The journal Science reported that the ozone layer has healed.
‘Hope is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/And sings the tune without the words/and never stops at all’’ Emily Dickenson.
As I first listened to Al Gore presenting the science and reality of climate change, I felt myself drowning in a sense of doom. In despair I asked, how do we reach out to humanity as a whole and make them aware of the damage that we have all collectively done How do we get them to now change to reverse the damage Is this Herculean task possible Since then, I have been looking for rays of hope, hints and signs that say it is possible that we can heal the planet.
On June 30, the world got some good news. The journal Science reported that the ozone layer has healed and I had just sighted the ray of hope! 1985 was the year when the ozone hole was seen as a symbol of the harm that we human beings can cause to the environment. So the news of its healing comes as a big relief. “It’s a big surprise,” says Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “I didn’t think it would be this early.”
Using a combination of measurements from satellites, ground-based instruments, and weather balloons, Susan and her team found that, since 2000, the hole has shrunk by four million square kilometers—an area thrice the size of India.
The ozone layer surrounds the entire Earth. UV-B radiation from the sun is partially absorbed in this layer. As a result, the amount of UV-B reaching the earth’s surface is greatly reduced. Human exposure to UV-B increases the risk of skin cancer, cataracts, and a suppressed immune system, and can also damage terrestrial plant life, single cell organisms, and aquatic ecosystems.
What is the ozone hole Each spring, in the stratosphere over Antarctica, atmospheric ozone is rapidly destroyed by chemical processes. As winter arrives, a vortex of winds develops around the pole and isolates the polar stratosphere. When temperatures drop below -78°C, thin clouds form of ice, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid mixtures.
Chemical reactions on the surfaces of ice crystals in the clouds release active forms of chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). Ozone depletion begins, and the ozone “hole” appears. Man-made chlorines, primarily CFCs, halons, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer.
Two years after the ozone hole was discovered, the Montreal Protocol was signed in September 1987, where 196 states came together and agreed to phase out the industrial production of CFCs. Like the super-efficient ants in an ant colony, for the first time, we human beings were displaying eusociality, and achieved what most said was impossible, and it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation, with former UN chief Kofi Annan quoted as saying that -"perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol-".
Now, we have a new threat – the threat of climate change, a threat much larger than anything we have faced until now. While the phasing out of CFCs that healed the ozone layer was, in retrospect, relatively easy, as we had to just focus on one aspect, the problems of climate change require multiple interventions by all nations, and some of the changes cost a lot of money. Will we rise up to the challenge, initiate actions that nurse the planet back to health from the ills of climate change
The news of the ozone layer, sends a message that nature can heal with help from us. ‘’Aren’t we amazing humans, that we did something that created a situation that we decided collectively, as a world, ‘Let’s get rid of these molecules’ We got rid of them, and now we’re seeing the planet respond”, says Susan Solomon. Listening to her makes me confident that we can again come together to heal our planet. As a climate leader, my preservative cognition, my fear of gloom and lingering worry that humanity may not act is slowly melting away.
As Desmond Tutu said, ‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness’.
The writer is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant, an entrepreneur and an expert in applied sustainability. Visit: www.CBRamkumar.com.
