Is our love for Pizza putting the environment at stake?

Despite a push for greener fuel policy, the Latin megacity is still struggling to lower its pollutants.

Is our love for Pizza putting the environment at stake?
(Image for representational purposes only)

New Delhi: Pizza's are sort of a universal answer for unannounced hunger. But your love for the Italian delight may be one of the reasons behind the ever-growing phenomenon of climate change.

A recent study has revealed a shocking fact connecting environmental damage and the emissions from pizzerias and steakhouses that use wood burners or charcoal.

According to the study, these emissions are included in the factors contributing towards climate change and global warming, thereby becoming a major reason behind pollution levels in most cities.

As per Nature World News, a team of air pollution experts from seven universities studied the pollution causes in Sao Paulo in Brazil. Despite a push for greener fuel policy, the Latin megacity is still struggling to lower its pollutants.

As per a report in the Economic Times, the city of Sao Paulo is home to around 8,000 pizza parlors that whip up nearly a million pizzas a day. As many as 800 pizzas a day are made using wood-burning stoves in pizzerias and even a thousand more are cooked up for home delivery.

In this regard, Phys.org quoted Dr Prashant Kumar, from the University of Surrey, UK, who said that, “There are more than 7.5 hectares of Eucalyptus forest being burned every month by pizzerias and steakhouses”, also adding that a total of over 307,000 tons of wood are burned annually in these pizza places.

A similar concern in 2015 led to a ban on wood-fired stoves in San Vitaliano, Italy, due to air pollution issues.

However, even though the study fails to put in numbers the environmental impact of coal-fired pizza, it's a sound reminder that everything we do is all connected, including the cheesy, yummy pizza's.

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