50
atoms forming the oxygen molecule. The single freed atoms (O) then combine with
unbroken O 2 molecules creating ozone (O 3 ) that make up the ozone layer. Ozone is
unstable and rare. In every ten million air molecules, only an average of three are
ozone molecules. Ninety percent of all ozone is found between 10 and 30 miles
(16 and 50 km) above the earth’s surface. This stratospheric ozone serves as a shield
to the sun’s high-frequency ultraviolet rays (Butler 2017). This ionizing radiation,
when allowed to pass through the upper atmosphere unabated, can disrupt normal
cellular functions causing skin cancer and other health problems in humans and
many other organisms (NIEHS 2016).
3.4.3 Rational Global Policy and Action
In the 1970s and 1980s, reports of a growing hole in the ozone layer over the South
Pole, and the crisis it represented, galvanized unanimous global action to ban the
use of certain chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons that were used as refrigerants;
as propellants in hairspray, deodorants, and other personal-care aerosol products;
and as industrial blowing agents for foams and packing materials. In 1979,
Fig. 3.7 Unlike in 2019, NO 2 pollution in 2020 drops in Wuhan and stays low after the Chinese
New Year. NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites have detected
significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) over China. (Photo credit: NASA)
3 Trash Can Living
atoms forming the oxygen molecule. The single freed atoms (O) then combine with
unbroken O 2 molecules creating ozone (O 3 ) that make up the ozone layer. Ozone is
unstable and rare. In every ten million air molecules, only an average of three are
ozone molecules. Ninety percent of all ozone is found between 10 and 30 miles
(16 and 50 km) above the earth’s surface. This stratospheric ozone serves as a shield
to the sun’s high-frequency ultraviolet rays (Butler 2017). This ionizing radiation,
when allowed to pass through the upper atmosphere unabated, can disrupt normal
cellular functions causing skin cancer and other health problems in humans and
many other organisms (NIEHS 2016).
3.4.3 Rational Global Policy and Action
In the 1970s and 1980s, reports of a growing hole in the ozone layer over the South
Pole, and the crisis it represented, galvanized unanimous global action to ban the
use of certain chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons that were used as refrigerants;
as propellants in hairspray, deodorants, and other personal-care aerosol products;
and as industrial blowing agents for foams and packing materials. In 1979,
Fig. 3.7 Unlike in 2019, NO 2 pollution in 2020 drops in Wuhan and stays low after the Chinese
New Year. NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites have detected
significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) over China. (Photo credit: NASA)
3 Trash Can Living