Are you concerned about global warming? What would you say if Tama County has a machine that captures 305,000 tons of carbon dioxide and emits enough oxygen for 2,209,000 people to breathe every year with no carbon footprint, no cost at all.

Too good to be true? Not at all. It’s a byproduct of the county’s cornfields. Hunger in the world is rampant, and the corn could really help with that.

Unfortunately, the farmers that tend the fields still have to use diesel fuel, but farmers are doing what they can. The reduction in passes over the fields since I started farming in ’74 is quite surprising.

Good farm ground is disappearing at an alarming rate. Cities are quickly expanding. People need places to live, industries are growing. We need to conserve what good ground God has given us.

Along comes solar and wind energy. Some feel that this could benefit the county financially. I’m sure it would, but when I look at a wind generator, I see that huge block of cement under it. That land is gone forever, even if the windmill goes away. Reminds me of burning rainforest to make way for solar panels.

As citizens of Tama County, I feel we have a moral obligation (to the world) to preserve as much of this precious resource as we can.

Steven Blocker, Traer