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Earth Science

United Nations Says Earth's Ozone Layer Is Repairing (bbc.com) 142

Posted by BeauHD from the good-news dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The ozone layer, which protects us from ultraviolet light, looks to be successfully healing after gaping holes were discovered in the 1980s. The Northern Hemisphere could be fully fixed by the 2030s and Antarctica by the 2060s. A new United Nations report says it's an example of what global agreements can achieve. The ozone layer had been damaged by man-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) effectively began eating away at the ozone. CFCs were found in things like spray cans, fridges, foam insulation and air conditioners. As a result, in 1985 a gaping hole in the ozone over the South Pole was discovered. An international agreement called the Montreal Protocol made sure that businesses came up with replacements for these damaging products. 180 countries signed up to it. In signing the protocol, those countries agreed to phase out chemicals like CFCs.
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United Nations Says Earth's Ozone Layer Is Repairing More

United Nations Says Earth's Ozone Layer Is Repairing

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  • Obligatory Naked Gun 2½ (Score:4, Funny)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Tuesday November 06, 2018 @11:13PM (#57604174)

    I guess love is like the ozone layer.
    You never miss it until it's gone.

  • If Trump did his thing (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    If Trump did his thing and pulled out of the UN agreement on CFCs...... it would make zero difference.

    Because no manufacturer would use CFC, the consumer backlash in the US would stop the product selling and they wouldn't be able to sell that product in the rest of the world. So they wouldn't make it and even try. Trump's word would not have any effect.

    When he pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, it had no effect on the US's efforts to cut its greenhouse gas emission. The efforts on solar and electric co

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      the consumer backlash in the US would stop the product selling

      This assumes (against all recent evidence) that consumers are correctly informed. What's far more likely is that corporate FUD would politicise it and paralyze any action.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by DNS-and-BIND ( 461968 )

      I could be wrong, but it sure seems like you know absolutely shit about climate change and the Paris accord. From where I sit it looks like a do-nothing agreement (less than 0.05C impact over 100 years) that would have cost trillions of dollars for what, exactly? How does paying money to the developing world help the climate? Do you think all those 3rd world kings and rulers are going to use that money responsibly to combat climate change? I can think of any number of projects that would be a far more usefu

      • The "what, exactly?" is wealth redistribution.

        The alarmists don't want to allow "third world" countries to develop their own energy systems, fossil-fuel or not.

        Instead they want to take from the rich and give to the poor, Robinhood style.

        But that doesn't solve anything. In the long run it just makes everyone poorer.
        • By the way: even though the Paris accord was never ratified by the Senate (so we were never officially part of it anyway), the U.S. is still the only major country that has actually been reducing emissions.

          • the U.S. is still the only major country that has actually been reducing emissions.
            Rofl.

            In the last 5 or 6 years.

            Considering that the other countries work on this since 30 years or more, that is a lame joke.

            • And THIS is why Americans reject so much bullshit. Even when we do the right thing and are virtuous, we still never get a teeny weeny little bit of credit for it. No, "fuck you America" is all we ever hear. Go to hell. Stop posting here.

      • Do you think all those 3rd world kings and rulers are going to use that money responsibly to combat climate change?
        How many third world kings (third world does not exist anymore since 30 - 40 years) do we have on the planet? 4? 5? 6?

  • I suppose a Lab Coat ha replaced the goofy beard and head dress these days.

  • In May this year, reports emerged to warn of new, un-traced pollutants that were extending the damage to the ozone layer, particularly in the southern hemisphere.

    See here [independent.co.uk].

    Now, barely 5 months later, we have this very different perspective. Not being a climate scientist, I'm not sure how we can discern which of these two articles carries the most accurate reporting. (In that it seems unlikely that new damage observed in May could be healed this quickly).

    I am a little concerned that the more recent o

    • Re:Contradictory Reports (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hyades1 ( 1149581 ) <hyades1@hotmail.com> on Wednesday November 07, 2018 @03:05AM (#57604522)

      Did you even bother to read the article you linked to?

      It says this: "It comes after NASA satellites provided the first direct evidence the ozone hole had shrunk in January, a finding welcomed by Dr Jon Shanklin, one of the meteorologists who first discovered the ozone hole, as a 'definite good news story'.

      And this: "However, in a new paper published in the journal Nature, an international team of scientists report an unexpected finding of CFC-11, one of the major ozone-depleting chemicals.

      "The rate of this substance's decline in the atmosphere has slowed by approximately 50 per cent since 2012."

      So in other words, the ozone layer is still recovering, just like the story says, and CFC's continue to decline, though not as fast as projected. There is no "disparity", apparent or real.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megol ( 3135005 )

      Do you genuinely don't understand how that both reports can be accurate at the same time IF they said what you just wrote?
      Not that they DID say what you wrote, in fact what was said even in the layman article isn't what you wrote.

      The expected rate of CFC decrease changed, the effects of that are known. The level of CFCs are still decreasing but at a lower rate than expected meaning slower recovery of the ozone layer. That's it, how exactly doesn't it fit this report?

      Even stranger is your claim that "seems t

  • Is this UN report an old report?

    Because:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/1... [nytimes.com]

    What is unclear from the article is how much new CFCs are being released relative to pre-ban amounts.

  • Kyoto, and paris, are jokes. The fact that we allow nations to add more fossil fuel power plants is a disaster. Instead, ALL 'additions' should be killed. Replacement would be fine, but that is what is happening.
  • ...just this year it was reported that, while the ozone holes above the poles are shrinking, the ozone layer is *thinning* above urban areas: https://www.atmos-chem-phys.ne... [atmos-chem-phys.net]

  • CFCs were found in things like spray cans, fridges, foam insulation and air conditioners.

    Factories and Spray cans, yes... the rest: pretty much no.
    The hole in the Ozone layer wasn't caused by us having CFCs in refrigerators.... it was caused by CFC and Halon Emissions, or the Release of CFCs and Halons. Primarily from the emissions of industrial factories and facilities making the things, Halon gas Fire Suppression systems like those that used to be used in computing centers, and from Spray

    • Refrigeration equipment, on the other hand.... is designed to contain CFCs, not release them.

      And as we all know all refrigeration equipment is leak-free and lasts forever. Why, every refrigerator, and AC system for factories or houses or cars ever made are still in existence and maintaining their original coolant inventory unchanged even 60 years later! Why, when cars are scrapped they carefully remove their air conditioning systems for permanent storage!

      Refrigeration equipment only temporarily stores refrigerant, until it leaks, or becomes contaminated or otherwise is emptied for servicing, or rea

  • The ozone layer hole could be even smaller if we can get China to stop releasing them. [newsweek.com]
  • Is this suggesting to me that 'international collaboration' does work when government across the globe recognize a global problem? I'd certainly hope everyone comes to the same page for pollution and GHG...etc. Something to be hopeful on???
    • This has been going on for some time, ever since we started getting rid of chlorofluorocarbons in products, which makes this all the better. happy wheels [happywheels2.io] 2 free

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