LETTER: Evers’ goal of carbonless state by 2050 too late to save planet

To Ozaukee Press:

Several environmental groups have asked me to endorse Gov. Evers’ plan to develop a carbon-free Wisconsin by 2050.

I inform those organizations that I cannot support his plan because it is just too shortsighted if we intend to save the planet that we recognize today.

Other than shaking up the entire system, there’s no reason why we should wait another 30-plus years to be carbon-free.

The urgency to do more is already upon us. Global warming gases have already surpassed what scientists describe as the tipping-point for a runaway warming of our globe. CO2 levels were around 200 parts-per-million for many millennia, but reached an all-time high of 405 ppm in 2017.

Other greenhouse gases are rapidly increasing at the same time, including methane, which is about 20 times more effective than CO2 in causing global warming.

For more than 30 years I’ve been trying to develop a hydrogen economy in which no more carbon compounds would be burned to produce our global energy.

Several years ago I prepared an outline on how we could develop such an economy, but no one seems to care. They’d rather take a chance on doing little or nothing until something happens. I believe it is already happening.

Today we already have all the technology that is needed to start the hydrogen economy. All we need is the desire and leadership to protect the only livable planet that we know.

If the governor would have set his goal at 2030 instead of 2050, I could support his pledge.

Wayne Stroessner
Random Lake