If you know me, you know I love to camp. It's my getaway on weekends and vacations during the warm months of the year. And part of camping includes roaring campfires, along with lots of barbequing.

Earlier this year, I purchased a wood pellet stove and it's where I cook most of my meals when I'm at camp. The taste of whatever I'm cooking is so much better in my opinion than when I use the propane grill.

Well, I recently saw an article from the Times-Union in Albany about the New York State Climate Action Council working on a plan to reduce greenhouse gasses in the state. And I'm all for that. Anything to help our environment and the health of our state residents is a good thing.

The Council is specifically looking into how reducing wood smoke would help achieve their goal over the next few decades. The report in the Albany Times-Union describes wood smoke from various factors including fireplaces, wood and pellet stoves, industrial production, and campfires.

Well, two of those things involve part of my camping experience, wood pellets, and campfires. And increasingly, more homeowners are using wood and pellet-burning products to heat their homes during the colder months as a way to offset the rising costs of other heating options.

I know the Climate Action Council is just looking out for our environment and our health concerns, as the article states that breathing particles from wood smoke have various effects on our health including increased rates of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

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And how would this reduction mandate be enforced? I can understand the industrial side being easily enforced, but would we expect to see campfire cops show up unexpectedly at our camp or while cooking on our pellet grills or knock on the door of homeowners who heat their home via a fireplace or woodstove if we are in violation of whatever greenhouse gas emission limit is put in place?

Maybe I'm looking too much into it. Hopefully, the study and end result can work out to benefit all of us, not only in New York State but across the country.

via Albany Times-Union, New York State Climate Action Council

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