Nitrous oxide, more commonly known at your dentist’s office as laughing gas, is now the most prevalent man-made substance damaging the ozone layer. And it’s a greenhouse gas. Sadly, the joke’s apparently on us.
This ancient, mutually beneficial arrangement insures each new generation of the flowering plant. It has probably been going since shortly after the first flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared on earth some 250 million years ago. Industrial air pollution is now hampering this ancient relationship.
Nature is not entirely defenseless against rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A class of elements called halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, etc., often occurring in pairs) are emitted into the atmosphere via ocean spray, where they destroy ozone (O3), a significant greenhouse gas and aerosol that promotes warming.
Power plants play a huge role in emitting pollutants that make up the ozone. This pollution browns and blackens our horizons. We call it smog. Smog has been linked to premature deaths, thousands of emergency room visits, and tens of thousands of asthma attacks each year. Pollution in the ozone is particularly dangerous to small children and the elderly, who are often warned to stay indoors on days with poor air quality due to pollutants.
Living in Australia brings with it a wonderful set of environmental circumstances to live with. Not only do we have two weather patterns – El Nino/La Nina and the Indian Ocean Dipole – that are combining to lengthen our drought, but we’re one of the countries that suffer from the ever fluctuating ozone hole in the Southern Hemisphere.
This year, the ozone hole extended to approximately 27 million square kilometers. This compared to 2007’s 25 million square kilometers and 2006’s 29 million square kilometers.
Want a size comparison? That’s about the size of the North American continent!
Fireworks displays create surges of pollutant ozone in lower levels of the atmosphere, where it is a respiratory irritant, greenhouse gas, and plant toxin. Some scientists believe fireworks are an “insignificant source of pollution”, because they occur infrequently; however, no source of greenhouse gases is insignificant considering our current climate crisis, not to mention the heavy metals and potassium perchlorate in these grand patriotic displays.
It seems somewhat ridiculous to be talking about the “additional” effects that a nuclear war would have on the environment. A slew of jokes run through my mind, touting the ridiculous nature of this story.
But a team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, led by Michael Mills, has created a computer model that shows the effects that 100 Hiroshima-sized nuclear bombs would impose upon the environment.
This cartoon was inspired by Bush’s recent intervention to weaken limits of smog-forming ozone in our air.
John Walke, the Clean Air director for the National Resources Defense Council, called the intervention an “unprecedented and unlawful act of political interference”.
With all due respect Mr. Walke, after the past 7 years unprecedented and unlawful moves seem to be the norm.
Will we survive George W. Bush’s presidency? Not if you think clean air is necessary for your life and the life of the planet. Last week, Bush overruled the EPA’s efforts to set lower smog-forming ozone limits. Bush actually ordered the agency to increase the limit!
According to the Grist, “the EPA set both the ‘public health’ standard (how much ozone is permitted in one place at one time) and the ‘public welfare’ standard (consideration of the long-term effect of ozone) at the same level.” Before Bush’s command, the EPA had planned to make the “public welfare” standard more stringent, though not as low as their scientists were recommending. Bush’s orders sent the agency scrambling to avoid conflict with past EPA statements on the harmful effects of ozone.
George W. Bush has definitely been a polarizing personality in his two terms as leader of the United States of America. From the beginning and his War on Iraq he has seemingly attempted to paint himself as nothing more than a moronic menace. Of late, Bush has turned his sights on becoming the world’s greatest environmental foe.
Some may call my words harsh. Others will praise them. They are however, nothing more than my personal opinion about him.
However his actions against the environment are both unquestionable and unconscionable.
A recent Reuters article stated that ‘In cases this week dealing with polar bears, ozone smog and environmental research, groups that monitor these decisions faulted the Bush administration for slighting science in favor of politics.’ I feel that, in looking at the past few months, this statement fails to explain just how Bush has thrown his weight around.
Testing eight washed and eight unwashed hair samples, the University of Missouri’s Lakshmi Pandrangi and Glenn Morrison found that, on average, unwashed hair absorbs around seven times as much ozone as freshly washed hair. “Ozone is probably reacting with components of hair oil,” says Morrison.
Read Green Option: Shampoo Skipping
Source: New Scientist
Photo: shaaditimes.com
Subscribe to our RSS feed or newsletter
Some Rights Reserved • Green Options Media • San Francisco, California • Legal
