Sam Harris' "The Fireplace Delusion"

[truethat]

As generalised statements go, that's false.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of places in the USA - and in many other countries - that are directly comparable to ours, here in Greece, where it makes total sense to burn waste wood for heating rather than necessarily burn it off in bonfires. Piggy made the same point upthread, did you see that?

What part of "In the US" did you take to me generalizing about Greece? Just curious?

My husband is Greek so I'm obligated to say Ela Rey!

 

[Ron Webb]

I don't sense any disbelief of "science." I would like to see some of the underlying research, but I trust Harris to have summarized it fairly.

I don't.

Seriously, we're going to compare cigarette smoking, which is responsible for one in every five American deaths, to wood fireplaces? I think that if the latter were anywhere near as harmful as the former, someone would have noticed. Yes, I know that wood smoke contains carcinogens etc., and that in theory it can be harmful; but the difference (one of many) is that people don't deliberately concentrate and inhale it directly into their lungs.

Look Sam, if you want to convince me that my wood fireplace (which I use less than half a dozen times a year) is a serious health risk to me or anyone else, then show me the evidence. If you can do that, then I promise I will stop using it.

Until then, you're just blowin' smoke.

 

[GlennB]

First of all a fire place is outdated in the US. It's not a clean burning fuel. It's dangerous and it really doesn't save money.

As generalised statements go, that's false.

I have no doubt that there are plenty of places in the USA - and in many other countries - that are directly comparable to ours, here in Greece, where it makes total sense to burn waste wood for heating rather than necessarily burn it off in bonfires.

What part of "In the US" did you take to me generalizing about Greece?

Your final question makes no sense to me. It was your generalisation about the US that I objected to. I have no doubt that there are many US homes where burning wood makes perfect economic sense, for example those that have ample supplies of cheap (or free) wood.