Here’s a look at our beautiful fireplace in all its glory, centerpiece of our living room and greatest source of the hygge we seek in these winter months. 

Whenever either of us is home, it’s burning.  Both of us have always loved a fireplace, and I think the only times we didn’t live in homes with such a resource we were in apartments pursuing our fortunes.  But those fortunes have brought us here and we are so very happy with our surroundings.  Not everyone in our neighborhood is as happy as we are.  Realize we live in an enclave of libs, and concerns about global warming , including fireplaces, persist.  As we approached our second wood buy of the season, I thought I’d check things out.  Turns out a cord of wood, as it burns, releases 2.5 tons of CO₂ (1).  Oooh, scary!  I feel warmer already!  But for perspective, it’s been estimated that John Kerry’s private plane travels released 116 million tons in a year. (2)  If you make a 30 mile commute each year in a car that gets 22 miles a gallon, you’re releasing 4.3 metric tons.  If you want to take to the friendly skies to visit grandma, that 5000 mile round trip will cost ya 2.23 tons (3)  Given that the whole USA accounted for 6,558 million metric tons of CO2 in 2019 (4).  I’m not sure we need to worry about our tiny piddle in a very big pond.  As an average household, we pump 49 tons in every year so our fireplace habit exceeds that a little.  But as the whole CO₂ global warming thing is basically a dead, discredited, BS issue, we on 1611 Harbal are going to fire it up and enjoy our hearth and hygge.

References

1.  Winship LJ. To burn or not to burn: Is that even a question? Daily Hampshire Gazette. July 22, 2018. https://www.gazettenet.com/earth-matters-19027832

2.  Dorman S.  John Kerry family private jet emitted estimated 116 metric tons of carbon over past year.  Fox News January 29, 2021.  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/john-kerry-family-private-jet-emissions

3.  Pappas S.  The carbon footprint of daily activities. LveScience April21, 2011.  https://www.livescience.com/13835-carbon-footprint-daily-activities.html

4.  EPA.  Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks.  https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks