Should I feel guilty?

[Smurnov]

So… whenever I put mine on, as much as I love it I do feel a tinge of guilt. I’ve put this down to the many recent media articles I’ve read. I found this one however that put it all into perspective:

Wood Burning Stoves A Trendy Middle Class Luxury - Says Newspaper

You'd have to be living under a rock to not have noticed the flurry of newspaper articles decrying the popularity and use of log burners in recent weeks. Their publication has become an annual tradition and whilst some t...

purplesweep.co.uk

Has the media got it in for us wood burners?

 

[begreen]

By US and Canadian standards, there are still dirty burning stoves sold in the UK. Also, the regulating forces seem to be opposed to catalytic combustors. That isn't helping.

A good sweep that takes the time to educate customers about clean burning helps and is worth keeping.

 

[ericm979]

The idea that its individual actions that lead to climate change was developed and spread by the oil industry. They literally hired PR firms to push the idea. It's widely documented. See for example https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham

That said there's nothing wrong with trying to reduce your emissions. I'm running an EPA stove which does not emit visible smoke once it's going. The wood I'm burning comes off my property. The majority is trees that fell or died and needed felling. There's also some trees cut for power line or fire clearance. If I didn't burn it the wood would add to the already high fuel load.

 

[bogieb]

I don't know about the UK, but around here, wood burning stoves are cheaper to buy than say a pellet stove. Also I think new ones have to have to be EPA certified. Wood is in abundance and can be cheaper to burn, and is locally sourced. Plus, many people either burn what they take from their own land, or they scrounge blow-downs from those that don't burn wood and cuttings left by the power company when they are clearing the lines.

All that to say is, that wood stoves are not a luxury item around here but is usually what the poorer people use daily . I know people that literaaly have no other heating system in their older houses.

 

[ABMax24]

The idea that its individual actions that lead to climate change was developed and spread by the oil industry. They literally hired PR firms to push the idea. It's widely documented. See for example https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham

Why is this even an idea that is spread around, worse yet why are people naive enough to believe it?

There's 330 million individuals in the US, that's a pretty big impact when combined, people aren't actually daft enough to believe their own actions don't have an impact are they? Or are they just that lazy they'd rather blame the results of their actions on fossil fuel companies?

 

[begreen]

There is some truth to this. The term carbon footprint was invented by advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather for British Petroleum. The intent was to shift the focus from the oil company to the consumer. It worked better than expected.

How Clever Marketing Sold the World The Myth of the Carbon Footprint

How a successful Ogilvy & Mather campaign in the early 2000s made climate change not about an oil giant, but all about you.

bettermarketing.pub

 

[ABMax24]

There is some truth to this. The term carbon footprint was invented by advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather for British Petroleum. The intent was to shift the focus from the oil company to the consumer. It worked better than expected.

How Clever Marketing Sold the World The Myth of the Carbon Footprint

How a successful Ogilvy & Mather campaign in the early 2000s made climate change not about an oil giant, but all about you.

bettermarketing.pub

Why does it have any relevance who or what company came up with the terminology to define a persons impact on the climate in terms of their CO2 emissions?

It doesn't absolve the end consumer of the responsibility that they are the cause of all the emissions in the supply chain for the products they buy.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

As people argue about whether its trendy or a luxury item to have a woodstove I'm just going to take a nap on the couch... warm. Being cold isn't fun.

 

[SpaceBus]

Why does it have any relevance who or what company came up with the terminology to define a persons impact on the climate in terms of their CO2 emissions?

It doesn't absolve the end consumer of the responsibility that they are the cause of all the emissions in the supply chain for the products they buy.

So that's a fallacy in thinking. Did you ask the fossil fuel industry to lobby for the dismantling of public transportation? What about all of the lobbying against increased efficiency and clean air? Do you prefer excessive disposable/one time use plastics? What about the absolutely unregulated fishing industry? The problem is that all of these different industries know they are doing wrong, and have ingratiated themselves into the world governments and everyone's lives, then lied about everything they do.

In terms of actual environmental damage, your woodstove is nothing compared to the coal fired lime kilns and lime product industry, or any other for that matter. If it's an older inefficient stove, then most of your guilt should be related to the local air quality. If you have an efficient stove, I wouldn't really worry about it.

 

[begreen]

Why does it have any relevance who or what company came up with the terminology to define a persons impact on the climate in terms of their CO2 emissions?

It doesn't absolve the end consumer of the responsibility that they are the cause of all the emissions in the supply chain for the products they buy.

I agree that we all need to consume less, a lot less. The US, Canada, and UK are excessive consumers. However, that is not the only issue. Try buying anything these days that isn't wrapped, coddled and made out of plastics. There often aren't a lot of options unless one buys in bulk and makes their own food. And for many, there is no option to get to work without using fossil fuels. This addiction has been systematically pushed on the consumer by the oil, gas, automotive and packaging industries. Often common sense alternatives were pushed out of business or lobbied out of existence. A prime example are the anti-solar lobbying efforts in our sunniest states.

Europe has done a better job of addressing this head on with stiff producer responsibility laws and regulations, much better mass transit and EV charging infrastructure.