Maybe better to collect evidence of facts than to jump to verdicts? It's been reported that in certain parts of Bavaria, fireplaces have to be equipped with catalytic converters. Why? How 'bout they would otherwise emit nasties many, many times that of "EPA" woodstoves?
So, maybe NYC mayor is focused on the health of the residents. Including me, since I'm downwind at times, for south-westerlies.
Carbon neutrality has NOTHING to do with it, with no fuelwood grown in such a congested area. Sorry for feeble try to inject reality, when most everything nowadays is fox-ified/politicized. As "W" said "thinking is hard work."
I was 100% serious about the air pollution things. Banning short distance taxi riding, make em walk, ride a bike, skate, whatever urban scene they like that doesn't involve burning fuels. Get rid of the illegals, less human footprint in the same area, that would drop overall pollution correspondingly, and make it that much nicer in your area.
Just like air pollution in the US in general, we get multiples more from a few chinese bunker fuel burning ships delivering walmart crap on the west coast over two stroke domestic use. All that polluted air floats right over us. Or them closing fireroads because of the endangered three eyed spotted flying newt, making it harder to fight forest fires, so we get cubic miles of air pollution from burning wood, with zero nada nothing to show for it, no heat to offset the winter cold, etc. no lumber made from it, no biochar fertilizer made from it, just miles and miles of closed off areas now, with little to no public use. They just let it catch fire and burn up every year, year after year after year, all that air pollution caused, nothing to show for it.
I'll call politicians on their Bs when they want solutions to small problems when they slap ignore huge giant problems, when they play make believe that it doesn't exist. Big huge drought out west, gee, how much extra water is needed to support millions of illegals out there? WTF are we dropping a hundred bill (whatever) a year on homerland security for? What are all the robocop darth vader goons for when they can't (refuse to) control the borders?
I understand small urban heat and pollution island effects, and I am a proponent of more electric vehicles, alternative energy, etc, just it is obvious to me there is a war on any energy sources (and now food and water) that they can't get a monopoly/cartel action going on. War on wood burning, war on small scale pertsonal hydro, solar and wind, etc. Anything wall street can't get a total economic lock in, all of a sudden turns into some environmental problem. It ain't a coincidence. They chip away at it, but it is easy to extrapolate the trends and see where it is headed.
Now personally..I think it is OK to require 20% mc and under firewood in major urban areas, but I am guessing as a part of the gestalt, total wood burning is minor there compared to all the other sources of air pollution. I can be proven wrong of course, I am just guessing based on only a few visits, one a two week stretch in the winter. Wood burning there might be 1% of the air pollution, if that.