OZONE HOLE

If you had a hole in your roof and the rain was coming in, you would hopefully get it fixed. Well, we have a hole in the atmosphere and the radiation is coming in and threatening us, and all life, with much more dire consequences than getting a little wet.

The subject of this ozone hole is probably not well understood by the average citizen, including me. Only today I read an article called Sunburn that gave me far more knowledge than I wanted to know. I was happier in my ignorance.

I simply thought that the thinning of the ozone layer would let more ultraviolet radiation reach the earth's surface. If I spent less time in the sun then there would be no major problem. This however is not the case. The ultraviolet radiation that we have all been exposed to, and gotten the subsequent sunburn from, is not the major problem. There is a much larger dilemma with the wavelength of the radiation that is now permitted to pass through the damaged ozone layer in the upper stratosphere. This ultraviolet-C has a different wave length than the ultraviolet-B that causes a sunburn. UV-C can destroy he proteins and DNA molecules of cells in everything exposed to it.

Ozone is simply an unstable combination of 3 oxygen atoms. It is created by the sun's rays from normal everyday oxygen near the top of the stratosphere. It in turn is then converted back into normal oxygen and one free atom by the ultraviolet radiation. This reaction converts the deadly radiation to heat and reflects it back into space. This is the reaction that has gone on for billions of years and has allowed life to flourish on the earth's surface and in the seas. (For any students who read this, the process is a little more complex.)

The problem is that chemists developed a group of chemical gases that never existed in Nature before. They are extremely efficient at destroying this atmospheric ozone. These synthetic gases however, are almost indestructible themselves as they migrate up through the stratosphere and eat up the ozone like a nano-zillion hungry computer Pacmen.

Now this dilemma has not gone undetected. It has generated meetings of scientists and control treaties have been signed. You possibly thought that this would mean the problem would go away. Right?--WRONG!

While the treaties were being signed, new factories were being built to increase production. Why? Well not all countries sign protocols and treaties, and those that do procrastinate, or cave in to commercial pressures. (Most developing countries would also like to have a piece of the economic pie that we have.) Manufacture's also are keenly aware that if they stop making the offending chemicals then someone else will. This will happen so long as governments do not totally ban their use.

Now, being human, we think about how we personally can avoid the problem. Stay indoors? Use sun-block? Wear a hat? No problem, mon. Unfortunately, the problem does not just affect humans. Animals don't have sunglasses or hats. There is also evidence already that everything that uses photosynthesis to survive (i.e. trees, algae, grass) will be threatened. That amounts to 99% of all life on the planet.

Plankton is at the bottom of the food chain in the sea, and is responsible for a major portion of the oxygen production of the planet. It is affected. Krill is up the ladder a bit and it appears to be effected. The full effect, of course, is not known because the total destruction of the ozone layer hasn't happened yet. Hopefully, we won't let it happen.

So what can be done?

Well for one thing, it is not beyond the realm of possibility to substitute naturally occurring replacements for almost all ozone depleting ones. Among these natural alternatives are helium, carbon dioxide, and even water. So why don't industrialists do this? Simple! because there is a demand for their products and a profit to be made.

We need politicians that support the continuance of the earth as a priority.>