Burn brush instead of using landfills

Colleen A. Sperando recently wrote in annoyed by the seeming irony that she received a notice for an auto emission test. She then asks, "Why do we take our cars in for emissions test … when we allow the burning of brush, leaves … etc."

Cars are equipped with catalytic converters. The purpose of the catalytic converter is to burn unburned fuel. Fully burned fuel adds little to atmospheric pollution. Unburned petroleum is noxious.

Burned wood, brush and leaves emit mostly particulate matter, dirt. When it rains, dirt generally precipitates out of the atmosphere. Worse is when brush and wood go into a landfill, they decompose and create methane gas, a supposed greenhouse gas. The environmentally responsible thing to do is to burn wood that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Modern wood stoves are so efficient and burn so hot that when fed properly dried wood, they emit almost no particulate matter.

But then if we all burned wood, the government would have a hard time taxing it. And the gas and oil companies would have a harder time competing. Maybe this is the real reason behind the so called "environmental" movement.

Jeff Lonigro

St. Charles