By Lyla Boozer
What major environmental issue has been threatening everyone on the planet for decades, but is rarely mentioned in daily conversations? The answer: the disappearing ozone layer.
The Earth’s ozone layer is located between 10 and 30 miles above the Earth’s surface. It acts like a shield on the Earth’s stratosphere and absorbs most of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. So, the more complete the layer is, the better it can protect life on Earth.
Several decades ago, scientists began warning that the widespread use of certain synthetic chemicals was leading to the rapid depletion of the ozone layer, and this would soon leave human beings more susceptible to such maladies as skin cancer, cateracts, and impaired immune system function. Additionally, plants and plankton (i.e., the food for most sea life) would eventually find it difficult or impossible to survive with the resulting heavy level of ultraviolet radiation seeping through the atmosphere.
A few years after these initial warnings, a “hole” in the ozone layer was first noticed over Antarctica in mid-1985.
Two years later, an international treaty called the “Montreal Protocol” identified 100 synthetic chemicals – such as the chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons that are contained in aerosol sprays, refrigeration, air-conditioning, and insulation – that cause damage to the ozone layer. Ultimately, the treaty was ratified by 197 states and the European Union, all of whom agreed to phase out the use of these chemicals.
Recent studies indicate that this agreement has been very successful, as the ozone layer appears to be healing itself.
Saint Mary’s chemistry teacher Mrs. Ferguson recently noted that, “Within your lifetime, if we stop using all those chemicals, the ozone layer should be repaired.”
She also said that fixing the layer will take a concerted effort. “We can’t do it all on our own.”
Scientists now predict that the ozone layer will have completely repaired itself in about 40 years.
