Let's Get More Ozone-friendly
Ozone layer day is observed annually on September 16th, in order to raise public awareness on this global issue. The importance of the ozone layer and its preservation shouldn't be taken for granted as the more we know, the better we act in our daily lives; in fact, it's the duty of each and every one of us to help preserve anything that sustains our life on earth and therefore, we should get more ozone-friendly.
How to be ozone-friendly?
To be ozone-friendly means to use products that are not harmful to the ozone layer; ozone-friendly or ozone-safe products help to preserve the ozone layer and prevent its depletion; such products do not produce gases that are destructive to the ozone layer; the main and common sources of CFCs are: refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers, aerosols which are widely used all around the world and emit tons of CFCs.
Well, we are not experts and may not know a lot about every harmful chemical but as living beings on this planet we can pay more attention to the products we buy. Some destructive items can be replaced with new products which carry the logo of eco-friendly, ozone-safe, or ozone-friendly. At least we can avoid the items we are sure that they will threaten our lives in the long term. Here are some tips to go ‘Ozone-Friendly’ :
- Identify the CFCs products
- Avoid Products which emit CFCs
- Buy products that carry the Ozone-safe logo
- Raise awareness in your community
- Minimize the use of CFCs products that you find no alternative
Ozone Layer or Ozonosphere
Discovered in 1913 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson, it's a layer of air containing ozone above Earth’s surface, which covers the entire planet and prevents harmful ultraviolet light from the sun from reaching the Earth; in other words, ozonosphere absorbs the destructive radiations, screens out lethal levels of UVB, secures and facilitates life on earth; that’s why it's often called ozone shield; Britannica defines it “it blocks almost all solar radiation of wavelengths less than 290 nanometers from reaching Earth’s surface, including certain types of ultraviolet (UV) and other forms of radiation that could injure or kill most living things.”Actually, a high concentration of Ozone, the ozone layer, is mainly found in the lower portion of the stratosphere, from 15 to 35 kilometers above the Earth, which its thickness varies depending on the season or geography of the area.
Ozone Layer Depletion - Ozone Hole
Ozone is made of 3 oxygen molecules, O3, and as mentioned before, is found in the layer over Earth; however, this layer is subject to depletion by human activities like releasing CFC gases which lead to damaging the layer and reducing its density. The depletion in southern pole is so high that it has caused a huge hole in the layer, which has been enlarging since the past years; Although there are theories that the layer is healing itself, according to the latest studies, the Arctic is also subject to the ozone layer depletion; this means that in those areas, there is a lot of harmful radiation which can affect every living creature.
Ozone holes refer to the regions that ozone coverage has been highly reduced. Britannica explains that “The amount of ozone in the stratosphere varies naturally throughout the year as a result of chemical processes that create and destroy ozone molecules and as a result of winds and other transport processes that move ozone molecules around the planet. Over the course of several decades, however, human activities substantially altered the ozone layer. Ozone depletion, the global decrease in stratospheric ozone observed since the 1970s, is most pronounced in polar regions, and it is well correlated with the increase of chlorine and bromine in the stratosphere. Those chemicals, once freed by UV radiation from the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halocarbons (carbon-halogen compounds) that contain them, destroy ozone by stripping away single oxygen atoms from ozone molecules.”
Causes of Ozone Layer Depletion
The main cause is human activities which release CFCs on daily basis. CFCs or Chlorofluorocarbons are one of the main reasons of Ozone depletion, which consist of chemical compounds made up of chlorine, fluorine and carbon; these gases remain very harmful when released into the atmosphere because of their destructive reaction with O-zone particles.
World Ozone Layer Preservation Day 2021
Robi B