Saving Our Natural Sunscreen

By Philip Cheung, 08 Feb 23:57

Save the Ozone! Many times we see this as a booming topic within our politicians and our own green peace, however not many of us have intelligent knowledge about the subject. Once we gain this understanding, there are several ways of conservation that we can involve ourselves in to save this precious sunscreen.

When a health issue involves the health of the planet, people often feel there is little they can do to change the course of events. The depletion of the earth is protective ozone layer is one of these mega-issues. While most of the measures needed to safeguard the ozone layer involve nations and industries, there are significant steps you can take - as an individual consumer and as a member of a society.

There's good and bad ozone, depending on where it is, though both are chemically identical-a gas formed when three atoms of oxygen, rather than the normal two, bind together. The ozone found at ground level, a by-product of car and factory pollution, is one of the more dangerous components of smog. But in the earth's stratosphere, about 10 to 25 miles above us, ozone functions as a natural screen against the sun's most damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays. Unfortunately, the ozone that pollutes our air cannot reach the stratosphere's ozone layer.

What CFCs do

The stratospheric ozone layer is being destroyed in large part by man-made components called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. These versatile chemicals, in liquid or gaseous form, have helped shape modern society. CFC s are used in coolants in our homes, cars and refrigerators; as foaming agents in foam insulation, mattresses, and food packaging; and as solvents that remove impurities from computer microchips and electronic equipment. The same properties that make CFCs efficient and safe for so many industrial uses also make them destructive

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Tags: ozone, CFC, ozone-layer, earth, pollution