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The Environment / Ozone layer- it's coming back
« on: 08/04/2006 03:36:06 »
I understand from reading The Weather Makers that the ozone layer that had disappeared over the south pole is starting to come back, and scientists think the CFCs we put up in the atmosphere are dropping in quantity. This apparently dates from the Montreal Protocol of the mid-1980s.
What I would like to know is- if it was so easy to ban chlorofluorocarbons in order to prevent expected millions of cases of melanoma and widespread crop failures, why is it is so hard now to get an international agreement to reduce fossil fuel use in order to prevent the expected flooding of Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands, etc?
From a scientific standpoint there is little difference between the two atmospheric crises. In both cases, a scientific consensus took hold, although there was no way to "prove" that the problem would grow to the point of endangering human survival without using a time machine.
chris wiegard
What I would like to know is- if it was so easy to ban chlorofluorocarbons in order to prevent expected millions of cases of melanoma and widespread crop failures, why is it is so hard now to get an international agreement to reduce fossil fuel use in order to prevent the expected flooding of Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands, etc?
From a scientific standpoint there is little difference between the two atmospheric crises. In both cases, a scientific consensus took hold, although there was no way to "prove" that the problem would grow to the point of endangering human survival without using a time machine.
chris wiegard