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Letter to the editor: Let plants and trees do their job

Reader says 'green' energy alternatives aren't necessarily environmentally friendly
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Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Plants take in CO2 in te daytime and give us back oxygen at night. CO2 is sometimes pumped into greenhouses to help plants grow. That's why it's been called greenhouse gas. 

The dictionary definition of photosynthesis is the biological synthesis of chemical compounds in the presence of light. Photosynthesis is the production of organic substances in the presence of light. Photosynthesis is the production of organic substances from carbon dioxide and water. It occurs in green plant cells supplied with enough light to allow chlorophyll to aid in the transformation of radiant energy into chemical form. 

More and healthier plants reduce land temperature. Plants take in water and evaporate it from their leaves. This is a cooling process like when we seat to cool down. Trees and shrubs produce shade and shady streets are cooler. Real grass lawns are cooler than artificial turf. 

Pastured and wild animals are not a pollutant. They cit the grass and reduce fire risk. They return organic material back to make better soil. Small animals and worms till the soil and keep it full of life. In New Zealand they put a tax on sheep because they pass CO2 gas. 

The nest carbon capture method is planting roof top gardens in cities and trees in parking lots. Don't take up plant and tree-growing land with solar panels. Put them on barns, factories and houses if you want to but they all add hazardous material to landfills. Fields of black solar panels radiate more heat to the air than cropland. This creates updrafts which some believe can contribute to storms and the formation of tornadoes.

Nature will balance our air quality if we let it. Climate change has always happened. Planes ut chemicals in the air and block out the sun. Gigantic wind mills have up to 170-foot long blades and are up to 300 feet tall. They kill birds, butterflies and bats.Their vibrations go into the air and ground and do damage to human and animal bodies. Horses' hooves grow deformed.

It takes 30 to 40 truckloads of concrete to just make the footings, and steel, fibre glass, copper, iron and plastic to build them. Helicopters deliver oil to lubricate the arms and deice them. They use generators to start them. Dismantling them and disposing of them is insane. You have heard of orphan wells; what about orphan wind mills?

Now to electric vehicles they make now. They are heavier and require more power to move. They have a longer breaking distance, damage roads and cause more damage if they hit anything. They have a limited range, especially when their batteries get older and the don't work well n cold weather. 

Mining for the poisonous minerals is often done in foreign counties with little concern for the workers. Even in Canada is involves destroying swamps and polluting the land and air with big machinery. Oil drilling is less invasive. 

Until a better source of power is remembered and reinvented, drive small fuel-efficient vehicles like my 24-year-old Echo, and repair ir when needed. 

Get government to get harder on the industries that pollute the air and dump chemicals in the rivers and oceans. Shame the politicians for their huge carbon footprints. Reduce, reuse and recycle by donating to thrift stores and then shopping at thrift stores. Have a free garage sale. 

Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. All life is carbon-based. Co2 is plant food and a source of the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat. It gives us life. Go plant a tree! 

O. Hofforth

County of Wetaskiwin