Ozone and Global Environmental Politics

5811 Words12 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Solutions and strategies to deal with global warming

Ozone and Global Environmental Politics

A thin layer of gas called atmosphere surrounds the Earth. The atmosphere serves two important purposes: it is a filter for the suns dangerous ultraviolet radiation rays and keeps the heat, necessary to maintain life on earth, within the stratosphere (Vorlat 361). Ultraviolet light is incredibly dangerous to all the organisms within the Earth's ecosystem because it causes skin cancer, effects the immune system, and harms plant and animal life. For that reason the atmosphere and the ozone layer within it are crucial to a stable life on this planet. The ozone layer is in danger, however. It is facing depletion by a toxic man-made substance called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Together the international community is working through treaties and conventions to stop this environmental problem.

To understand the problem behind ozone depletion we first must understand what ozone is and how it works. Ozone is a thin protective layer that starts nine miles up in the air and continues up in the sky thirty-one miles (Kellner 20). It serves as a screen against the sun’s harmful UV rays by protecting plants and animals, as well as people from skin cancer, immune system problems, and eye disorders, such as cataracts (Ozone Treaties). Ozone is a gas, often a bluish color, made up of three oxygen atoms instead of the typical two. Ozone forms when solar ultraviolet rays and oxygen molecules meet. The result of the meeting is free oxygen molecules that form to regular oxygen molecules to create ozone molecules. Thus the process repeats (Vorlat 361). So in essence the sun’s rays are destroying oxygen molecules to create the ozone that is going to serve as a filter for the planet...

... middle of paper ...

...nment Programme. (1997) The Climate Change Convention. New York, New York.

United Nations Department of Public Information. United Nations, Press Release. (1999, March 16) 84 Countries Now Signed on to Kyoto Protocol. [on-line] http://www.unfccc.de/fccc/conv/presskp.html.

Vorlat, Katrien. "The Chemistry of the Atmosphere." International Environmental Law Anthology. Ed. Anthony D'Amato and Kristen Engel. Cincinnati: Anderson, 1996.

Warrik, J. (1998, November 15) 160 Nations Endorse Pact on GlobalWarming Compliance; Accord Speeds Up Timetable for ‘Action Plan’ on Environment. Washinton Post. [on-line]http://newslibrary.krmediastream.com/cgi- bin/document/wp_auth?DBLIST=wp98&DOCNUM=61971.

Wysham, Daphne. “On Eve of Clinton Visit World Bank Grants China $330 Million for High Polluting Coal Project.” 25 June 1998. http://www.igc.org/coc/bwi081.html

Show More
Related

  • Passion In A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a Shakespearian comedy where Shakespeare shows many forms of passion. There are many passions shown many times in this play that would change the whole story if they were taken out. It is a trait that can reveal a person’s strong inner emotions such as in this story, friendship, love and jealousy. Helena shows a deep passion for friendship with Hermia when she thinks she has been betrayed, Titania passionately loves Bottom, and Oberon genuinely shows jealousy towards the Indian boy Titania tended to.

    Read More

  • The Valais Witch Trials: The Evolution To Witchcraft Phenomenon

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was considered as the first series of witch trials in Europe, but it was believed to have been at least three-hundred and sixty-seven people. The delegates from seven districts in Valais demanded that the authorities initiate an investigation against alleged witches and sorcerers. Anyone denounced as a sorcerer by more than three people was to be arrested. If they were to confessed, they were to be burned at the stake as heretics, and if they did not confess, they would be torture until they did so. The events began in Val d'Anniviers and Val d’Herens in southern Valais, within one and a half years, between one and two hundred people had been burned to death. The trials were poorly documented, there were several eyewitness but they were seemed as lacks of incomplete coverage. Some of the accusations were, flying through air, and plundering wine cellars, killing of cattles and curing the sickness by passing it on to someone else, cannibalism and the abduction and consumption of children meeting with Satan,would teach them magic only if they renounce Christianity, curses and conspiracy. Some were instead decapitated or tortured to death before being burned at the stake or admitting to

    Read More

  • Love: The Great Equalizer in Midsummer Night’s Dream

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare has a habit of creating complicated plots, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is no exception. Three distinct worlds are presented within the play, and the story’s theme is most prevalent when they collide or mirror one another. Shakespeare’s allusions very intentionally cast light on these themes as he uses them to develop characters, settings, and comedy. The point of that development is the effective delivery of the theme that love renders us equals.

