Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Chatter > General Discussion


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 09-21-2010, 05:20 PM   #1 (permalink)
MSD
The sky calls to us ...
 
MSD's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: CT
Ozone depletion has ended. Ozone layer will recover completely by 2048

Quote:
United Nations News Service: 16 September 2010 – International efforts to protect the ozone layer shielding life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays have stopped additional ozone losses, potentially averting scores of millions of cases of skin cancer and eye cataracts, according to a new United Nations report released today.

At the same time they have helped to mitigate the global warming greenhouse effect.

‘Today’s report underlines that action to protect the ozone layer has not only been a success, but continues to deliver multiple benefits to economies including on efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)’, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said, referring to the ambitious targets that seek to slash a host of social ills by 2015.

Global ozone is no longer decreasing, due to the phase-out of nearly 100 depleting substances once used in products like refrigerators and spray cans, but is not yet increasing. The ozone layer outside the polar regions is projected to recover to pre-1980 levels before the middle of the century, although the annual springtime ozone hole over the Antarctic is expected to take much longer, the study reported in one of its key findings.

The report, published jointly by UNEP and the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO)and released today on the UN International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, is the first comprehensive update in four years on the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol phasing out chemicals which accelerate both ozone layer damage and climate change.

‘It (the Protocol) has protected the stratospheric ozone layer from much higher levels of depletion by phasing out production and consumption of ozone depleting substances’, said the report, written and reviewed by some 300 scientists and launched on the UN International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Given that many substances that deplete the ozone layer are also potent greenhouse gases, the Montreal Protocol ‘provided substantial co-benefits by reducing climate change’, it added.

In 2010, reductions of ozone depleting substances as a result of the Protocol, expressed in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions (about 10 gigatons per year), were five times larger than those targeted by the first commitment period (2008-2012) of the Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse emissions reduction treaty.

‘Without the Montreal Protocol and its associated Vienna Convention atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances could have increased tenfold by 2050’, Mr. Steiner said. ‘This in turn could have led to up to 20 million more cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cases of eye cataracts, not to speak of damage to human immune systems, wildlife and agriculture’.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said the ozone-hole issue showed the importance of long-term atmospheric monitoring and research, “without which ozone destruction would have continued unabated and might not have been detected until more serious damage was evident.”

In a message for the International Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited the Montreal Protocol, which last year achieved universal ratification, as ‘an excellent example’ of setting a broad framework, clear targets and a gradual approach to implementation as governments gain confidence and build on initial steps, setting more ambitious goals.

‘When the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987, governments did not originally envision the phase-out of any ozone-depleting substance,” he said. “Yet, as a result of strong national and global compliance, parties to the Montreal Protocol have cut production and consumption of these harmful chemicals by more than 98 per cent’ – United Nations News Service
I was born in 1984 and grew up learning that by the time I had kids it would be unsafe to stay outdoors in the summer for more than a few minutes without sunscreen. The long term effects of ozone depletion were still uncertain but the outlook was bad. That was the future and we would have to live with the consequences of what we've done.

Not only has the depletion of the ozone layer stopped, it is healing and will be back to pre-depletion levels by 2048. We have a few decades of sleeping in the bed we've made, but we recognized a problem and the world got together on the same page to fix it and we did. This is some of the best news I've seen all year.

It's not all rainbows and sunshine, though. We are only beginning to deal the the very real problem of Global Warming. It's not hitting us full force and it's not as apparent to the layman as an overlay of ozone depletion over the globe, but it's going to hit us harder than ozone depletion ever could have. We should celebrate the fact that we faced such a monumental problem head-on and came up with a solution, even though we're going to see a few more decades of increased cancer and cataract rates before it's back to being OK, and we need to channel this enthusiasm into tackling the next worldwide environmental disaster with the same vigor and dedication. It wasn't easy to reduce ozone depleting chemical production to 1/50th of what it was 30 years ago, but we did it. We need to learn our lesson about the consequences of irresponsible stewardship of natural resources. We need to realize that keeping our planet alive and habitable is in our best interest even if it isn't the easiest thing to do in the short term.
MSD is offline  
Old 09-21-2010, 05:54 PM   #2 (permalink)
warrior bodhisattva
 
Baraka_Guru's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
This is good news indeed.

