Ozone Layer Essay

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Some scientists have proclaimed that the human race is slowly depleting the

layer of ozone which protects us from ultra violet light. In reality, humans

have very little control of the world in which we live. Scientific evidence has

shown that there is very little depletion in the ozone layer and the

contributions the human race makes towards this depletion is and always will be

insignificant compared to nature. The theories of the depletion and what it

would cause are flawed and contradictory. Where and when did this global killing

threat begin? It all began in the mid 1960's when the United States government

began pursuing super sonic transports. These would be planes which would travel

in the stratosphere, very close to the ozone layer. The first environmentalist

complaints were actually of the noise factor. These large planes would be

traveling in excess of the speed of sound. Subsequently there would be sonic

booms heard on the surface (Singer). The arguments fell on deaf ears in

Washington. The next objection came in the form of ozone depletion. A fleet of

over 500 of these planes would ultimately destroy the ozone. This would allow

more ultra violet radiation to fall to the earth and in turn skin cancer rates

would sky rocket. That was more than enough for the federal government to get

involved, they immediately canceled the project. At that time there was no study

done to investigate these claims, but there has been since. The initial

estimation was that a fleet of 500 SSTs would effectively reduce the ozone layer

seventy percent. In the 1970's that number fell to ten percent. With the

emergence of the Concorde, which is a SST, in the 1980's, studies were done that

show the emissions from these planes actually insulate the ozone layer and

prevent it from being depleted (Singer). There is irony in the fact that the

initial claim of ozone depletion, actually turned out to aid it. This isn't the

only piece of irony when it comes to the ozone. The second part of the initial

claim said that ultra violet light would fall on the earth and cancer rates

would go up. One could claim that melanoma rate have gone up within the past

years because melanoma rates have increased 800% since statistics were first

collected in 1935. Unfortunately there has been no corresponding change in the

ozone layer or the amount of UV light reaching the surface. To the contrary, UV

levels have been on the decline at every test center (Singer). Also the fact

that indoor workers have a twenty-one percent higher chance to get melanoma than

outdoor workers, further supports the fact that UV rays themselves do not induce

melanoma (Howard). Another piece of irony, the SSTs cause ozone depletion, which

in turn cause UV rays to increase. And UV rays equal cancer, right? Paragraph on

the current measurements of the ozone and what scientists believe cause the

changes in thickness. When SSTs were no longer an issue the scientific community

was still concerned about this claim of depleting the ozone layer. They began to

look at what else could cause this depletion and at this time compiled a list of

ozone gases. Ozone gases have now become a term associated with those awful

gases which destroy the human race's only protection from the sun and it's

deadly UV rays. What are these gases though? Where do they come from? The most

commonly referred to of gases are CFCs. These gases are Fluorocarbons. CFCs come

from commonly used items such as aerosol cans, refrigerators, and air

conditioners. Believers in the depletion theory believe that humans release

these gases and they go into the atmosphere and neutralize the chemicals that

hold the ozone together. Thus holes begin to emerge and in turn the whole world

is doomed. One study in 1959 stated that if the fluorocarbon industry continues

to grow at it's twenty-two percent rate between 1960 and 1972, then by 1995 the

ozone would be depleted by over forty percent (Ponte). Well the industry grew at

over twenty-two percent during those years and yet there hasn't been a forty

percent decrease in ozone. Not even a thirty, or even a fifteen and even ten is

too large. In actuality the measurements now show a six percent increase (Bidinotto).

Yes an increase! The other amazing fact is that in 1976 an Alaskan volcano

spewed 570 times the worlds CFC production (Begely). That means in a matter of

days this one volcano produced more CFCs than the human race has in the last 570

years. Some scientists argue that volcanoes can't actually propel these gases

far enough into the atmosphere to cause any damage. If this is truly the case,

how am I then supposed to believe that my little can of deodorant actually can?

In trying to defend their claim they actually disprove what it was they were

saying in the first place. The other major gas claimed to deplete the ozone

layer is chlorine. This claim is very easy to discredit. Chlorine gas weighs two

and a half times more than air. It would take tremendous amounts of force to put

it high enough into the air to effect the ozone (Singer). These facts, long

hidden from the public's eye, didn't discourage politicians from...

Begely, Sharon. "Is the Ozone Hole in Our Heads?" News Week October
11, 1993: pg. 71. Bindotto, Robert "Ozone and Objectivity" Online.
November 20, 1996 "Can We Delay a Greenhouse Warming?" United States
Environmental Protection Agency, 1983 Limbaugh, Rush. See I Told You So. New
York: Pocket Books a division of Simon and Schuster Inc. 1993 Lutgens, Fredrick
K. and Tarback, Edward J. The Atmosphere NJ Prentic-Hall, Inc. 1986 pg. 189-
195. Singer, Fred, S. Ph.D. "My Adventures in the Ozone Layer." Online
November 18,1997 Ponte, Lowell. The Cooling NJ Prentice- Hall Inc., 1976 Haimson,
Lepnie, Oppenheimer, Michael, and Wilcove, David "The Way Things Really
Are" Online.
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