Tag Archives: Ozone

We’ve got another ozone problem, and it’s not what you think

by juliannvardon Posted on August 15, 2019

Most of us know ozone as that benevolent stratospheric layer that absorbs the sun’s harmful UV light and keeps us safe. In the 1980s, scientists found a “hole” in the ozone layer — really just a large section that was getting precariously thin — caused by the use of potent chemicals called CFCs. The world took action and rapidly banned CFCs, effectively solving the problem.

But the beneficial ozone up in the stratosphere has an evil cousin, and it’s right here on the ground. A new study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency found that ground-level ozone — the main ingredient in smog — is on the rise, an issue that could have pretty severe public health consequences. Even a relatively small spike in ozone pollution where you live (just three parts per billion) has a similar effect on your lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 29 years, according to the authors of the study.

This small increase in ozone ramps up your risk of emphysema, a form of chronic lung disease that can lead to hospitalization and death. Researchers from universities around the country kept tabs on more than 7,000 adults in six U.S. cities over a period of 18 years for the study, which was published in the journal JAMA.

Unlike the ozone layer, which is a naturally occurring part of the stratosphere, ground-level ozone is formed when pollutants from things like cars, chemical plants, and refineries react with sunlight. And beyond the obvious pollution sources, guess what’s making ground-level ozone even worse?

“What we will be seeing with climate change is an increase in the sunlight part of the equation,” said Joel Kaufman, one of the authors of the study. “Ozone increases with more sunshine, heat waves, and so forth.”

That’s not to say we can’t do something about smog. In fact, we already have. Since the Clean Air Act was implemented in 1970, pollution at the ground level has been reduced. Unfortunately, the Trump administration is in the process of rolling back environmental policies aimed at improving air quality. So it doesn’t look like we’ll be solving the ground-level ozone problem, or the climate crisis, anytime soon.

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We’ve got another ozone problem, and it’s not what you think

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Chinese companies apparently broke an international ozone agreement. What happens next?

by HesterDip55 Posted on July 11, 2018

The Montreal Protocol is hailed as a major climate victory. The 1987 international agreement completely phased out ozone-damaging chemicals like CFC-11 — formerly used as a refrigerant — and likely saved the ozone layer from complete collapse.

Imagine the surprise, then, when National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers in May detected a 25 percent increase in atmospheric CFC-11 since 2012.

“From the moment these emissions were first detected, the parties to the Montreal Protocol have been in near constant communication with an intense focus on identifying the complete scope of any illegal production,” says head of U.N. Environment Erik Solheim in an email.

The nonprofit Environment Investigation Agency now thinks it caught the culprit: Chinese foam insulation manufacturers. An EIA investigation released Monday found evidence of 18 companies across 10 Chinese provinces using CFC-11. By the researchers’ estimates, this would likely account for most of the emissions spike NOAA detected.

Many Chinese companies use CFC-11 in manufacturing foam insulation, according to a New York Times piece published ahead of the investigation. A refrigerator factory owner admitted to the practice, saying it was a cheaper choice and that until recently, some manufacturers weren’t aware of the environmental impacts.

So then, what happens next to enforce the ozone-saving treaty?

First off, a meeting of the parties who signed on to the agreement is underway. Discussing how to act on the apparent treaty violation is high on the agenda, according to Keith Weller, head of U.N. Environment News and Media.

If necessary, trade restrictions could be enacted, explains Durwood Zaelke, founder of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development who’s been involved in the Montreal Protocol since its inception. But, he says the initial approach is usually kinder.

“The question becomes, what do you need if you’re the violator to bring yourself back into compliance?” Zaelke says. “We are here to offer you whatever that is.” That could mean offering  support on how to shift to a safer alternative to CFC-11, for instance.

Zaelke is pretty optimistic that this approach will be successful, since it’s what the treaty’s parties have used to address past violations.

But direct enforcement will have to come from within China — ideally from the highest levels of government, says University of California Los Angeles law professor Alex Wang. He says recent pollution crackdowns in the country suggest potential for action on CFC-11.

“China has been building its enforcement apparatus in air pollution,” he explains. “You could imagine it being shifted to this issue.”

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Chinese companies apparently broke an international ozone agreement. What happens next?

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There’s been a mysterious rise in ozone-destroying emissions

by KaraFelanvng Posted on May 16, 2018

Thought the ozone layer was safe? Think again.

CFC-11 is an ozone-depleting chemical whose phase out agreed upon in the ’80s and has been under an international ban since 2010. That’s why National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration researchers were surprised to discover it’s increased in the atmosphere by 25 percent since 2012. A research letter published Wednesday in the journal Nature takes a look at the possible causes for the spike.

