Environmental Knowledge – Ozone Depletion

Ozone is gases that occur both in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone depletion occurs in two layers of atmosphere, which is Troposphere and Stratosphere. Troposphere is harmful to breathe and will damages the vegetations, whereas Stratosphere is protects life on Earth from harmful UV rays.

Ozone depletion is causes by Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). The ODS include chlorofluorocarbon, CFC, hydrochlorofluorocarbon, HCFC, halons, carbon tetrachloride, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform, and Freon. Once ODS release into the atmosphere, ODS rise slowly and begin disintegrating the ozone layer on contact. One molecule of ODS will causes the destruction of thousands of ozone molecules. This process is slow and is time consuming, but over time the barrier to UV radiation is destroyed.

Ozone depletion will affect our human immune system. At high exposure levels, the UVB component of UV radiation can weaken the human immune system and causes skin cancer. UVB radiation will also affects the physiological and developmental processes of plants.

If we continued used the ODS substances, the future of ozone depletion will become worst. Millions of tons of chemicals with the potential to deplete stratospheric ozone are now at the lower atmosphere and working their way to the stratosphere. As a result, if all production, use and emissions of these chemicals were stopped today, the problem would still continue. But, the good new is that the concentrations of CFCs in the atmosphere has apparently peaked and are now static or in slow decline.

Potential management strategies for the ozone depletion problem, along with the eliminating production of CFCs have been taken such as collecting and reusing CFCs and using substitutes for CFCs. Given the lifetimes of the ozone depleting chemicals, people will have to continue to live with higher levels of exposure to UV radiation over the next few decades. Banning chemicals that can deplete stratospheric ozone is a step to the right direction and will ultimately result in the reduction of atmospheric ozone depletion.

To prevent ozone depletion, is that anything that we can do? Yes, we should become:
(i) Ozone friendly consumer.
- We should buy products that are free of ODS. We can check the labels of the products to prevent buying the products that contains ODS.

(ii) Ozone friendly homeowner.
- Weare encouraged to use environmentally safe products like paints and cleaning agents. We should follow manufactures’ recommendations for use and properly seal cleaners, paints, and other chemicals to prevent evaporation into air.

(iii) Ozone friendly citizen.
- We should read and learn more on effects of ozone depletion. Then, we can inform our family, neighbours and friends about the need to protect the ozone layer.