Introduction: What if the countries are not cooperating to protect the ozone layer?
Thesis: Because of the industrial advancements, emissions of non-degradable substances known as CFCs have infiltrated the ozone layer. While there are specific measures that have been taken to reduce these emissions, countries must cooperate in a bid to protect the ozone layer.
I. The CFCs and their impact on the ozone.
II. Measures already taken.
- Cessation of CFC emissions since 1995 by the developed countries.
III. Production Paragraph.
- Developing countries that are still producing too much cfcs are likely to reduce emissions due to their effects.
IV. Conclusion.
- Countries need to cooperate to have a better chance of restoring the ozone.
CFC and Ozone Depletion and Ozone Hole
The ozone is very important for every living organism in earth. This is because it “protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation” (Li, Stolarski and Newman 1). CFCs are the main reason why the ozone layer is depleted. CFC atoms are very harmful to the ozone layer because they have a long life time. One CFC molecule has a lifetime of about 20 to 100 years. This means that although the emission of the CFC gases has ceased in most countries mainly due to the concerns raised on their effect on the ozone depletion, their effect will last for the duration of the lifetime of the CFC molecule. Due to their harmful effect, cfcs are known to be “key drivers to climate change” (Li 1). While there have been several attempts to protect the ozone, this efforts would be more effective if the countries were to cooperate with each other.
Ozone depletion simply means the wearing out of the ozone layer in the atmosphere. Ozone depletion is unlike pollution due to one main reason. Pollution is mainly caused by a variety of factors while ozone depletion can be accredited to one major factor; industrial release of CFCs into the atmosphere. The molecules that make up the CFC are broken down into individual components among which are chlorine. Chlorine molecules react with the ozone atoms effectively depleting them. The ozone hole is an area that is registered to have a thinning level of the ozone in the atmosphere. This is because of the reaction between the element chlorine that is in the CFCs and the atoms that make up the ozone. As a result ultra violet rays that from the sun are able to reach the earth’s surface. This in turn has harmful effects such as medical conditions like skin cancer and environmental effects like global warming. For instance the presence of an ozone hole in the arctic “could warm the climate and cause more ice to melt in the coming decades” (Haag 1). The effects of the cfcs are harmful over the long term. This means that managing them will give the ozone plenty of time to replenish.
The ozone is one of the most elements in the earth’s atmosphere and its integrity must be maintained. One of the most vital uses of the ozone is that it maintains the thermal integrity of the atmosphere. However as with anything else, too much concentration of the atmosphere is harmful to the both the environment and animal life. Studies have shown conclusively that the ozone is one of the most effective pollutants in the world today. Some of the harmful effects that the ozone has are lung damage to animals, higher number of asthma attacks and increase rate of death over a long time. For example, “Long term exposure can lead to lung damage and inflammatory responses” (Hossam, Alkasassbeh and Rodan 342). Even short periods of exposure can lead to increased morbidity. Another difference that the ozone has with pollutants is that it is seasonal (Getu 27).
Research has shown that the levels of the ozone are highest during the winters and lowest during the summer. This knowledge has helped build ozone prediction models that have consequently helped mitigate the harmful effects of the ozone. However harmful the ozone is, it plays an important role in conserving all the life on earth”s surface; animal and plant life alike (“The 2010 Antarctic Ozone Hole 88). The results of the prediction models can help amplify the effects of the ozone in amplifying the ozone in maintaining the thermal structure of the earth”s surface.
The reason for this again is the fact that the chlorine and bromine molecules have a long life cycles and one molecule of either chlorine or bromine destroys thousands of ozone molecules. This is to say that the new layers of ozone that are joined in the atmosphere are destroyed without having done any real work as long as the chlorine and bromine are still in the stratosphere. In the recent past, the amount of ozone was stable. This is because the rates of production and depletion were almost equal therefore the levels of the ozone remained fairly constant. This means that if the rate of emission is reduced significantly, the rate of restoration of the ozone will overcome the ill effects of the cfcs.
But in the recent past the amount of ozone layer has been depleting and the effects are being felt on the earth”s surface. This depletion happens via a complex scientific criterion. The rate at which various substances deplete the atmosphere varies according to the amount of chlorine or bromine in the substance. An elements rate of depletion is calculated as by comparing it to the amount of depletion that it causes at the time of emission by the amount of depletion caused by a stable CFC11. CFC11 is the most common ozone depleting substance. To find out the rate of depletion that is caused by a substance. Its known emission is multiplied by its depletion potential so as to find out the amount of CFC11 emission that will result from the same distribution under certain conditions. The reason for this is that the rate at which the harmful chlorine and bromine molecules are being introduced into the atmosphere is very much higher than the rate at which the ozone layer is being regenerated. The other reason is the ratio and rate at which the ozone depleting substances destroy the ozone molecules. One such effect is global warming. In a very basic sense, ozone depletion causes depletion because without a thick enough layer of ozone, the very harmful ultra violet rays make their way to the earth’s surface. To prevent this, amount of ozone must remain constant. Natural cycles that ensure replenishment of the ozone will have enough time to replenish the ozone if the emission of the cfcs is reduced since the rate of ozone restoration is faster than the rate of reaction between the cfc molecules and the ozone molecules.
