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Originally posted by Aragorn243:
bdgee,

You can keep saying I've been given proof all you want, doesn't change the facts that you have provided none of it.

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It does get exhausting, doesn't it?

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Originally posted by bdgee:
I'm tired of casting pearls before swine.

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How does ozone depletion occur?

It is caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS), which were used widely as refrigerants, insulating foams, and solvents. The discussion below focuses on CFCs, but is relevant to all ODS. Although CFCs are heavier than air, they are eventually carried into the stratosphere in a process that can take as long as 2 to 5 years. Measurements of CFCs in the stratosphere are made from balloons, aircraft, and satellites.

When CFCs reach the stratosphere, the ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes them to break apart and release chlorine atoms which react with ozone, starting chemical cycles of ozone destruction that deplete the ozone layer. One chlorine atom can break apart more than 100,000 ozone molecules.

Other chemicals that damage the ozone layer include methyl bromide (used as a pesticide), halons (used in fire extinguishers), and methyl chloroform (used as a solvent in industrial processes for essential applications). As methyl bromide and halons are broken apart, they release bromine atoms, which are 40 times more destructive to ozone molecules than chlorine atoms.

How do we know that natural sources are not responsible for ozone depletion?

While it is true that volcanoes and oceans release large amounts of chlorine, the chlorine from these sources is easily dissolved in water and washes out of the atmosphere in rain. In contrast, CFCs are not broken down in the lower atmosphere and do not dissolve in water. The chlorine in these human-made molecules does reach the stratosphere. Measurements show that the increase in stratospheric chlorine since 1985 matches the amount released from CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances produced and released by human activities.
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How Much Rainforest Remains?

Tropical rainforest is disappearing faster than any other natural community on Earth. If we continue at our current rate of destruction, with population being the dominant factor, 70% of our remaining rainforests will by gone by the year 2050! Ancient forests, some of which have existed intact for seventy million years, since the days of the dinosaurs, will all but vanish.

How Is The Rainforest Being Destroyed?

A few thousand years ago, rainforests covered 14% of the earth’s land surface—5 billion acres. We have already destroyed a great deal of that. According to the United States National Academy of Sciences, more than 50 million acres of rainforest, an area the size of England, Scotland, and Wales, are destroyed or seriously degraded each year. Every day about 90 acres of rainforest land is deforested, creating infertile soil marked, ironically, for farming; for the creation of short-lived dams; for the mining of mineral resources; for cattle ranching to provide a cheaper fast-food hamburger for developed countries; for the importing of hardwood; and, most importantly, for the use of wood as fuel for cooking. The rainforest becomes a third-world commodity destined for transformation into paper bags, cardboard boxes, and hardwood floors. Whether for land or timber, deforestation of the world’s tropical rainforest has an appalling history of short-term benefits in exchange for irreversible loss.

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