Friday, May 15, 2026

One Historical Example of How An Existential Threat Was Neutralized Thanks To Human Cooperation

 


    Diagram illustrating formation and loss of ozone (O3) molecules.



One of the events that got me interested in solar research occurred when a massive solar flare shredded the ozone layer in the early 1970s. The then Skylab orbital observatory reported up to 80 percent of the ozone layer "eroded" by one single super flare (class 4B optical, and X 9 x-ray). The event also aroused my curiosity regarding the ozone layer and its importance for Earth - or rather the organisms that inhabit the Earth.

By now most people know that ozone O3 - is a form of oxygen - and found from 6- 32 miles  above Earth's surface or at the lower edge of the stratosphere. It basically is critical in protecting life forms from the effects of the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Take that layer away and you will behold sunburns the likes of which would rival 20 hours straight in a tanning bed, not to mention an explosion of skin cancers.  Minus the ozone layer, in other words, life as we know it would not exist.

So, it is important what happens to that layer.

What disturbed many space and atmospheric scientists is that the ozone layer over the Antarctic appeared to be especially susceptible to erosion, but not from solar flares. We became aware of this via tracking of ozone concentrations by NASA satellites since the 1970s. This paved the way for a study that tapped into that database thereby discovering the adverse role of chlorfluorocarbons or CFCs.

This ground breaking research by Susan Solomon and her team discovered that these chemicals - often released via hair sprays, spray deodorants etc. - reduced stratospheric ozone concentrations all over the world. At that time (1986) industries also used CFCs in refrigeration and dry cleaning. The reduction was observed to be especially bad over Antarctica hence the term "ozone hole".

One by product of the work was to explicate the processes underlying ozone hole formation. It was known, for example, that CFCs destroyed Antarctic ozone every spring. But only later was it revealed that the process begins even before winter.  It commences, in fact, at the summer solstice or shortly thereafter when the Sun rises causing light to strike the ambient CFCs, breaking its chemical dons and freeing chlorine (e.g. CCl3F → CCl2F. + Cl.    )

The freed chlorine atoms (at the end of the right side of the above equation) then strip the oxygen  (O2) from the ozone (O3) to form other chemicals destroying the ozone itself. This leads to the emergence of an "ozone hole" which generally reaches peak area in October.

Solomon et al more recent research can be accessed at this link:

http://bit.ly/science-ozone

It shows the extent to which changes in atmospheric chemistry and human activity are inextricably linked. Specifically, the authors show how public policy efforts i.e. (to ban CFCs) over decades have paid off by shrinking the Antarctic ozone by more than 4 million square miles (a 16 percent decrease) since 2000.  

But let's back track a bit to set the context. In 1985 the world learned about a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica.  The culprit was later discovered to be an industrial chemical: chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs.  The things became literally ubiquitous because millions - for decades - had been using the likes of spray paints, insecticides (e.g. Raid),  hair sprays and deodorant- antiperspirant sprays. I myself learned I'd been a culprit having used Gillette spray deodorant for years.

But to cut to the chase, atmospheric scientists (like James McDonald in the early 70s) learned these industrial agents were shredding the ozone layer and opening it up to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation.  Unless action was taken the hole would keep growing- leaving millions to go blind or get skin cancers owing to the absence of UV protection. The CFCs had become an existential threat.

Atmospheric scientists (like Solomon), thankfully made the threat  tangible using colored satellite imagery and clear discussion of the health consequences if no action was taken.  In response, the world got together to get ahead of the CFC threat.  NGOs orchestrated boycotts of the hugely popular commercial brands (like Gillette antiperspirant sprays) while school children worldwide ran educational programs and concerned citizens wrote protest letters - even as the UN put its weight behind public awareness campaigns.

The all-out efforts worked so that by 1987, just two years after the ozone hole was made public, every nation had signed the Montreal Protocol.  The successful cooperation resulting in the signing and subsequent ban on CFCs demonstrated it was possible to quickly reach decisive international consensus even amidst international tensions. (The Cold War was still going on under Reagan).  The sequence of images at the top of this post shows the initial growing then stabilizing hole. 

 One key factor in the success, possibly the biggest one, was that the ozone hole endangered virtually everyone on the planet.   In many respects, unchecked climate change is also an existential threat to everyone on this planet, but the urgency to form a unified front to tackle it dissipated.   Is it exaggeration to say climate change rises to the same threat level as the growing ozone hole once did? I don't think so.

Three years ago the northern hemisphere had just experienced the hottest summer in recorded history, including month by month the warmest June, July, August, and (by a country mile) September ever. Staggering heat records were set in place after place globally. Fires from Canada to Hawaii to Europe broke all records. The southern hemisphere had a “winter” from — yes! — hell. Europe was burning up, Greece experienced unprecedented fires and floods as well. Libya had a significant part of a major city washed away. China, too, experienced unprecedented flooding around its capital, where 1.2 million people had to be evacuated, and in Hong Kong, too. 

Meanwhile the sea ice in the Antarctic fell to the lowest levels (yes again!) in recorded history, as did sea ice in the Arctic, helping to ensure a future in which rising sea levels could flood coastal cities. And Greenland has been lending a hand to that same future, starting 2023 with temperatures unmatched in at least 1,000 years and still setting new temperature records in July. Worse yet, that’s just to begin down a list that increasingly seems unending.

In certain parts of the United States, the summer of 2023 was literally a hell on Earth and, as a New York Times piece headlined it recently, also “A Summer Preview of the Future; Floods, Fires, and Stifling Heat. It felt like the opening minutes of a disaster movie.” 

 So what's different from the 1985 tackling of the ozone hole?  First, the climate threat has not been taken seriously especially by the young.   Thanks to the short sighted voting choices of millions (including Gen Z whose futures will be cratered), the orange felon has returned to power and vowed to burn the rest of the planet to a crisp.  In barely 18 months, Trump has so severely damaged the world’s ability to fight climate change, it may never recover.

 This ignorant tyrant has upended U.S. environmental policy with cynical, short-sighted moves that will have lasting implications for this country, and the planet. With a flurry of bogus executive orders-  that have exceeded the limits of presidential power- Trump has gutted federal climate efforts, rolled back regulations aimed at limiting pollution and given a major boost to the fossil fuel industry. 

Trump has also frozen funds appropriated by Congress for clean energy projects, taking particular aim at wind energy, the country’s largest source of renewable power. He has stopped approvals for wind farms on public land and in federal waters and has threatened to block projects on private land.

He's also abandoned efforts to reduce global warming, even as the world has reached record levels of heat that scientists say is driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels. After all, on Inauguration Day, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement, making it the only nation to walk away.

Process that! The only nation to walk away.  Bottom line: given the climate havoc he's wrought, the world and particularly the younger generations inhabiting it, will be left to live fraught and destitute lives as the worst of climate change transpires between now and 2100. The critical time threshold to act on global warming has now likely passed and there's little to do except try to help the coming generations- and other peoples of planet Earth - to prepare as best they can.

See Also:

UN Climate Framework Withdrawal By Trumpers Puts The Planet On Path To Runaway Greenhouse Effect

 And:


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