The Pizza Rebellion

Punitive liberalism in action. At WUWT, NYC Pizzerias versus Climate Change Busybodies

There is a storm brewing in the New York City food scene, a storm born out of seemingly well-intentioned climate change regulations. Yet, the key question remains, is it a storm we need to weather?

According to a recent article from The Post, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proposed new rules targeting decades-old baking methods in pizzerias. Specifically, the department is cracking down on coal-and-wood-fired ovens, demanding a 75% reduction in carbon emissions. DEP spokesman Ted Timbers explains,

“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality.”

While the desire for cleaner air is something we can all get behind, the overall impact of these regulations is questionable at best. A city official admitted that less than 100 restaurants would be affected by the mandate, leading us to ask, is it worth it?

Of course it's not worth it, but it feels so good to take something away from somebody who likes it in the name of saving the planet. At Da Wire,  WATCH: Man Takes On ‘Woke A** Idiots’ In New York City, Chants ‘Give Us Pizza! Or Give Us Death!’ The Pizza Insurrection!

Sometimes you come across a person on cyberspace who reinstills confidence that the American spirit is not dead yet and that seeds of hope still exist in this great country of ours.

It would appear Scott LoBaido, an artist in New York City, is one such person who has inspired the masses after the self-proclaimed “patriot” and “#1 freedom fighter” stuck it to the man in the Big Apple by hurling slices of pizza at City Hall in defiance of a potential new rule that would force certain restaurants to pay a hefty price in the name of fighting climate change.

On Monday, LoBaido posted a video of himself marching up to the gate of New York’s City Hall, reading a script, saying, “The woke a** idiots who run this city, are doing everything in their power to destroy it.”  He went on to spout off on a litany of issues plaguing NYC, including but not limited to lewdness, illegal immigration run amok, crime rates skyrocketing, and other issues. LoBaido then introduced viewers to “The New York Pizza Party,” named in homage to “The Boston Tea Party,” and shortly after, began throwing pizza over City Hall’s fence.

On the other hand, you get what you vote for. At PM.  Far-left NYC cracks down on coal, wood-fired pizzerias to fight climate change "The city wants to take one of the major draws to the city, its pizza places, and force them to pay upwards of $20,000 for emissions control devices."

The crackdown on commercial cooking started in 2015, when City Council passed Local Law 38, updating the Air Code to include commercial cooking. First, they came for the char broilers. Now, they're coming for the pizza ovens.

Meanwhile, what's the biggest cause of emissions? Building boilers, not pizza ovens. The questions about the pollution caused by wood-fired pizza ovens goes back nearly a decade. In 2005, The Guardian reported that Italy had changed some of their laws to limit the amount of pollution pizzerias were allowed to generate. The issue there was with the burning of the wood, which "releases all sorts of chemicals."

However, The Guardian was quick to point out that transportation, and not pizza, was the biggest culprit of urban pollution. In 2016, a study came out showing that wood burning stoves created pollutants through the smoke and particulates produced by burning wood. 2020 saw Food and Wine make the claim that wood-fired stoves are bad for the environment, too.

"From the results obtained in this study," reported Chemical Engineering Transactions in 2022, "it is possible to conclude that wood-fired ovens represent an important source of major air pollutants. The concentrations of the examined species were comparable with the performances of other wood- or pellet-burning small-scale appliances. The experimental tests also showed that pizza cooking had a significant impact on the emission of OGC as a result of the volatilization of several compounds present in the food matrix."

"pizza cooking a significant impact on the emission of OGC as a result of the volatilization of several compounds present in the food matrix." What, you mean it smells good too? Can't have that! And getting the last laugh, at NYPo, Green madness: You’d have to burn a pizza stove 849 years to equal one year of John Kerry’s private jet

New Yorkers have already endured former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempts to ban soda sales of over 16 ounces for their own good and are facing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s gas stove and furnace bans in the state, all in the name of climate change.

And now, another one bites the crust as New York City officials are going after pizzerias using the century-old cooking methods, citing the ovens’ allegedly excessive carbon emissions.The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has drafted rules that would require some city eateries with coal-burning stoves to buy emission control devices.Gregory P. Mango

But how many pizzas would you have to order to equal just one trip on John Kerry’s private jet?  In 2021, Kerry’s private jet emitted an estimated 116 metric tons of carbon in less than a year. Private jets emit up to 40 times as much CO2 per passenger as commercial flights.It would take a coal-burning stove 849 years to reach the carbon emissions of John Kerry’s jet in one year. By comparison, the carbon footprint of a wood-burning stove (a reasonable facsimile of a pizza oven) is barely measurable. The 8 Billion Trees project estimates that the “carbon footprint of wood-burning stoves” can be up to 15.6 grams an hour or 374 grams a day. This is measured in grams, not metric tons. You would have to burn that stove for 310,160 days — that is, 849 years — to equal what hypocrite Kerry puts out in a year.

But wait, it gets better! Physicist Dr. Will Happer, emeritus of Princeton University and the chair of the CO2 Coalition, told the New York Post that restrictions on wood- or coal-fired pizza ovens may increase the carbon footprint of pizza in New York City.

“To the extent that the wood-fired ovens are replaced by electrically heated ovens, which I suppose is what is intended, CO2 emissions will probably increase,” Happer said. “Even for New York City, most of the electrical power probably comes from burning gas or coal. For a gas-fired pizza oven, all the heat of combustion is used to bake the pizza. For an electrically heated oven, you have to convert electrical power back to heat. “It is hard to see how emissions could decrease if people want to continue eating the same amount of pizza,” he added.

Well, you get what you vote for, and New Yorkers tend to vote poorly. 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Margot Robbie awaiting your digital delight at The Other McCain.