    Read More

  • The Implications of Ozone Depletion on Human Health

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stratospheric ozone absorbs 97-99% of ultraviolet radiation. As this protective layer continues to dissentigrate, human health will suffer. One American dies every hour from skin cancer, a direct result of ozone depletion by anthropogenic chemicals, primarily CFCs, which damage the ozone layer. Alternate chemicals are now being used in the place of CFCs that will not damage statospheric ozone, and there is international recognition of the importance of developing these chemicals. The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty which limits the production of ozone depleting substances. Still, human health is at risk from the deletion of ozone, and the risk factor will continue to rise unless people and industries become more aware of the implications connected with everyday use of chemicals which destroy stratospheric ozone.

    Read More

  • State and Non-state Actors that Pose the Greatest Cyber Threat to the United States

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    The private sector owns approximately 85-90% of our cyber infrastructure, there’s need for a cohesive private-government partnership to enforce security. Individuals (whether internal to the organization or agency), political groups, religious groups, and organized crime groups pose threat to the United States and considered as a cyber-threat. To assess overall threat level, one must assess intent and technological capabilities unequivocally insider threats foster great risk. Surveillance of data handling brings about questions how employees may steal data, i.e. someone can put it on a USB stick, or does e-mail contain PII information and leave the company externally? (Geer, 2013). Although pedagogical strate...

    Read More

  • The Kyoto Protocol: Protocol To The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change

    951 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Protocol was initially adopted on 11th of December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16th February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and approved the protocol. The only remaining signatory not to have ratified the protocol is the USA, who actually releases more greenhouse gasses than any other nation and accounts for more than 25% of those generated by people worldwide. Australia also declined to approve of the protocol until 2007. Other United Nations member states which did not ratify the protocol are Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan. In December 2011, Canada renounced the Protocol, and most other industrialized nations, support the Kyoto Protocol.

    Read More

  • Jealousy And Insecurity In A Midsummer Night's Dream

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, there is a constant conflict among the characters over jealousy and insecurity. There are four lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius in the play who cannot be with their lovers. At the start of the play, Hermia’s father wants her to marry Demetrius who loves her, but Hermia loves Lysander. Demetrius used to love Helena but when he met her best friend Hermia, he fell in love with her. Helena still loves Demetrius and throughout the play she tries to win him back. Lysander and Hermia decide to run away together so that they can elope. Helena tells Demetrius of their plan, so he decides to go after them while Helena follows. While all the lovers are sleeping, a fairy puts love potion on

    Read More

  • The Department Of Homeland Security And Cyber-Crime

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although these practices are being implemented every second of the day, a need to harness the intelligence of network and information security stakeholders is also imperative. There is a sophisticated and self-sufficient digital underground economy in which data is the illicit commodity. As a federal employee and a United States citizen, the security of both personal and professional networks is paramount. The Department of Homeland Security protects the federal networks by drawing on the Nation’s full range of resources. Moreover, it is unclear who is responsible for maintaining the security of many critical assets. Currently, DHS is working to secure the “.gov” domain, but not critical infrastructure. As President Obama stated in 2009 when unveiling his administration’s cyber security policy review, “Let me be very clear: My administration will not dictate security standards for private companies” (Obama, 2009). This is a statement of considerable importation, given that many of the missions carried out in other nations by the military (or by companies owned and managed by the state) are carried out in the by the private

