IHT - New Concerns Arise On Stratospheric Ozone Depletion & Air Conditioning Demand

MUMBAI: Until recently, it looked like the depleted ozone layer protecting the Earth from harmful solar rays was on its way to being healed. But thanks in part to an explosion of demand for air conditioners in hot places like India and southern China — mostly relying on refrigerants already banned in Europe and in the process of being phased out in the United States — the ozone layer is proving very hard to repair.

Four months ago, scientists discovered that the "hole" created by the world's use of ozone depleting gases — in aerosol spray cans, aging refrigerators, and old air conditioners — had expanded again, stretching once more to the record size of 2001. An unusually cold Antarctic winter, rather than the rise in the use of refrigerants, may have caused the sudden expansion, which covered an area larger than North America. But it has refocused attention on the ozone layer, which protects people and other animals, as well as vegetation, from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

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A recent technical study by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program found that the so-called ozone "hole" over Antarctica — actually an area of unusually low ozone concentrations — was dissipating more slowly than expected. Scientists mostly blame chlorofluorocarbons, a chemical used in an early form of refrigerant that they now realize was released into the atmosphere in larger quantities than forecast. As a result, the international agencies now say that injury to the Earth's ozone layer could take a quarter of a century longer to heal than previously expected.

The fastest-growing offending gas that scientists say can be better managed is HCFC-22. Nearly 200 diplomats will gather in September in Montreal to determine how to speed up the timetable for the elimination of certain gases that threaten the ozone layer, in particular how to manage HCFC-22. A deadline for proposals is March 15. At a meeting in Washington last week, Bush administration officials said for the first time that they were considering four possible proposals for a faster phaseout.

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Way to hustle, guys. Way to hustle.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/22/business/cool.php

it is, in fact, the greatest crisis in the history of humankind -- the magnitude and consequences of which are generally ignored by the corporate media . . . among the things we need to be concerned about:

"Overpopulation, destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, extinction of species, loss of genetic diversity, acid rain, nuclear contamination, tropical deforestation, the elimination of climax forests, wetland destruction, soil erosion, desertification, floods, famine, the despoliation of lakes, streams, and rivers, the drawing down and contamination of ground water, the pollution of coastal waters and estuaries, the destruction of coral reefs, oil spills, overfishing, expanding landfills, toxic wastes, the poisonous effects of insecticides and herbicides, exposure to hazards on the job, urban congestion, and the depletion of nonrenewable resources."

The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment
by James Bellamy Foster

http://monthlyreview.org/vulnplnt.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Vulnerable-Planet-Economic-Environment-Cornerstone/dp/158367019X/sr=1-1/qid=1171877636/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6405060-2683341?ie=UTF8&s=books

Too many of us, doing too much. 75 million more people every year. Another North America every six years. And every blessed one of them wants to drive an Escalade, eat steak and get married so they can have more kids...