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EPA909-K-93-O01
April 1093
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In the Newsroom of The Dally Requirement...
Some scientists found a huge
HOLE in the STRATOSPHERE
over the SOUTH POLE!
They're saying that the
OZONE LAYER is being
EATEN UP by some
CHEMICALS we
make on EARTH.
I'm telling you, Farley, this is BIG NEWS! This could ]
be a DISASTER of HUMONGOUS PROPORTIONS! I /
want you to get to the bottom of this story I
PRONTO! /^TT^O
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Farley meets with a scientist...
It wraps all the way around the Earth, about
1O to 3O miles straight up. From the beginning
of time, the ozone has blocked the sun's
most dangerous ultraviolet, or UV, rays from
reaching us. And it continues to keep UV
radiation from harming life on the planet.
Let me see if I've got this... you're telling me
the ozone is a thin layer of atmosphere that
protects us from the sun.
That's right. Each ozone molecule is made up
of three small oxygen atoms that act like a
safety net to catch most of the UV rays and .___=__^j
keep them from getting down to the s/)7f)/(it-' \\
Earth's surface.
The ozone layer s big enemy is the
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS...
Chloro-
flower-
whatzits?
We call them CFCs. CFCs are chemicals we humans invented and we use
them in many products that make up modern life. CFCs are used in
manufacturing, to Clean the insides of computers and to make plastic
foam containers. We use CFCs inside refrigerators and to produce the
cold air that blows out of every kind of air conditioner. ./
No, no, no. There's nothing dangerous about things
that use CFCs in order to run, or things that we
manufacture using CFCs. CFCs only become harmful
when they escape into the air. They escape from leaks
in air conditioners or refrigerators, or when someone
throws away a used appliance without draining the
leftover CFCs into a tank to be reused. CFCs can also
get into the air during manufacturing.
Once CFCs escape, they can float around
in the atmosphere for years and years
before they break down. Finally, they drift
into the upper atmosphere, and that's
where the trouble starts...
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Right now,
there's a hole over almost a// of
Antarctica, and the ozone layer is
thinning over areas where people live,
But why should my readers
about CFCs?
You can t even see them, and the
like Australia and North America.
hole over the South Pole is sooofar
The South Pole has the worst problem because it is so j
cold and isolated there. 7 —'
Look dosdjy into my
stratospheric vbo-peeker. ft
will show you what's going on
up there.
That's
chlorine
eating ozone
molecules!
The South Pole has very long, super cold nights. Duringthe
night, tiny ice crystals trap CFC molecules and break
them into smaller bite. One of the these smaller pieces
of CFC is ozone's worst enemy - chlorine.
it so important that
layer filt
UVrays?
the ozone layer filter out the
to meet someone with
firsthand experience on
that subject..
When the sun rises after the freezing
night, sunlight wakes up the chlorine,
triggering an attack on the ozone
molecules. Chlorine bites into one of
ozone's oxygen atoms, and then an-
other, and another. We like a shark '
biting its way through a net, until
finally the net is so frayed that rt
can't catch any fish. When the chlorine
is finished, the ozone layer is so thin, rt
can't catch enough UV
There are two kinds of ozone:
• The kind we want to save—STRATOSPHERIC OZONE—is the protective shield around the Earth.
• Ozone gathers in one other place—close to the planet's surface. There, it is bad for us because
we breathe it. GROUND-LEVEL OZONE, the main ingredient in smog, is created when pollution from
cars and industry mixes with sunlight. Ozone near the ground causes big health problems, like
shortness of breath, lung diseases, eye Irritation, and asthma.
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fat-letJ-t is see
IS George I if I con
A* the ozone gets thinner, more and more harmful UV rays reach the Earth's
surface...and that starts an awful chain reaction among everything that lives
and breathes in the oceans or on land.
In the ocean, the smallest creatures like plankton
and tiny shrimps, called krill, are among the first
victims of too much UV radiation.
If all of these tiny one-celled critters are fried up by the UV rays.
then each set of bigger creatures loses its foodsupply and they all
train to starve. ~ "~
&)
Plankton and krill are the basis of the ocean's food chain: these
critters are nibbled like popcorn by bigger creatures, who are
eaten by even bigger creatures. Mien too much of the sun gets
through the ozone layer, the plankton die.
