Essay by Eric Worrall
As British energy prices and home heating spiral out of the reach of ordinary people, affluent greens are campaigning for their poorer neighbours to be forbidden from staying warm by burning wood.
Log burner ban warning as ‘harmful’ impacts pinpointed: ‘Like 750 HGV exhausts!’
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are calling on Britons to “protect your neighbours” and stop using log burners as using them is like having 750 diesel trucks pumping their exhaust into your living room – including those marketed as “eco-friendly”.
11:00, Sun, Jun 26, 2022 | UPDATED: 12:38, Sun, Jun 26, 2022
Only stoves that meet the ecodesign standard can be legally sold as of this year in the UK and EU, but experts said that the PM2.5 pollution – which comes from wood-burning – hasn’t been reduced.
According to the Forum of International Respiratory Societies’ Environmental Committee, PM2.5 is especially harmful to health as it can pass through the lungs into the bloodstream and then be carried around the body and lodge in organs.
Statistics also show that there are at least 40,000 early deaths a year attributed to wood burning in Europe.
The source of the original HGV figure is a report by the European Environmental Bureau, which looked at the amount of PM2.5 emissions given off by the wood stove compared to the amount generated by HGVs.
…
A Defra spokesperson said: “Air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010, with nitrogen oxide levels down by 44 percent and PM2.5 down 18 percent since 2010.”
In response to the statement, Ms Hartshorn said that the Governmental department “always say that” but the findings from the “National Audit Office (NAO) report said nitrogen oxide, which is from cars, has dropped but pollution from PM2.5, including from wood-burning stoves hasn’t”.
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Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1629751/log-burner-ban-wood-smoke-air-pollution-mums-for-lungs-defra
The UK already has a powerful clean air act which could be used to stop wood burning, but enforcement is less than universal.
I used to burn lots of wood when I lived in Britain, we didn’t have gas and the electricity was ridiculously expensive. The wood was delivered by a guy who was referred by one of my neighbours. I somehow always forgot to ask for a receipt, I was grateful for affordable home heating.
The British Government admits fuel poverty rates are unacceptably high, a situation which will only get worse in the light of recent price hikes. The UK also suffers a substantial excess winter deaths, 17,280 excess winter deaths in 2018-19. 2019-2020 was a horror year, 28,300, and 2020-21 even worse, at 63,000.
Obviously Covid was the big issue after 2019, and its difficult to separate poor indoor air quality from other factors in previous years. But everyone who has experienced cold weather knows severe cold would be more of a problem for people’s health, than a little smoke. There is a reason our ancestors have been using fire to stay warm, for at least the last few million years.
If greens get their way, and the last affordable form of home heating is further restricted, I suspect a lot more people are going to die from cold than the number who currently die from wood smoke pollution.
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Quick update on the events at the British F1GP yesterday.
The race was a classic example of motor racing at its finest. From a massive first bend incident that provided the best evidence available of how safe a fully fueled up racing car is, even when travelling 100 yards on its drivers head safety hoop, before flipping into the high catch fencing, having vaulted the tyre wall completely. The driver ( Brand New Joe) was unharmed, despite being trapped between the catch fence and the tyre barrier for about twenty minutes.
Then having red flagged the race to recover the crashed car and driver a bunch of eco loons invaded the track wanting to ban oil apparently. Their actions were the ultimate in stupidity. only the crash on the first bend saved them from serious risk of injury or death.
A great maiden F1 win for Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari, Perez made second from running plum last on lap two and Hammy managed to get on the podium in third.
The log burner added to the warmth of the spectacle.
The eco loons were arrested and hopefully made to walk to the prison, as they don’t like oil…
Banning wood heaters? In Britain whose single largest power station Drax burned 7.3 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2020? Have people lost their senses altogether?
Green: gullible, lacking knowledge, easily fooled, naive, etc.
Whether the wood goes up your chimney or as flatulence of bugs which eat dead wood in the forest, it ends up in the same atmosphere. You might as well put that dead wood to productive use.
When grannies and aunts and other family members die in the first massive snow falls across the UK are they going to blame climate change or their own selfish foolishness?
The UNO german delegation ironically laughed at a 2018 speech of president D.Trump warning Germany about its overreliance on russian gas ans oil:
They’re Not Laughing Now: Wood-burning Stoves and Firewood in Short Supply in Germany as Citizens Fear Freezing to Death Due to Gas Shortages (thegatewaypundit.com)
Obviously the german people don’t care if the woodburning stoves have harmful impacts on the environment. Freezing during winter due to the lack of gas heating would have more harmful impacts on their personal health !
I suspect a lot of greens will be thrown onto a briar as a substitute for wood.
What human behavior can be expected when dealing with survival conditions? Sadly it is an option beginning to end. All in the noble belief of saving the earth. Has it always been this bad?
For 20+ years I heated my home with wood only. I loved the exercise, making wood in the fall woods, and a nice warm home. A few years ago LP was so cheap that it made sense to use that. I could heat the house for less than $600/year. I knew that wouldn’t last so I continued to stockpile wood. Now that LP has gone from $0.69/gallon to $2.00+ a gallon I am pretty happy to have about 4 years of wood stockpiled. Banning wood burners? That would never happen in northern WI.