The amount of emission that was in the 1970s can be calculated by making several assumptions. Assuming that the level of emission of the CFCs is the same as the concentration of the atmospheric ozone in the years 1970 and 1990, the amount of emission for the year 1970 can be calculated so that it can be simulated for the present. Calculations can be assumed to be accurate, considering the speed at which the gases reach the stratosphere is from 3 to 5 years. This scenario would give an emission rate that would not deplete the ozone at a manageable rate. This manageable rate means that the amount of depletion compared to the amount of ozone restoration would be almost equal.
In the ideal scenario where the rate of emission is about 2.0ppbv, the emission of halocarbons would have to average 281kt CFC11/ year. With the current population in the world and the rate of industrialization, this translates to roughly 45g of CFC11 emissions per person per year. This goal has not yet been set by any country but it is important that every country put this aim into it agenda and implement it in the long term as compared to the short term. This further proves that reducing emissions is a viable option for protecting the ozone.
The countries that have tried to reduce the amount of emission in the country, the activity have been politically motivated for the purposes of achieving sustainability more than for the purposes of reversing the environmental impact that ozone depletion has had. However politically motivated reduction has its positive side. Political reduction has far reaching implications than sustainability has (Elsom 53).The decision as to why countries should join the regimes in combating climate change and ozone depletion lies in whether the particular country is more concerned with the consequences of ozone depletion or whether the country favors the technological means in which the depleted ozone is replaced with substances such as ozone-neutral substances (Schiermeier 794). The political aspect of protecting the ozone ensures that reducing emission would translate in less political interference than complete cessation. This interference would be solved if the countries would cooperate and have a common agenda of protecting the ozone.
The problem of climate change has been felt by most countries the world over. The climate and the ozone have a very complex relationship in that they affect each other. Quirin noted that, “Just as the climate affects the ozone, changes to the ozone will in turn affect the climate” (792). It has been established that CFCs affect the ozone in that it depletes the atoms making up the ozone. This creates an ozone hole which affects the climate. Climate change has affected the entire world and as such it is impossible that just a few countries in the developed world can effectively solve the problem (Ollier 65). This means that event the developing nations will have to contribute to the debate of climate change in a bid to find the solution. These developing countries need industrialization in order to develop. Industrialization translates to pollution. In order to ensure that the countries develop and the ozone is protected, reducing emmsions should be considered instead of stopping CFC emissions all together.
With the multiple countries that are involved, it has been increasingly difficult to find the solution to the problems posed by ozone depletion and climate change. These two problems have continued to pose such a problem that they have warranted the commissioning of two regimes that are mandated to finding the solutions to the problems that they pose. The two regimes are the ozone depletion regime and the climate change regime (Schiermeier 794). Even with the close relationship that is between ozone depletion and climate change, the two regimes have a world of difference between them. The ozone regime has been credited to being effective in its combating ozone depletion due to CFC emission while the climate change regime has been marred by controversy and ineffectiveness. Cooperation between the countries would ensure the success of the climate change regime.
Olier noted that “global warming is the result of human produced carbon dioxide (Olier 62). Another conclusion is that developed countries have contributed more to these problems than developing countries but since the problems affects all the nations alike, there has been need for the developing countries to join in the fight. For example the developed countries have been known to have less than 25 percent of the world population and yet they produce more than 20 times the amount of CFCs that are produced by the developing countries (Benedick 57)
Another reason why the developing countries are involved in the regimes is that they are continually developing and over time they have come to have a higher percentage of CFC emissions. These higher levels of emissions have been attributed to the rising “social and developmental needs” (Getu 13) of these countries. Even with the developing countries continually joining the regimes, they have continually argued that since the developed countries have had a larger stake in CFC emissions, they should also contribute more to the solution than the developing countries. This has effectively hindered the progress of the climate change regime in that there is more talk than there is action.
