In case you missed it, over the past several days, our moral and intellectual superiors on the Left have alternated between calling for bans on gas stoves and insisting that they’re definitely not coming for your gas stoves, you stupid, paranoid conservative morons, but if we were gonna come for your gas stoves, it would be a good thing.
And the New York Times is right in the thick of it, of course.
Gas stoves are such a health risk that no one has ever noticed.
Hysteria debunked: https://t.co/CGKtRGpsl5https://t.co/cT4AR8polH
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) January 12, 2023
This piece details granularly the years of groundwork that led to municipal and federal-level efforts to limit the uptake of natural-gas powered appliances. “But Republicans remained outraged…” https://t.co/vXazox2mrt
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) January 13, 2023
If you like those, then you’ll love today’s offering from Farhad Manjoo:
Good morning. pic.twitter.com/k3TlcuH2JT
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) January 13, 2023
Farhad is trying to take the sensible approach to the current controversy. Just look:
“The natural gas-powered appliances in your home may be slowly killing you and everyone you love. That’s the bad news. The worse news is this: It’s not clear exactly what you should do about it — if anything at all.”
So the worst news is that you and everyone you love are probably going to be murdered to death by your gas stove and there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to stop it.
How is this real
— Joey Jo-Jo Jr Shabadoo (@JoShabadoo) January 13, 2023
Because it’s a stupid, stupid time to be alive.
Wow I can't believe conservatives are keeping this culture war going. https://t.co/Wo1zQMTnqn
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) January 13, 2023
“WhY iS tHE riGhT StiLL tAlKiNg AboUT tHiS?!?” https://t.co/UYaRJNKu1j
— Brittany (@bccover) January 13, 2023
So much pouncing and seizing and thrusting.
Today in panic porn. pic.twitter.com/p1XeZD5Sx6
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) January 13, 2023
Anyway, the lesson from Farhad Manjoo is pretty simple: Your gas stove may be killing you and everyone you love, but just remember that so are a bunch of other household appliances.
I seek peace in the stove wars.
Should you ditch your gas stove? Should we ban them?
Meh: heating and cooling use far more energy than cooking. Replace the gas furnace first, get a heat pump!
Also get a vent hood and turn it on.
My @NYTOpinion column https://t.co/CDnV4xWZ6P
— farhad manjoo (@fmanjoo) January 13, 2023
You can never be too sure or too careful:
Instead of getting an induction stove, then, it might make a lot more sense for you to spend your money on a heat pump, an underappreciated and kind of magical electric device that can replace both a gas-powered furnace and an air-conditioner. But there may be an even simpler and cheaper thing to do first: Weather seal your house. Ed May, a partner at the environmental consulting practice bldgtyp, told me that a lot of the ways to improve your home’s environmental impact are just “really not that exciting at all,” including “lots and lots of insulation.”
So, sure, your gas-powered stove may be out to get you. But it’s the furnace that may be a bigger menace. And don’t forget to insulate.
Maybe — just maybe — it’s not conservatives who are paranoid.
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