Ozone layer on track to recovery: UN report

in ask on 2014-09-15 14:05 (#2SE7)

It's largely bad news out there today, but here's a bright spot to start off your week: Earth's protective ozone layer is well on track to recovery in the next few decades, per a report just released by a study financed by the United Nations. The good news is due largely to the phase-out of certain chemicals used in refrigerants and aerosol cans.

Without the Montreal Protocol and associated agreements, atmospheric levels of ozone depleting substances could have increased tenfold by 2050, according to a summary document of the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2014.

The Protocol will have prevented 2 million cases of skin cancer annually by 2030, averted damage to human eyes and immune systems, and protected wildlife and agriculture, according to UNEP."

Two comments (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-09-16 14:46 (#2SFC)

1) Yay for humanity! I'm amazed we were able to pull this one off, and who knows, maybe we haven't quite yet pulled it off. I've spent most of my life working in 3rd world shitholes and my sense of optimism for humanity as gradually sunk as a result. From human rights to solid waste to water pollution to economic development to meeting basic human needs for food - this species is a clusterfuck.

2) I'm not hugely impressed that the UN is running studies like this. They are better positioned as a political, not a scientific organization. I read:

The conclusion was made in the assessment published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

I'm hoping that means the WMO did the study and the UNEP oversaw it, or funded it, or something. Because the bureaucratic numbnuts at the UN don't belong in science and research.