusting! – 'Choking,' of Pillowell.