Whats happened to the Ozone layer?
Discussion
Much was said about a great big hole appearing in the protective layer surrounding our little planet, but have not heard much about it since Global Warming and Climate Change got mentioned.
So whats the latest with the big O, is it fixed, through our reduction of Hair Spray usage and leaded petrol? Or was that too another bit of scaremonging by some clever mad scientist to get funding for his new evil invention?
So whats the latest with the big O, is it fixed, through our reduction of Hair Spray usage and leaded petrol? Or was that too another bit of scaremonging by some clever mad scientist to get funding for his new evil invention?
AlRaven said:
I'm reliably informed that through the largely successful banning of CFCs (Montreal agreement?) it will be nicely closed and patched up by 2070.
... by the time we will all be living in a flooded desert?I often use the "ozon argument" if people try to talk to me about using less energy and saving the enviroment. (mostly by screwing in new bulbs/pulling the plug of my tv,....)
Jetl3on said:
Much was said about a great big hole appearing in the protective layer surrounding our little planet, but have not heard much about it since Global Warming and Climate Change got mentioned.
The Ozone Layer was just a one hit wonder, it had no staying power.When Global Warming came along it was instantly popular after a previous unsuccessful incarnation as Global Cooling. Global Warming had a number of hits before, inevitably, falling foul of changing trends.
Today the spawn of Global Warming is Climate Change, a much more flexible creature, able to suit all tastes and fit into all venues.
Climate Change appears to have legs to it, longevity will trun out to be a key trait.
There are of course underground movements, garage productions and more homegrown talents emerging, Climategate being chief amongst these.
Who knows what the charts will look like in the weeks and months to come !!
Swilly said:
Jetl3on said:
Much was said about a great big hole appearing in the protective layer surrounding our little planet, but have not heard much about it since Global Warming and Climate Change got mentioned.
The Ozone Layer was just a one hit wonder, it had no staying power.When Global Warming came along it was instantly popular after a previous unsuccessful incarnation as Global Cooling. Global Warming had a number of hits before, inevitably, falling foul of changing trends.
Today the spawn of Global Warming is Climate Change, a much more flexible creature, able to suit all tastes and fit into all venues.
Climate Change appears to have legs to it, longevity will trun out to be a key trait.
There are of course underground movements, garage productions and more homegrown talents emerging, Climategate being chief amongst these.
Who knows what the charts will look like in the weeks and months to come !!
monthefish said:
Swilly said:
Jetl3on said:
Much was said about a great big hole appearing in the protective layer surrounding our little planet, but have not heard much about it since Global Warming and Climate Change got mentioned.
The Ozone Layer was just a one hit wonder, it had no staying power.When Global Warming came along it was instantly popular after a previous unsuccessful incarnation as Global Cooling. Global Warming had a number of hits before, inevitably, falling foul of changing trends.
Today the spawn of Global Warming is Climate Change, a much more flexible creature, able to suit all tastes and fit into all venues.
Climate Change appears to have legs to it, longevity will trun out to be a key trait.
There are of course underground movements, garage productions and more homegrown talents emerging, Climategate being chief amongst these.
Who knows what the charts will look like in the weeks and months to come !!
Are you Danny Wallace?
Seriously, I think that they've discovered it gets bigger and smaller depending on the time of year, prevailing weather and Solar activity. They aren't even sure that CFC's contributed to it or that it wasn't there already before they panicked about it. Now it seems to be a "non-story".
Interesting how the ozone hole discovery and the banning of CFCs just happened to co-incide fairly closely with the expiration of the patents various large chemical companies had on the CFCs in question - and these same companies very fortunately had suitable substances ( with nice fresh long lived patents on them ) ready to replace the CFCs as refrigerants etc.
Allegedly
Just be ready when the new patents run out - and they suddenly announce that the chemicals used to replace CFCs need to be replaced due to them being highly toxic ( much more so than CFCs ) or some similar story
Allegedly
Just be ready when the new patents run out - and they suddenly announce that the chemicals used to replace CFCs need to be replaced due to them being highly toxic ( much more so than CFCs ) or some similar story
Ayahuasca said:
There is still a hole in the layer over Chile / Argentina and they do get higher levels of skin cancer there IIRC.
I recall reading somewhere that the statistically high incidence of melanoma is restricted to the part of the population living in the Andes at altidudes greater than 5km, so isn't related to any hole in the ozone layer, just related to living at high altitude.On the ozone depletion link to CFCs, there are a few additional bits of information:
1. No one has yet managed to replicate in a lab the chemical process whereby a CFC destroys an ozone molecule
2. The link to CFCs was made when the air was sampled in the Antarctic below the hole, and the air was found to contain relatively high levels of chlorine ( though still very low in terms of parts per million ) - CFCs were blamed despite the air being sampled at much lower altitudes than the ozone layer, and the fact that the samples were taken 500 miles downwind of the erupting Mt Erebus which was emitting tons of chlorine per day was ignored.
3. Ozone is continually replenished by the action of ultra-violet radiation from the sun splitting oxygen molecules, so as fast as an ozone molecule is 'destroyed' another is created. The lower levels of ozone in the hole occurs naturally due to the lack of sunlight over the Antarctic during winter - no sunlight means that when an ozone molecule naturally degrades back into an oxygen molecule it isn't replenished.
I'm one of the few on here who doesn't think climate change is a myth ( 
) but I would concede that as soon as you fix one issue another one will quickly follow it. Cars used to belch out carbon monoxide so they fitted catalysts to everything to cure that and started chasing carbon dioxide instead.
I think ozone (rightly or wrongly) was just another thing on the list, once crossed off it gets forgotten whilst the world worries about the next thing.
Steve H
) but I would concede that as soon as you fix one issue another one will quickly follow it. Cars used to belch out carbon monoxide so they fitted catalysts to everything to cure that and started chasing carbon dioxide instead. I think ozone (rightly or wrongly) was just another thing on the list, once crossed off it gets forgotten whilst the world worries about the next thing.
Steve H
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