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Antarctic Ozone Hole Shrinks 30 Percent

Posted by kdawson on from the but-don't-spray-cfc's-in-celebration dept.

polar red sends us news of a story that many outlets have picked up from a European Space Agency press release: the Antarctic ozone hole is 30% smaller than it was during the previous record year. It's still about the size of North America. "Scientists say this year's smaller hole... is due to natural variations in temperature and atmospheric dynamics... and is not indicative of a long-term trend. 'Although the hole is somewhat smaller than usual, we cannot conclude from this that the ozone layer is recovering already,' [one researcher said]."

1 of 436 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What's really really sad by SIIHP · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    "Yes, what an amazing coincidence that we started dumping massive amounts of CFCs into the atmosphere at the same time that the Earth suddenly started needing CFCs to maintain its present state."

    OOH A STRAW MAN!!! Love those, fun to read, useless in debates.

    The point, which you intentionally avoided, is that there are ALWAYS unintended consequences, and a rush to action, even if seemingly for good reasons, can result in disaster.

    Like this one
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_snail

    or this one
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hyacinth

    or this one
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_australia

    How many times do you have to see it happen?

    --
    I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.