. . . With the Potential for Equally Great Changes on a Global Scale

• Main Authors: Officer, Charles, Page, Jake
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressNew York, NY 2009
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195377019.003.0008; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52432314/isbn-9780195377019-book-part-8.pdf

Abstract In the summer of 1988, the ozone was in the wrong place. There was too much of it in American cities and not enough over Antarctica. Unusual weather, in combination with auto and other emissions, had led to the highest ozone concentrations in ten years in many cities. The American public raised a hue and cry for tougher clean air regulations, many of which had been relaxed in the past decade. Fortunately, the 1970 Clean Air Act and its subsequent amendments have produced the desired effects: emissions of some toxic gases have dropped more than 90 percent. Despite the fact that the United States leads the world carbon dioxide emission, recent improvements have disproved the notion that the American public is lethargic on certain environmental matters. Indeed, in both the matter of ozone in urban air and the ozone hole in the stratosphere, the public led its leaders. About 97 percent of all of the ozone in the atmosphere is found in the upper reaches of the stratosphere, where it absorbs otherwise dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, thus providing an effective blanket for life. The ozone layer presumably has existed throughout much of geologic time, and the Earth’s flora and fauna, including the human species, have evolved without having to contend with extreme doses of ultraviolet radiation. A marked thinning of the layer would cause, at the least, a corresponding increase in skin cancers, along with adverse effects on other forms of life.