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A couple of interesting perspectives from letters written to Backwoods Home Magazine ...........

http://www.backwoodshome.com/letters/letters154.html





Climate change

Thank you, John, for exposing the climate change fallacy (Issue #153, May/June 2015).
I remember in the 1950s we had a very severe drought in California. Our source of surface water was curtailed and we were concerned that our fruit trees and vineyards might have trouble surviving. At night, sometimes, we could look toward the mountains and watch the flames from the forest fires nearly double the height of the mountains. We put in a well for irrigation but only had to use it for about three years until the rain and mountain snows returned. People may say that the current drought is worse, but there are other contributing factors. Either way, in 1950 the population of California was about 10 million and it is now about 40 million. These additional city dwellers, who depend on what the farmer grows for food, are tapping into the same water sources, and as their population has increased, have had a large effect on the water supply.

Marty Milanese
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Re. John Silveira's piece on so-called Global Warming (Issue #153, May/June 2015). He's right on. While I know little about weather, I worked as a human engineering specialist in the aerospace industry and of one thing I know quite a bit — human error rates in the many means of handling digital data. The idea that digital data can be read, totaled, transmitted, and otherwise processed by the millions of bits across hundreds of humans and machines to produce a single, fractional number (i.e. global temperature) in which anyone can have any belief is an impossible task.

Meanwhile, one cannot forget the church of Global Cooling — prominent in all the 60s and 70s news magazines and newspapers of the day.

John Dinan
Topsfield, Massachusetts


More ..........................

http://www.backwoodshome.com/letters/letters153.html

Yes, I went left, when straight was the way, but in 142 days I will be home working towards my own farm and grid-free living. Sir, I hope you know that many of us in here build our hopes and dreams on what you print in your magazine. Ayoob's advice on guns, Jackie Clay and all her wisdom. Then there is you telling it like it is on the Veterans Administration ...

... We are military veterans, ace mechanics, offshore engineers, farmers, wood cutters, carpenters and most of all people who have made a mistake and just want a job, a home, and some land to raise his family, eat of the fruits in orchard, can his vegetable crops, and smoke his meat for the coming winter. Sorry for the rant but I'm scared when I leave I will not longer fit the world around me and your magazine has shown me hope in doing what I loved to do as a child. I raised turkeys, chickens, ducks, and geese. My brother and I built the pen and coop from old pallets we scavenged. We planted a garden every spring (where we kept the poultry the year before) and had the best garden you could dream of. I raised beagle and coon hounds and ran a trapline during the winter. Well sir, those were the days and I plan on finding that happiness once again thanks to your magazine...

Isaac Lopez
Pampa, Texas