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Ozone protection Montreal agreement, “a showcase of environmental cooperation”

Monday, September 17th 2012 - 01:22 UTC
Full article 3 comments

An international agreement to phase out chemicals which attack the Earth’s vital ozone shield celebrates its 25th anniversary as a showcase for successful global environmental cooperation, “protecting our atmosphere for generations to come.” Read full article

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  • DennisA

    “has prevented the destruction of the ozone layer”

    No it has not, because the ozone layer was not being destroyed. The ozone hole is an annual event and has been happening a lot longer than claimed. For public consumption it is usually stated that the Ozone hole was first discovered in 1985, by British scientists Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey, although NASA stakes a claim for two years earlier.

    However on the BAS website it says that they have been monitoring ozone in the Antarctic since 1956. One wonders why, in all that time, they found no problem, when CFC’s had been in use for refrigeration since the 1930’s. Suddenly, in 1985, “the hole” was discovered for the first time.

    The BAS web site has data for 2009-10 and reports that:

    “Ozone values dropped, to reach a minimum of around 125 DU (60% depletion) in late September, (Antarctic spring). The lowest daily value measured was 107 DU on October 1. This minimum value is similar to those recorded each October since the early 1990s.”

    It is also similar to those in the spring of 1958 at the French Antarctic Observatory at Dumont d'Urville [opposite side of the South Pole from Halley Bay], when Rigaud and Leroy [Annales Geophysicae (November, 1990)] reported atmospheric ozone levels as low as 110 DU.

    It has always been claimed that CFC's do not occur naturally, but volcanoes produce a variety of halocarbons, including CFCs. There are also other natural sources of CFCs including sponges, bacteria (both marine & terrestrial), fungi (both marine & terrestrial), plants (both marine & terrestrial), lichen and insects, (Gribble, 2003; Jordan, 2003).

    The British Antarctic Survey 2007, discovered ozone depleting halogens originating from sea salt and algae. The Chinese have made fortunes from producing HCFC's and then claiming credits for destroying them under the UN Clean Development Mechanism.

    Sep 17th, 2012 - 10:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • vestias

    Os estados globais tem que fazer algo para proteger a camada de Ozônio esles tem que encontrar caminhos de politicas ambientais o mundo continua a ser bombardeados diariamente com substãncias quimicas

    Sep 17th, 2012 - 10:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • British_Kirchnerist

    Good stuff, now if we could just do the same for climate change...

    #1 To what do you attribute the power of this anti-big-business conspiracy?

    Sep 18th, 2012 - 03:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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