“I’ve been making these measurements for more than 30 years, and this is the most surprising thing I’ve seen,” the paper’s lead author, Stephen Montzka, told The Washington Post’s Chris Mooney.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol phased out ozone-damaging chemicals like CFC-11 worldwide. And thanks to the agreement, we’ve avoided a total ozone layer collapse by mid-century. 

Almost no CFC-11 has been been produced since 2006 — or so we thought. The study’s results suggest that someone’s breaking the rules of the agreement. Researchers suspect the spike in the ozone damaging chemical is coming from somewhere in eastern Asia. 

The ultimate impact on the ozone depends on how quickly the culprit is found and stopped. The Guardian reports that if these emissions are left unchecked, it could tack an extra decade onto restoration of the all-important ozone layer, which protects the earth from the sun’s damaging UV radiation.

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There’s been a mysterious rise in ozone-destroying emissions

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This Paint Stripper Chemical Could Set Ozone Recovery Back Decades

by ShadBottrill Posted on July 3, 2017

In this day and age most people know that using aerosol propellents contributes to ozone depletion. Well, except if youre this guy. According to new research there is one chemical whose production has been on the rise in recent years and scientists aren’t sure why. This rapid rise could mean the restoration of our precious ozone layer could be delayed up to 30 years.

In 1987 the international Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was created in response to data that demonstrated Antarcticas rapid loss of ozone would translate to a devastating global impact. The treaty was successful in outlawing cloroflourocarbons (CFCs)those pesky chemicals used as propellants in hairspray and other productsand the Antarctic region has been on the mend ever since. Projections for this hole in the ozone to completely be restored were set between the years 2050 and 2070that is, until this new research emerged.

A chemical called dichloromethane was found to have increased by 8 percent every year between the years of 2004 and 2014, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications. This substance is used in paint strippers, industrial solvents, polyurethane foams, andyou guessed itas an aerosol propellent. The reason dichloromethane wasnt included in the Montreal protocols original ban was because it tends to break down very quickly in Earths atmosphere. Compared to CFCs taking up to centuries to disappear, this chemical was seen as a drop in the bucket.

The strange, recent uptick in this chemicals production is leaving scientists worried, however. The fact that it breaks down quickly doesnt do us much good if there is much more of the substance in the atmosphere than before. Researchers project the timeline for ozone restoration could be pushed back to the year 2090 if there arent measures taken to reduce the amount of dichloromethane productionand soon.

The Montreal protocol has proved very effective at reducing the emissions of substances that can harm the ozone layer, Johnathan Shanklin, one of the scientists who discovered the Antarctics ozone hole in 1985 told The Guardian. I am sure that the warning made in this paper will be heeded and that dichloromethane will be brought within the protocol in order to prevent further damage to the ozone layer.

Because the Montreal protocol is relatively young in the grand scheme of things, improvements and revisions will continue to be made as more data on the state of our atmosphere is collected. Researchers involved with the study are encouraging more thorough, long-term analysis of ozone-depleting gases for the purposes of expanding the protocol and protecting our future.

Photo credit: Thinkstock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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This Paint Stripper Chemical Could Set Ozone Recovery Back Decades

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California smog is getting worse again, but because of climate change, not cars

by LenaRoof4575566 Posted on August 12, 2016

smog-eat-smog world

California smog is getting worse again, but because of climate change, not cars

By on Aug 12, 2016 2:58 pmShare

Hospitals have been reporting increased visits from patients seeking treatment for respiratory ailments this summer in Southern California. The culprit? Smog.

Southern California has experienced its worst smog in seven years. Ozone levels have exceeded federal standards on 91 days in 2016, nearly 30 percent more than this time last year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Every day of August has exceeded the federal standard of 70 parts per billion.

Cities like Los Angeles have never been known for making it easier to breathe. Yet as bad as the air currently is, it’s still far better than than it was in the ’70s and ’80s, when LA had 200 smog-filled days a year.  

While emissions from vehicles are usually the culprit behind smog, the reason for this season’s poor air quality has more to do with the particularly hot and dry weather, and an influx in wildfire activity. Ozone regulations and federal fuel efficiency standards for trucks and cars, meanwhile, have helped cities cut pollution.

But in the future, as climate change increases both wildfires and temperatures in the region, it’ll take even greater effort to make Southern California’s air clean again.

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California smog is getting worse again, but because of climate change, not cars

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Ozone hole not so holey anymore

by LizaMcvayrurjxx Posted on July 1, 2016

Sometimes shrinkage is a good thing

Ozone hole not so holey anymore

By on Jul 1, 2016Share

Here’s something we don’t get to say very often here at Grist dot org: Good news, humans!