Now onto the first major challenge of global warming: converting the deniers.
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
Baraka_Guru is offline  
Old 09-21-2010, 05:57 PM   #3 (permalink)
Upright
 
Very interesting read, thanks for sharing.
This was actually on the back of my mind the other day, like you said when I was growing up global warming was made out to be the undoing of humanity, by some. Yet others wrote it off completely as "just a theory." I'm very glad that the world as a whole is making strides toward a more sustainable planet. By my (feeble) understanding however, Tokyo is still leagues in advance with it's cutbacks as agreed to by the Kyoto policy.
Studentech is offline  
Old 09-21-2010, 05:58 PM   #4 (permalink)
Upright
 
Sirensong12's Avatar
 
Location: in hell, I think
I'll be way dead by then.
__________________
After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.
Walt Whitman, US poet (1819 - 1892)
Sirensong12 is offline  
Old 09-21-2010, 07:48 PM   #5 (permalink)
Let's put a smile on that face
 
blahblah454's Avatar
 
Location: On the road...
That's great news! I remember hearing lots about this when I was in junior high, and I don't think much else past that. It is nice to hear that we were able to stop producing the things that were causing such destruction, and I hope that this mentality can be used in other substances that we produce.
blahblah454 is offline  
Old 09-21-2010, 07:57 PM   #6 (permalink)
She's Actual Size
 
CinnamonGirl's Avatar
 
Location: Central Republic of Where-in-the-Hell
Awesome. I'll be 67....
__________________
"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
CinnamonGirl is offline  
Old 09-22-2010, 06:53 AM   #7 (permalink)
Very Insignificant Pawn
 
Location: Amsterdam, NL
Good news.
Not really the point but I'll be 100...in theory.
flat5 is offline  
Old 09-22-2010, 08:00 AM   #8 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
Quote:
Originally Posted by CinnamonGirl View Post
Awesome. I'll be 67....
but still hot.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
Old 09-22-2010, 08:17 AM   #9 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Amaras's Avatar
 
Location: At my daughter's beck and call.
I'll be 76 (hopefully!). I remember the old cans of hairspray that were"gonna kill us,
dude!". I hope, as was said above, that many can take heart in knowing that
solutions are possible. It's amazing to me how Mother Earth can repair herself,
given half a chance.
__________________
Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.
-Noam Chomsky
Love is a verb, not a noun.
-My Mom
The function of genius is to furnish cretins with ideas twenty years later.
-Louis Aragon, "La Porte-plume," Traite du style, 1928
Amaras is offline  
Old 09-22-2010, 07:04 PM   #10 (permalink)
Upright
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amaras View Post
I'll be 76 (hopefully!). I remember the old cans of hairspray that were"gonna kill us,
dude!". I hope, as was said above, that many can take heart in knowing that
solutions are possible. It's amazing to me how Mother Earth can repair herself,
given half a chance.
I was watching a show on TV recently, History - Life after people. I found it very interesting how, Ignoring all the radioactive disasters, Earth returns to it's natural state rather quickly. An interesting series, IMO
Studentech is offline  
Old 09-22-2010, 08:07 PM   #11 (permalink)
MSD
The sky calls to us ...
 
MSD's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: CT
How old each of us will be when the ozone layer is whole again is beside the point. The fact is that what we have fucked up through lack of understanding or neglect of the consequences of our action is reversible. It's unfortunate that public policy rather than the goodwill of those who can make a difference is what can stop the damage we're doing, but either way it's what we do that's causing the problem and therefore it's up to us to fix it. What was a childhood horror is now a fading memory because we took the initiative to fix the damage we caused and it's time to fix the damage we're causing now.
MSD is offline  
Old 09-26-2010, 03:22 PM   #12 (permalink)
Junkie
 
G5_Todd's Avatar
 
Location: Reichstag
good read thanks for the post...
__________________
"....and when you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy."

-General Franks
G5_Todd is offline  
 

Tags
2048, completely, depletion, ended, layer, ozone, recover

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:17 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360