CFCs in Interesting Places

You Find CFCs in Some of the Most Interesting Places

Though it was realized by scientists in the early 1970s that
chlorofluorocarbons posed a massive potential threat to the ozone layer
that protects the Earth (and it’s inhabitants) from DNA-damaging solar
radiation, action was not taken on an international scale until for
nearly 20 years later.  CFCs were, when they were invented in the 1930s,
supposed to be a safe alternative to the refrigerants that were commonly
used at the time.

During the 70 or so years that CFCs were manufactured in large quantities,
they turned up in far more than air conditioners and refrigerators.  For
instance, they were the main propellant in aerosol cans for decades.
They are a very common ingredient in fire extinguishers, though most older
fire extinguishers have been emptied and refilled by the late ‘aughts.
Even after the international ban on these chemicals that was brought about
by the Montreal Protocols, CFCs and other “chloroalkanes” are still used
in airplane fire suppression systems.

Technorati Tags: cfc, chloroalkanes, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, radiation

Twitter Updates for 2008-10-30

• My Palm works. #
• Testing to be sure I can update from my Palm. And, Hi Mom! #
• Thinking about a new format for my online newsletter. #

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Technorati Tags: daily digest, Tweets, twitter

Atmospheric Ozone

Atmospheric Ozone: A Qualified Success Story of International Cooperation

Not all the news about the atmosphere is bad.  There are the occasional
success stories that keep people going.  The reduction of the very
powerful ozone depleting chemical family known collectively as CFCs since
being banned worldwide in the 1990s is one such story.

Originally drafted in 1987 in Helsinki, Finland, the international treaty
for the control of substances that harm the ozone layer calls for a long
phase-out of these chemicals by signatory nations to minimize the economic
impact this act would have on less prosperous nations.  Nearly every
nation on Earth has signed on, including all of the most heavy users of
these chemicals.

Chlorine and bromine are the worst offenders, and for the first time since
they’ve been traced in the atmosphere, their levels are beginning to drop.
The treaty calls for all CFCs to be phased out by 2030, with the worst
offenders to be gone by 2010.  The ozone hole that is observed over the
South Pole each year will take longer to recover, with the largest hole
ever recorded as recently as 2006.

Technorati Tags: bromine, cfc, chlorine, ozone, ozone hole

Why Bad Climate Gets Worse

Why the Bad Keeps Getting Worse With Climate Change

As if the increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere were not enough to worry anyone silly, climate models
predict that even if another drop of fossil fuels were never burned
again, things would continue getting worse for quite awhile before they
got better.

This is due to the feedback effect that has already been observed in
several places in the world.  One prime example are the “drunken forests”
of Siberia.  Though the permafrost that these spruce trees grow upon is
always in a state of flux, the rate of melting has increased dramatically
in recent years, causing a great deal of damage in areas where people have
built upon the permafrost.

More importantly, there’s a great deal of methane trapped in that
permafrost, as it melts, this gas that’s known to be 45 times more
powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is released into the
atmosphere, making it melt even faster.

Technorati Tags: climate, climate change, climate models, drunken forest, fossil fuels, greenhouse gas, methane