Like plankton in the ocean, plants form the base of the Earth's food chain. When some
kinds of plants are exposed to too much UV radiation, they grow slower and produce
less food. As the ozone layer thins, the food supply shrinks all over the Earth.
Animals can't get enough food from the plants to survive, and eventually people don't
get enough food either. x-
Farley goes to a doctor...
The headaches started when this little round
guy, George Global, was telling me about the
effects that destruction of the ozone layer
can have on life as we know it.
Did he tell you what too much UV
radiation can do to people and
animals? Too much UV radiation
can cause severe sunburns.
Global warming
• CFCs also play a small role in
GLOBAL WARMING. Global
warming occurs when too many
of the wrong kinds of gases are
created in the lower atmosphere.
These gases, like carbon dioxide
and methane, get trapped in the
troposphere, less than 10 miles
above the Earth's surface. They
. actlikea heavy blanketthattraps
heat close to the Earth's surf ace
and gradually raises the tem-
perature a II over the world. Some
possible side effects of global
warming include sea levels rising
because of ice caps and glaciers
melting, and farmlands turning
into desert-like areas due to
changing weather patterns.
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Even with a sun screen, the longer you stay out in the sun, the more you're exposed to UV rays. Extra UV rays can cause
early aging, wrinkling of the skin, and even worse—skin cancer. It's been proven to cause eye damage, like cloudy vision,
after years of exposure. If we could phase out the f^3) useofCFCs.it would be like curing skin cancer in millions
and millions of people, erasing millions of - 5/^TE cataracts from people's eyes, or growing billions of
dollars worth of food to feed people all over ^S-JfcDCSi-^£fcL ^ world.
If using CFCs is causing these awful
problems, do we really need them?
Someone out there must know how
to get rid of them.
Farley 0oes on a search^and finds an Inventor working on a
refrigeration invention that won't use CFCs. - ^T> ^
Many companies are working
hard to develop new appliances that can take the place of ones
that run on CFCs.
My company really has
something to crow
about. We're trying to
re-invent air condition-
ers and refrigerators
that run on a new liquid
that doesn't contain
any CFCs—like this
model! .
While waiting for new inventions,
find ways to replace chemicals with Ingredients that do
the same work, but don't destroy the ozone. •*•
Some solutions are really simple. At our plant, we used to use liquid cleansers
made with CFCs to wash off microprocessors—the computers "brains"—to get
them squeaky clean before they went into the computer. We found out we can use
lemon oil and water to do the same thing!
veryday appliances in the car or home like refrigerators or air
conditioners should be checked for leaks. If they need to be fixed, the
:hanic should use
• equipment
to contain and recvcle the CFCs.
I make sure my garage has the right equipment to repair the air conditioner in your car.This gizmo captures cooling liquids that
contain CFCs, so they don't escape into the air, and then i can use 'em again.You know—recycle 'em!
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Farley returns to the newsroom...
Great OZONE story. Farley. Sounds like the HOLE in the
OZONE is something our readers REALLY need to know about!
7/?e frftfe round
guy
fell your r
The control and elimination of CFCs is the most important
thing we can do to stop the thinning of the ozone layer.
New ozone is still being created by nature. So if we can slow down the damage by phasing i
CFCs in products and manufacturing, the ozone layer could gradually come back.
By working together, people, governments, and businesses can stop making and using CFCs. In
fact, many nations of the world have already agreed to stop making any new CFCs after 1995.
Some countries—like the United States —have passed laws designed to keep the CFCs we're
still using from getting into the atmosphere. And, eventually, CFCs will not be used at all.
If we're smart, we can keep all life on the planet
safe from too much UV radiation
by protecting the ozone layer.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT OZONE DEPLETION?
For more information about ozone depletion and the rules and regulations designed to protect the earth's ozone layer, call
U.5, EPA'e Ozone Hotline at (&OO) 296-1896 between 1O am and 4 pm Eastern time.
Also check out Our Ozone SMeM, one of the monograph series " Reports to the Nation on Our Changing Planet" by the
Natlonat Ocea nographic and Atmospheric Adm f nistration a nd the Office for! nterd Esciplina ry Earth Studies. To order a copy.
contact OIE6 at P.O. Box 3000, &ould«r, CO &0307-3000; phone (303) 497-1662.
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