Fuel for the Fire

As Halloween approaches, people in nippier parts of the country might be thinking about curling up in front of the fireplace. On this week's Sierra Club Radio show, we discuss greener ways to light your fire, including:

• looking for artificial fireplace logs made of wood only and avoiding those that contain paraffin, a petroleum-based byproduct with dubious emissions quality (an easier task now that Duraflame has switched to non-petroleum waxes); and
• checking out cool ecofriendly alternatives like logs made of recycled cardboard boxes, recycled-paper briquettes, or logs made from used coffee grounds.

Although they're cleaner than they were 20 years ago, wood stoves can cause dangerous microparticulate pollution too. Before burning wood, check to see if the particulate level is high in your area by visiting airnow.gov.