wolf wrote:Scandinavia, Greenland and Siberia reached an unprecedented 45% in ozone layer depletion in 1996. Everyone in the Northern hemisphere is now just as much affected by UV radiation as if you'd live on Antarctica. We're living the full effects of our pollution as we speak.
If the Montreal treaty is respected, the ozone layer should gently restore itself from 2050 on. That is, if current CFK-producing countries stop their habits. China promised to stop producing the ozon-eating CFK's soon. But they're still in use throughout the Third World.
I didn't just become an environmental activist out of boredom, you know...
1996 is not now. This is 2003.
The amount of incident UV radiation is a function of the latitude of the location, the season (position of the earth relative to the sun), and the amount of UV locally absorbed in the upper atmosphere. It is simply not true, now or ever, that "Everyone in the northern hemisphere is now just as much affected by UV ..."
Environmental activists evidently don't have to bother with facts.