Remember the hole in the ozone layer? Well, three decades after countries started banning the chemicals destroying it, the ozone layer is on the mend, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

While a full recovery isn’t expected until mid-century, researchers found that the seasonal hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is shrinking. The hole, which was discovered in 1984, was caused by chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that at the time were found in household goods like hairspray and air conditioners.

The ozone layer, part of the Earth’s stratosphere between six and 30 miles above the planet’s surface, absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun, and protects us, its thankless inhabitants, from harmful radiation. In fact, life on Earth wouldn’t be possible without the ozone layer.

“Think of [the ozone layer] like a patient with a disease,” said Susan Solomon, MIT chemist and the study’s lead author. “First, it was getting worse. Then it stopped — it was stable but still in bad shape.”

Now, it looks like it’s actually getting better. Congratulations, Earthlings! You’ll survive another day after all.

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Ozone hole not so holey anymore

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China is exporting ozone pollution to the U.S. — which is only fair

by KatriceEvu Posted on August 11, 2015

The Desolation of Smog

China is exporting ozone pollution to the U.S. — which is only fair

By on 10 Aug 2015commentsShare

It’s no secret that the U.S. imports a lot from China, and according to a new study in Nature Geoscience, now we can add ozone pollution — our old pal smog — to the list. “The dominant westerly winds blew this air pollution straight across to the United States,” said lead researcher Willem Verstraeten of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, in a statement.

Up in the stratosphere (between roughly 10 and 50 kilometers above the earth’s surface), ozone is a good thing: It protects us from the sun’s UV radiation. But in the troposphere, or lower atmosphere, it’s a central component of unhealthy smog, and we’d generally prefer not to inhale it. Down here, it also acts as a greenhouse gas — another climatic no-no.

Ozone concentrations in a given spot tend to vary with changes in ozone precursor emissions (like nitrous oxides) and changes in baseline ozone levels that enter an area on the wind. As Verstraeten and colleagues report, despite air-quality legislation that has led to falling ozone precursor emissions in the United States, a growing (and drifting) cloud of ozone from China likely accounts for the fact that ozone levels in the troposphere didn’t actually fall in the U.S. between 2005 and 2010.

Of course, the ozone in question probably isn’t exclusively from China. As Agence France-Presse reports:

“China itself lies downwind from India and other parts of Asia,” notes Roth Doherty of the University of Edinburgh in a commentary, also in Nature Geoscience.

“It remains to be established how the free tropospheric ozone trend over China is in turn influenced by emissions upwind.”

Verstraeten concludes by suggesting that local or national efforts to improve air quality will have limited impact unless dealt with on an international scale.

“Our atmosphere is global rather than local,” he said by email.

But maybe the drifting smog is only fair. After all, we’re the ones buying so much of the stuff produced in China’s polluting factories. The traditional environmental principle is “polluter pays,” but many academics have recently turned to a “beneficiary pays” concept, in which the onus for cleaning up the atmosphere is distributed proportionately across all who benefit from the pollution-causing production. China exporting ozone to the U.S. might be a tangible implementation of the cost-sharing necessary for solving our global environmental problems. Don’t like the pollution? Stop buying so many counterfeit iPhones. Or, you know, so many genuine iPhones.

Source:
China ‘exporting’ ozone pollution to US: study

, AFP.

Rapid increases in tropospheric ozone production and export from China

, Nature Geoscience.

Atmospheric chemistry: Ozone pollution from near and far

, Nature Geoscience.

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China is exporting ozone pollution to the U.S. — which is only fair

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New Report Confirms Antarctica Is Melting Away as We Watch, Faster Every Year

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2014

It’s us. Stocktrek Images/Thinkstock A new report from NASA and UC–Irvine confirms—again—that Antarctica is melting away. The scientists used observations from four different techniques to measure the amount and change in rate of ice loss from a region in West Antarctica. This area was already known to be melting at an astonishing rate; a recent study using Cryosat 2 showed that in the period from 2010 to 2013, the region was losing ice to the tune of 134 billion metric tons of ice per year. Read the rest at Slate. View original post here: New Report Confirms Antarctica Is Melting Away as We Watch, Faster Every Year

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New Report Confirms Antarctica Is Melting Away as We Watch, Faster Every Year

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Lima Climate Change Talks Best Chance for a Generation, Say Upbeat Diplomats

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2014

Hopes rise for global warming deal after US-China carbon commitments inject much-needed momentum into Peru talks. Delegates attend the opening ceremony of the Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru. Martin Mejia/AP UN climate negotiations opening in Lima on Monday have the best chance in a generation of striking a deal on global warming, diplomats say. After a 20-year standoff, diplomats and longtime observers of the talks say there is rising optimism that negotiators will be able to secure a deal that will commit all countries to take action against climate change. The two weeks of talks in Peru are intended to deliver a draft text to be adopted in Paris next year that will commit countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions without compromising the economic development of poor countries. Diplomats and observers of the UN climate negotiations said recent actions by the US and China had injected much-needed momentum. Read the rest at the Guardian. Link – Lima Climate Change Talks Best Chance for a Generation, Say Upbeat Diplomats

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Lima Climate Change Talks Best Chance for a Generation, Say Upbeat Diplomats

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We fixed the ozone layer (sort of). Can we fix the climate?

by BQXKrystyn Posted on September 15, 2014

We fixed the ozone layer (sort of). Can we fix the climate?

