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Ozone layer shows signs of recovery

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B

Blablurn

Member
DVqoBDa.jpg


The ozone layer that shields life from the sun's cancer-causing ultraviolet rays is showing its first sign of thickening after years of dangerous depletion, a UN study said on Wednesday.

Experts said it showed the success of a 1987 ban on manmade gases that damage the fragile high-altitude screen, an achievement that would help prevent millions of cases of skin cancer and other conditions.

The ozone hole that appears annually over Antarctica has also stopped growing bigger every year, though it will be about a decade before it starts shrinking, said the report, coproduced by the World Meteorological Organisation and the UN Environment Programme.

"International action on the ozone layer is a major environmental success story ... This should encourage us to display the same level of urgency and unity to tackle the even greater challenge of tackling climate change," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.

Past studies have suggested the ozone layer has stopped getting worse.

"Now for the first time in this report we say that we see indications of a small increase in total ozone. That means recovery of the ozone layer in terms of total ozone has just started," said WMO senior scientific officer Geir Braathen.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol that banned or phased out ozone-depleting chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons once widely used in refrigerators and spray cans, would prevent 2 million cases of skin cancer annually by 2030, according to UNEP.

The agreement would also help avert damage to wildlife, agriculture, human eyes and immune systems, the agency added.

The ozone layer was expected to recover towards its 1980 level by mid-century, or slightly later for Antarctica, where it gets dangerously thin every year between mid-August and November or December.

"The development you saw during the 1990s that the ozone hole got bigger from year to year – that development has stopped, so it has levelled off," said Braathen.

"We think in about 2025 or thereabouts we'll be able to say with certainty that the ozone hole is getting smaller," he added.

Progress could be sped up by as much as 11 years if existing stocks of ozone-depleting substances – many of them stored up in old fridges and fire-extinguishers – were destroyed.

The largest ozone hole on record was about 30 million square km in 2006. The hole now covers about 20 million square km – big enough for the moon to pass through – but may not have peaked this season.

The size of the hole varies from year to year, partly due to temperature in the upper atmosphere.

The reduction of ozone-damaging chemicals would also help the environment, the report said, as many of the substances were also greenhouses gases blamed for global warming.

But the rising levels of other greenhouses gases in the atmosphere had "the potential to undermine these gains," said the report.

One of the ozone-depleting substances that was supposed to have been phased out – carbon tetrachloride, a solvent – was still being released into the atmosphere, suggesting, the report said, illicit production and usage over the past decade.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/10/ozone-layer-recovery-report-shows
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G

gazele

Banned
Good, gives me a little hope we can turn around global warming, but that's a whole nother issue

Was there a debate about the ozone layer disappearing being man made?
 
T

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
Now the heat vent that kept us from runaway greenhouse effect is being plugged! Think about what would happen if you duct taped over all the heat vents on a launch 360 and then put in Halo 4, that's what's gonna happen on earth.
 
S

SneakyStephan

Banned
I remember when they banned the gasses for spray cans (my mother's hairspray) , and the docus on tv about the hole in the ozone layer.

I'm surprised it kept growing (and that noone has said anything about the ozone layer since the late 80s) till now.

But progress is progress I guess.
Now if we could do the same for greenhouse gasses:\

Aaron Strife said:
Oh good does that mean I can get one of these now

6a00d8341c565553ef017743711865970d-pi
Click to expand...
Man if I ever see one of those here and I see them park I will key the shit out of that car.
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
Good news, but a lot of people conflate the ozone layer with global warming, so I'm dreading a lot of "hurray we fixed climate change" reactions.
 
B

Brianemone

Member
It would be nice if someone could fix it even sooner, I miss being able to go out in the sun (New Zealand summer sun is brutal)
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
wait so you're saying man causes environmental disasters and that, given good science and proper legislation, we can reverse those trends!?
 
H

HOMEBOY OVER HERE

Banned
great!

now we jut have to take on

depletion of natural resources
human population growth
soil contaminating water
air pollution
climate change

and just about a thousand more things

let's do this, humanity.
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
Amir0x said:
wait so you're saying man causes environmental disasters and that, given good science and proper legislation, we can reverse those trends!?
Click to expand...

It really is the poster child that environmental intervention can work.
 
P

PHOENIXZERO

Member
HOMEBOY OVER HERE said:
great!

now we jut have to take on

depletion of natural resources
human population growth
soil contaminating water
air pollution
climate change

and just about a thousand more things

let's do this, humanity.
Click to expand...

We're probably due for a plague that'll wipe out more than half the human population. Young, old and the poor in between.
 
S

Suite Pee

Willing to learn
Unfortunately, this information could be used to skew debate on environmental issues. I remember a few studies talking about how many in the general populace think there isn't more to climate change than just the ozone.
 
R

Rivitur

Banned
Yes, I knew Earth day would help! What a genius idea to have everyone turn off their light for a hour and go outside to burn tires for warmth and light.
 
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