However, there have been significant strides made by countries in the attempt to fight the effects of CFC and cessation of ozone depletion and consequently climate change. The emission of CFCs in most of the countries has been stopped since 1995. Even though the amount of the CFC that is already in the atmosphere continues to adversely affect the ozone layer, it is good to know that the problem is not being increased. This can be accredited to the ozone depletion regime and more specifically the regimes that were signed at this time such as the Montreal Protocol. These regimes effected the reduction of CFCs and the results are seen clearly.
The process of ozone depletion is directly related to the emission of cfcs. Once the gases are emitted by various sources on the earth’s surface to the atmosphere, they are then transported and mixed at the troposphere by the wind. Since these gases are very stable, they are not dissolved by rain or any other liquid that exists in the atmosphere. As a result of this stability, they last a very long time in the atmosphere. The process through which the CFCs reach the atmosphere takes years to reach the stratosphere which is on average about 10 kilometers from the earth”s surface. At the stratosphere is where the ozone depletion takes place. When the CFCs reach the stratosphere, they reach with the strong UV rays from the sun. One of the elements that make up the CFCs is chlorine and other ozone depleting substances release bromine. These two elements are the ones that destroy the ozone molecules. Research shows that one chlorine or bromine molecule can destroy up to 10,000 molecules of the ozone layer. Eventually the atoms are then ejected from the stratosphere. The life of the molecules is about 20 to 100 years and they take this period to leave the stratosphere (Haag 1). This period gives the biological cycles enough time to absorb some of these molecules into the earth and ocean surfaces thereby not harming the ozone.
Production Paragraph
With the changes proposed at the regimes, more countries will likely get involved in protecting the ozone. In the recent past, some developed countries have already stopped emissions completely. Developing countries are likely to reduce the emissions since depletion of the ozone affects them the most. Although there is still a long way to go with the CFC molecules that are already in the atmosphere, the first step has been taken. With the natural cycles that ensure the replenishment of the Ozone layer, and moderate and manageable emissions of the cfcs, the ozone will eventually go back to its original state.
Conclusion
There is little consolation in the fact that the ozone is continually restored by a series of natural cycles. However, one of the best solutions is having the countries get involved in the fight to protect the ozone. More countries would be involved if the countries were to reduce the emissions of CFCs. A sustainable emission level was agreed upon on the condition that even if there needed to be some level of emission, it should not be so much that the future generations could not be able to grow industrially as a result of the effects of today’s emission (“The 2010 Antarctic Ozone Hole 88). It was reasoned that if the amount of emission was regulated the amount of chlorine in the atmosphere could be utilized. Satyanarayana notes that, “the amount of chlorine that would be emitted without causing ozone holes ranges from 1.5ppbv to 2ppbv” (Satyanarayana 68). Of this amount the chlorine that is emitted by the natural marine cycles is 0.6ppbh on average.
At present the amount of concentration that is in the atmosphere is about 3.4ppbv. This is an increase from the 2.0ppbv that was in the atmosphere in 2000 and that was an increase from the 1.5ppbv that was in the atmosphere in 1975. The emission scenario that was in the 1970s could be used to determine the amount of emissions that would be sustainable in today”s world (Satyanarayana 68). Managing the emissions has the same effect as complete cessation. The only difference is that managing the emissions does not translate to too much interference from other factors such as politics and industrialization.
Works Cited
Getu, M. “Accommodating The Interests Of Developing Countries In The Climate Change Regime: Lessons From The Ozone Layer Regime”. Miz Law Rev 6.1 (2012): 1-44. Web.
Haag, Amanda Leigh. “Antarctic Ice Threatened By Ozone-Hole Recovery”. Nature (2008): n.p. Web.
Hossam, F., R. M. Alkasassbeh, and A. Rodan. Artificial Neural Networks for Surface Ozone Predictions: Models and Analysis”. Pol. J. Environ. 23.2 (2013): 341-348. Web.”. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9.6 (2009): 342-348. Web.
Li, F., R. S. Stolarski, and P. A. Newman. “Stratospheric Ozone In The Post-CFC Era”. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9.6 (2009): 1-14. Web.
LU, Q.-B. “COSMIC-RAY-DRIVEN REACTION AND GREENHOUSE EFFECT OF HALOGENATED MOLECULES: CULPRITS FOR ATMOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE”. Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 27.17 (2013): 1350073. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Ollier, Cliff. “Global Warming And Climate Change: Science And Politics”. Quaestiones Geographicae 32.1 (2013): 62-66. Web.
Satyanarayana, Dr. D.V. “IMPACT OF CFCs ON OZONE LAYER AND GLOBAL WARMING”. IOSRJEN 2.1 (2012): 59-69. Web.
Schiermeier, Quirin. Nature. Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2009. Print.
