International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
On September 16, the whole world celebrates Ozone Layer Protection Day
This holiday was established by the UN in 1994 as a reminder that human activities are causing devastating consequences for our planet
The ozone layer is a part of the Earth's stratosphere that consists primarily of ozone, a substance that contains three oxygen atoms In its normal state it is a poisonous gas, but ozone plays an important role in partially absorbing ultraviolet radiation, under the influence of which it is formed from molecular oxygen This is the natural shield of our planet, which protects all living things from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation The most dangerous ultraviolet radiation in the range of 100-280 nm is almost completely absorbed by oxygen with the subsequent formation of ozone The ozone layer itself absorbs up to 99% of solar radiation in the range from 200 to 315 nm In other words, it protects all living things from radiation The thickness of the ozone layer is minimal It is often compared to one thin page of a tome called “Stratosphere,” which, nevertheless, contains very important information
Scientists consider the formation of the ozone layer to be one of the factors that allowed living beings, at one of the stages of evolution, to leave the water and get to land If our planet loses this protective shell, then we will experience all the delights of exposure to aggressive ultraviolet radiation According to the assumptions of researchers who have already considered a similar model of developments, this will either lead to the complete destruction of life on the planet, or will force surviving species to adapt to radically changed environmental conditions
The fact that humanity began to methodically destroy the ozone layer became known back in the last century A new term has appeared - ozone holes These are gaps in the protective screen of the stratosphere, which allow aggressive ultraviolet radiation to freely penetrate the planet's shell and reach the Earth's surface
The ozone layer is destroyed under the influence of several factors that have one common denominator - human activity To be fair, it is worth noting that there is an unpopular point of view about the natural nature of this process Opponents of this hypothesis have in their arsenal many compelling arguments that are difficult to dispute For example, the first large ozone hole was discovered in the last century, immediately after man began to intensively “enrich” the Earth’s atmosphere with chemicals that it had not previously encountered
The strongest blow to the protective layer is caused by the greenhouse effect and freons or freons, as they are also called The latter were previously widely used in aerosols, foaming agents and solvents, and today they have found their way into the industrial sector After entering the atmosphere, freons begin to actively decompose, and the components of their decay react with ozone and destroy it, breaking it down into oxygen
When the role of the ozone layer in protecting all life on our planet was scientifically proven, scientists became concerned about the impact of the anthropogenic factor on it In 1987, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was developed Almost all countries of the world signed this document and gradually abandoned the use of low-boiling freons based on the ethane, methane and propane series, but this did not help to completely solve the problem
In a number of countries, enterprises that unofficially use these substances in production still continue to open In 1994, the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was established to coincide with the signing of the Montreal Protocol By the way, scientists who worked on research into the causes of ozone layer destruction received the highest award - the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Kofi Annan called the Montreal Protocol one of the most successful international agreements in human history