David Voigts’ March 25 article was spot on; however, we also must preserve and restore forest, riparian vegetation, wetlands and grassland if the CO2 problem is to be solved. If we banned every petrol-powered vehicle and machine tomorrow, the problem will be mitigated very little if we continue to deforest and drain wetlands. Forests not only take up vast amounts of CO2, large tracts of them influence Earth’s weather patterns. If you think the weather is horrible now, just wait until the forests are gone!

We are finally making a start thanks to CRP [Conservation Reserve Program] and others, and the unselfish putting private-owned woodland into the Forest Preserve – which is a win-win – you pay no tax on Forest Preserve land, and it stays intact after you leave planet Earth. Aren’t trees full of spring buds and birds nicer than the horrid proposed CO2 pipeline? And kudos to the fine landowners who refrain from the dated, expensive, beauty bashing, uncool practice of mowing roadsides – which drivers pay for with our fuel tax.

Sharon Allen

Traer, Iowa