What happens when wealthy Beltway liberals stop virtue-signaling and start getting real? You get more induction cooktops, and you may witness the end of Chinese restaurants.
Takoma Park, Maryland, borders on Washington, D.C., and has a median income above $87,000. President Trump got about 5% of the vote here in 2016, to give you an idea of the politics.
In the 1980s, the city (current population: 16,000) declared itself a “nuclear-free zone.” The practical effect of that vote may have been nothing, but the boost in self-regard was immense.
But facing rising temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations, the city wants to take climate action. That puts fossil fuels in the crosshairs.
Berkeley, California, has voted to bar natural gas hookups in all new buildings. That means no gas stoves. The wealthy folks of Berkeley can afford high-end induction cooktops, but the local restaurant lobby is pointing out that plenty of professional kitchens simply need flames, and thus, gas. One Chinese restaurateur in Sacramento objected, telling the Sacramento Bee, “In Chinese restaurants, what is important in our cooking is ‘wok hei‘ — the high flame. That is what makes food flavorful.”
Takoma Park could easily bar natural gas hookups in all new homes and buildings since Takoma Park doesn’t do new homes and buildings. The suburban enclave, according to census data, had no new homes built between 2014 and the 2017 count, and only 31 homes built since 2010.
Instead, the city council’s 2020 Climate Emergency Response Act would ban all gas appliances and gas pipelines and eliminate “all fossil fuels sales within the City of Takoma Park.”
The proposal also includes an LED mandate and calls for “eliminating use of fossil fuel-based lawn care equipment.”
In other words, the local government is talking about actually making sacrifices, or more precisely, making future generations make sacrifices since the most significant changes wouldn’t go into effect until 2045.
