There is no 'transgender craze'

Rose Marie Mitchell,  

Judging from the number of letters you send to the opinion pages, I know that you truly care about what is happening in America and the world, And I believe what you write is what you truly feel, so for that I respect you. But I'm afraid that the only "transgender craze" is the recent barrage of false information used to capture the votes of alienated conservatives.   

Science now knows that a Transgenders sexual identity begins during pregnancy when part of the genetic development creates a brain that indemnities with opposite physical gender. For anybody wondering why and how the physical differences between a Transgender's brain chemistry and that of their bodies diverges, here is a great website to browse:   https://health.clevelandclinic.org/research-on-the-transgender-brain-what-you-should-know/

Peter Johnson, Superior, Wisconsin

Not in my back 40

Some rural landowners are trying to switch farm land to renewable energy production incentivized by government. Not the first subsidy for farmers, but it is quite a change for rural communities to have fields of solar panels and towering wind turbines where cornfields and barns were most prominent.  

It takes getting used to, as did all the other conversions from natural landscape, such as microwave towers, transmission lines, interstate highways, and plastic silage tubes. Awkward as they may look now, the panels and turbines should symbolize hope that society can act to reduce greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and reduce the risk to farming and life from catastrophic climate change.  

Yes, such use of arable land needs to be minimized. It shouldn’t have been used for spreading suburbs and exurbs, either. However, farmers would not offer land for renewable energy if crops paid more for being a producer. Same as selling it to a real estate developer, but that is accepted as economic development. At least solar and wind farms can be removed at the end of their service. Most of us able to own rural land and oppose such energy development will be gone by then.  

It would be convenient if new technologies were available to replace solar arrays and wind turbines in 30 years, but, until then, we have good solutions for reducing greenhouse gases and they all need to be used to protect the living world for yet unborn humans and other beings. Give them a chance.

Mike Fitzgibbon, Bayfield, Wisconsin