Letter: Right Facts, Wrong Conclusion

A recent letter to the editor published in the Star (6/18/24) points out that climate changing CO2 remains in the atmosphere for an exceptionally long time. He then concludes that, due to this, we should not take any action to limit adding more CO2 to the atmosphere. It is rather like arguing that a forest will take a long time to recover from a forest fire, and therefore, we should set more of the woods on fire. His facts are correct. CO2 does take a long time to leave the atmosphere, but his conclusion is wrong. Bringing our atmosphere into balance will take many years. The correct conclusion is that, therefore, we haven’t a minute to lose in attacking the problem. That means we must stop burning the fossil fuels that are causing the problem.