Interesting letter the other day regarding pollution generated from using wood for heat [“Woodsmoke negatively affects us all,” Recorder, Oct. 20].
I’ve had people tell me, later, that they’ve stopped by my place but didn’t bother knocking because, not seeing any woodsmoke drifting from the chimney, though I wasn’t home.
A well-built fire, using well-seasoned wood, like a car that’s been well tuned, shouldn’t produce any smoke! And leave us not forget, firewood is a renewable resource.
My city-mouse sister asked me, 30 years ago, what I would do for heat when my trees were all cut. A well-managed woodlot grows faster than the harvest rate, akin to clipping your fingernails, not ripping them out!
As far as pollution goes, what are the alternatives? Oil? Gas? Transport spills, fracking? Please.
While we need oil and gas to maintain civilization during this time of transition, over-reliance is deleterious, ya know?
Wind, wood, solar, these are the energy sources that we’ll need, and that will last as long as the Earth abides.
Michael D. Joyce
Wendell