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15 Sep 2014 12:50 PM

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We fixed the ozone layer (sort of). Can we fix the climate?

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So 300 scientists working for the United Nations Environment Program are claiming that the ozone — that blanket of O3 in the stratosphere — is back on track to keep nasty ultraviolet radiation at bay for generations to come. Everyone’s rightly giving all the credit to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement created in the 1980s to produce and consume fewer ozone-depleting substances.

For the moment, let’s ignore how dubious the optimism of the recent U.N. report is. This is big news: an example of international action to resolve a global atmospheric problem that really works!

George Monbiot makes the easy connection in The Guardian, arguing that governments need to collaborate on climate change the same way. He’s not the first one to ask what the ozone-protecting treaty means for global climate agreements; the question has been posed seemingly every time world leaders get together.

But Monbiot is realistic about the state of the world, admitting that such purposeful international action isn’t possible nowadays due to the extreme market fundamentalism that dominates politics today. This doctrine does not allow governments to intervene with big corporate profits, even to save the climatic conditions that allow the survival of humans (and big corporate profits, for that matter).

When the Montreal Protocol was written, this neoliberal agenda was just beginning to infiltrate the political world. As for the improbability of re-creating such cooperation now, Monbiot smartly speculates:

[W]ere the ozone hole to have been discovered today, governments would have announced talks about talks about talks, and we would still be discussing whether something should be done as our skin turned to crackling.

The differences between addressing global warming and the ozone holes go beyond political conditions and ideologies, though. Solving the ozone problem meant agreeing to stop using a few ozone-depleting chemicals, and replace them with some differently harmful alternative chemicals. To stop disrupting the climate, nations will have to all agree to remake our energy systems, redesign our economies, stand up to powerful corporate interests, and get over the weird fetish for growth and more.

That’s not all. Making all these changes will inevitably mean those who have the most power in today’s world will be less powerful in the climate-stable future world — yes, that’s you, America. If transforming the world as we know it doesn’t sound difficult enough to you, remember that the nation-states and mega-corporations with the most power have decision-making bodies by the balls.

Speaking of world power structures, the simple fact that there’s no longer one big, scary global hegemon has slowed climate talks, according to Hannes Stephan of the University of Stirling. Mat Hope of The Carbon Brief reports:

The Montreal protocol was agreed at a time when the US was considered to be the world’s dominant superpower. That allowed the US … to cajole other countries into taking action, Stephan says.

This is no longer the case. In the international climate negotiations there are at least four major players that don’t see eye to eye: the US, China, India and the EU.

To further complicate matters, Hope also points out that ozone science is easier than climate science:

In CFCs case, it was clear their use was creating a hole in the atmosphere and scientists could present this in a simple, startling way … [b]ut when it comes to climate change, the impacts are more complex. Greenhouse gas emissions cause multiple impacts across the world at different times. It’s an environmental challenge that encompasses the whole planet.

Holes in the ozone layer mean our skin burns to a crisp right now and then we get cancer later on. Even though the age of climate consequences has clearly arrived, the most extreme repercussions of global warming are in the future. (And the worst effects will always lie ahead of us while we keep increasing emissions. Think about it.) “Now” and “cancer” hit harder than “weather events” and “the future.”

I’ll add one more possible explanation for our failure to address climate change, even while we apparently fixed the ozone hole. The most visible effect of ozone depletion is skin cancer, a disease that preys predominantly on the epidermises of white people. Climate change, on the other hand, promises to ravage the whole world, disproportionately affecting those who have emitted the least, can least afford to escape or alleviate the damage, and, crucially, have the least political power to demand global action.

Is it really surprising that the powers-that-be reacted swiftly and decisively to an environmental issue that threatens their own? Or that now they’re hemming and hawing at an impending doomsday that they can’t avert without giving up some of their power?

To sum up, even if we pretend that the ozone layer really is recovering smoothly thanks to the great success of a global treaty (an iffy conclusion at best), extending this method of success to the wicked problem that is climate change lies a few more leaps and bounds away. That Kyoto thing sure didn’t work.

Source:
Stopping climate meltdown needs the courage that saved the ozone layer

, The Guardian.

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We fixed the ozone layer (sort of). Can we fix the climate?

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