Humanity..and the depletion of the ozone layer

In the late 1980s, an unprecedented question was raised by citizens in several European countries about the presence of chemical reactions in the atmosphere that harm the ozone layer called “chlorofluorocarbons,” or what is known for short as CFCS.

These chemicals can be found in most aerosol cans. Through awareness-raising activities by environmental groups, media responses, some manufacturers, and a number of retail outlets, the public has come to accept that whenever they spray harmful, polluting chemicals, harmful chemical gases are released into the atmosphere. These gases are dangerous and increase the destruction of the Earth’s protective ozone layer, a layer of the atmosphere in which ozone naturally breaks down and a gas escapes that emits harmful ultraviolet radiation. The harmful thing about this form of harmful pollution is that the geographic connection between the source of the pollution and the damage it causes extends far, far away. The gases sprayed in a city in China do not only affect the ozone layer in the city where they are sprayed or over China alone. The polluting gases are also carried by winds in the upper atmosphere to reach other countries and cities as far away as Moscow, for example.

What has been observed in the years since these interactions and effects were discovered is that the most severe loss in ozone layer destruction occurs in the North and South Poles, where there should be less concentration of gas emissions. Therefore, gas emissions in China or Japan can cause a problem on the other side of the globe in Germany, the United States or other Western countries. Humans have long been accustomed to the idea that ordinary people or businesses can pollute their local environments with loud noises and industries that emit polluting odors, fumes and gases without supervision, accountability or punishment.

But this cannot continue indefinitely, and now there are opportunities for humans to start changing these ideas and using everything that would preserve the global environment by using less harmful materials and more advanced technology that can reduce everything that causes environmental pollution on a global scale, and thus the manifestations of environmental pollution become less present, and the world becomes less stressed in fighting the damage that affects the ozone hole, and stands tall because it has made humanity less destructive to its environment and the environment of its distant neighbors on the globe. As it became clear in the issue of ozone layer depletion, some environmental pollution problems are global in their basic nature. Therefore, it is in the interest of humanity as a whole to confront them and work to repair their damage.

This is the message that many environmentalists are trying to convey to the conscience and feelings of humanity, to convince them that we are all floating in the space of this universe on the back of one planet, the Earth, which they must preserve and protect from environmental destruction, and that a sense of universal identity is supposed to prevail in advance of the idea that humans face the environmental threat together. One final point remains, which is that a number of forms of pollution and environmental destruction have global effects because they are spread through global trade and industrialization, not because they are global in nature. It is therefore a mistake to assume that responses to them will be consistent, as certain types of pollution are decreasing in the global North due to stricter regulatory measures and technological progress, while they are increasing in the global South.

*Emirati writer