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Laughing Gas Is Major Threat To Ozone Layer
Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that according to new research, nitrous oxide, the colorless, sweet-smelling gas with a long history as a medical and dental anesthetic is the next big threat to Earth's protective ozone layer. Its role in destroying ozone has long been recognized, as well as its role as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas but the new study puts nitrous oxide's ability to deplete ozone into numbers comparable to those used for other ozone-depleting gases covered by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. The researchers note that the health of the ozone layer has been improving since the adoption of the protocol and that nitrous oxide looms large today as an artificial destroyer of the ozone layer, in part because the emissions of other harmful chemicals have been so sharply reduced." (Continues.)
"Globally, Earth's ozone layer has thinned by 5 to 6 percent since 1980, before CFCs and their ilk came into wide use, according to Akkihebbal Ravishankara, who led the study. He and his colleagues note that 6 percent may appear to be a small number, but it still can lead to significant effects on organisms at Earth's surface. The researchers did not make any policy recommendations in light of their finding. 'It is not for us to gauge how much risk there is,' says Ravishankara. In any event, Ravishankara says, at the moment researchers could not say with confidence 'how much nitrous oxide comes from where.'"
This article doesn't really matter. Any amount of numbers can be thrown around, quoted, refuted, or postulated. There will always be something that's the "next big threat" to our planet. It will always be our fault no matter what.
To all those who decry Cap and Trade (or a Carbon Tax) and shout out either that
a) Climate Scientists don't know what they are talking about, neither does the UN, NASA, EU... FoxNews knows what it is talking about
b) Even if true we can't do anything anyway.
Here is a case where a threat to the health of people on the planet as a result of pollutants was identified by Scientists who also identified the causes and then the political will was there to fix this global problem.
So seriously, these guys are batting 1.000 on both their predictions and their causes and have demonstrably been right in both.
But with Global Warming they are just shouting "Fire" in a theatre for their own nefarious ends to destroy the American Way of Life(tm)*?
* - "American Way of Life" is a registered trade mark of the Petroleum industry and cannot be used to describe any other action than the driving very large cars.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Hahahahahahahahahaahahaha we are destroying our ozone layer, hahahahahahahaaha
http://freelinuxguides.wikidot.com
Without a boogie man these researchers would not be able to get the handouts that keep them spewing questionable data. They were too effective at getting CFC's banned and now are jumping on anything that might get them funds.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Your mom is a major threat to the ozone layer! /high on laughing gas
lolz
wut?
I didn't read your article at all, but I am sure I can have a fully formed opinion on its validity. After all this is the Internet. And it doesn't matter whether I agree or disagree. Its just that I must be right - cause this is the Internet.
who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
Every time I read a story like this, I want to shoot someone in the f'ing face. This is a waste of f'ing money, what these science-morons should be doing is figuring out what's in the air naturally, and then making sure that nothing other than that gets into the atmosphere. It's really quite plain and simple people, pretty much ANYTHING will react with another chemical in some way, not everything though mind you. So knowing this, can we stop wasting fucking money, and put it toward solutions for keeping anything except nitrogen and oxygen from escaping into the atmosphere? And I know, for that one person, everybody everywhere breaths CO2, but plants need food too dumbass, I like flowers.