O-Zone Problem
Introduction
Problem
Causes
Solutions
Further Reading
Games and Activities
Conclusion
The stratosphere reaches 30 miles above the eather, where at the very top it contains the ozone. The rays that are given off by the sun naturally are to be absorbed by the ozone to keep the harmful rays from penetrating straight down on the earth. Therefore, if the ozone layer continues to be depleted it will create a huge gap or hole where the suns harmful rays will do much damage to life on earth.
Causes
The biggest contributors to stratospheric ozone reduction are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chlorinated solvents, halons and methyl bromide. These chemicals were once widely used as refrigerants, aerosols, cleaning solvents, fire-fighting chemicals and fumigants.
Effects
There are three types of UV radiations. Those are UVA, UVB, and UVC, with UVC being the most harmful UV ray. Each one of these UV rationations can be harmful to plant growth and productivity, marine life, deteriotation of materials, as well as harmful towards human health such as skin cancers.
The planets climate will change dramatically if the hole in the ozone layer continues to grow thus creating horrifying conditions in weather patters.
Pictured below is a photo of the ozone depletion from 1979-1997.
Solutions
An action that we here on earth have taken towards decreasing the depletion of the ozone would be the demand to stop the use of CFCs used in hair spray cans, and things such as spray paints. If there was not a demand to stop using CFCs it has been researched that 99% of all CFCs would end up in the atmosphere.
By the year 2000, the US and twelve nations in Europe have all come to an agreement to ban all use and production of CFCs. This action will be significant for the fact that these countries produce three quarters of the CFCs in the world.
Although we stopped the use of CFCs, it does not mean the effects on the ozone can be irreversible, but it does mean we are taking drastic steps towards conserving and protecting what we have left of our ozone.