    Read More

  • Cyber-Warfare: The Importance of the New Digital Battlefield

    2204 Words  | 5 Pages

    For thousands of years warfare remained relatively unchanged. While the tactics and weapons have changed as new methods of combat evolved, men and women or their weapons still had to meet at the same time and place in order to attack, defend, surrender or conquer. However, the advent of the of the internet has created a new realm of combat in which armies can remotely conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, espionage, and attacks from an ambiguous and space-less digital environment. Both state and non-state actors have already embraced this new realm and utilized both legal and illegal means to further facilitate their interests. What complicates cyber security further is as states attempt to protect themselves from cyber-warfare, private and commercial technological methods largely keeps pace with state technological developments, largely removing military advantages created through large militaries. Since the creation and implementation of international networking via the internet, the United States has adopted the technology within the military and government infrastructure. As a result, the United States has opened itself up to a new threat which must be actively addressed in order to protect the national security of the United States. Successful cyber-attacks originating in China, Russia, and the Middle East have already penetrated the United States military’s network infrastructure and leaked sensitive and classified information. While the size and the scope of the information breaches have not yet resulted in a grave threat to the United States, the increase in cyber-threats and cyber-attacks make cyber-warfare one of the most important national security issues facing the United States and the intelligence community. A ca...

    Read More

  • We Must Live A More Sustainable Life

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    Withgott, J., & Brennan, S. (2011). Environment: the science behind the stories (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.

    Read More

  • Effect of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion on Aquatic Ecosystems

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...mental effects on marine life and the aquatic food chain. Further damage to the earth's aquatic ecosystems must be prevented in order to prevent not only the deterioration of oceanic life, but also the deterioration of the planet and its diverse life forms. By ceasing CFC usage and implementing substitutes, as well as through decreasing fossil fuel emissions and the release of other chemicals into the atmosphere, we can attempt to conserve what remains of the ozone layer and thus impede the increasing penetration of UV rays into the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The safety of the planet and its organisms rests on the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer. If the depletion of stratospheric ozone continues, it will result in the deterioration of the phytoplankton which is an important base to the aquatic food chain on which most marine and animal life depends.

    Read More

  • Technology Threatens Your Privacy

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    Privacy threats are currently the biggest threat to National Security today. The threats are not only concerning to the government, however. An alarming 92% of Americans are concerned that the power grid may be vulnerable to a cyber-attack (Denholm). Although this is a more recent development to the cyber threats we have experienced, this is not the first time that privacy threats have stepped into the limelight as people are forced to watch their every online move.

    Read More

  • Problems In Todays Society

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    society today. The CFC cans used to be a serious problem to the ozone layer,

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Kyoto Protocol

    3243 Words  | 7 Pages

    By early 2010, 83 countries had adopted some sort of policy to promote renewable energy power generation, which was a major increase from an estimated forty-eight countries in mid-2005 (2). More than 190 nations have now committed to the Kyoto Protocol. This includes Germany, Britain, France, China, and Russia which leaves the United States as the only major economic power that has not ratified it (9). Some countries that signed on to the first commitment period later decided to withdraw from the second commitment period but to continue reducing carbon emissions in their own programs. As of December 2011, Canada, Japan, and Russia, had decided not to commit to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2).

    Read More

  • Ozone Depletion Essay

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many scientist are concerned for the ozone layer, and they are worried that is shrinking too much. They figured out most of it is caused by the chemicals that we humans create. In 1970 scientist saw how much is shrinking and found that chlorofluorocarbons or (CFCs) are hurting the ozone, the CFCs are like the hairsprays, deodorants, and coolers that worked in the refrigerators, and air conditioners are all hurting the ozone layer. Lucky the government banned the products that contained the chemicals that were harming the ozone and made the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, what stinks is that the Ozone Layer will take about 55 to 60 years to fully heal. (Wikipedia, January 27 2014)

    Read More

More about Ozone and Global Environmental Politics

Open Document