This study examines environmental attitudes toward the production and utilization of firewood. A telephone survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted. The survey yielded 603 usable responses, and the analysis revealed that firewood users exhibited strong support for two fundamental environmental concepts: the notion that harvesting firewood from healthy trees is acceptable and the assertion that firewood is, in principle, carbonneutral. However, a significant proportion of respondents also expressed concerns that firewood use may potentially contribute to forest degradation and increase climate change. To further explore these attitudes, respondents were categorized into three distinct groups. A statistical analysis revealed significant differences among these groups in educational attainment and standard of living. Attitudes towards complex environmental issues are predominantly influenced by emotions that reflect general environmental concerns due to the public’s limited knowledge base, which hinders factual assessments.

This study examines the drivers, practices, and challenges associated with firewood use through a survey of 603 rural households in Hungary. The results reveal that 97% of respondents use firewood exclusively for heating, primarily through mixed-fuel boilers and room heating systems, while advanced technologies such as wood gasification boilers are rare. A significant proportion (71%) of rural households that utilise firewood have access to alternative heating options, with natural gas being the most prevalent. In 27% of households in the survey, despite the availability of alternative heating options, firewood remains the primary heating energy source, while the same share uses it only as a secondary option. The vast majority (95%) of the households that use firewood, but no alternative energy sources are available, do not plan to change to alternative fuels, mostly because of the high costs entailed. It is anticipated that firewood will persist as a stable component of the rural energy landscape. The survey results indicate that household waste combustion is a current practice and remains an option in the future. Educational attainment has been demonstrated to correlate with heating choices, with lower education levels correlating with a greater propensity for the use of firewood.

The spongy moth is a significant Lepidopteran species across Europe, where it occurs in oak stands. Tree species composition has a crucial effect on larval development, population density, and outbreaks. Host switching is more likely to occur in a mixed forest than in a monospecific forest. We aimed to better understand the effect of host alternation on the development of the spongy moth. In a laboratory, we reared spongy moth larvae on either (a) Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.) or (b) European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) only or on host plants that were changed from Turkey oak to European hornbeam (c) in the early (L₃) or (d) late (L₅) larval instar. Both Q. cerris and C. betulus proved suitable hosts for the spongy moth larvae. However, the larvae fed exclusively on Turkey oak leaves had better developmental indicators than the others. The groups that switched hosts had weaker developmental indicators than the larvae fed only on Turkey oak but showed better development than the group reared only on Hornbeam leaves. The results of our laboratory research on host switching may offer valuable insights into the developmental dynamics of spongy moths in monospecific forests versus those with higher biodiversity.