Keep Up the Good Work! Our Earth is Healing
In the 1970s, when scientists discovered the thinning of the ozone layer above our earth and its detrimental effects on life on this planet, it caused a huge scare and spurred a global movement to heal our planet. Due to the awareness created from the thinning of the ozone layer, people became more conscious of the environment and subsequently, many other projects were initiated not only to save the ozone layer, but to save the world from man-made degradation as well.
In the Buddhist teachings, every action we take creates a chain of reactions that brings about results, knowingly or unknowingly, to ourselves and those around us. It is without a doubt that, having been reincarnated into this particular body, there is a strong interdependence between our physical state, the environment we live in, and the beings that surround us.
It is for this reason that many devoted Buddhists live their lives with discipline and awareness, cultivating the attitude of doing no harm to the environment and to our fellow inhabitants on this planet. This attitude is strongly ingrained within their daily activities, as their knowledge of the interdependence of all sentient beings brings about the understanding that destroying and polluting the environment, even areas that we do not live in such as the ocean or rivers, is also an undesirable action. In modern terms, perhaps this attitude is better described as ‘for individuals to leave as small a carbon footprint as possible‘.
Scientists have recently discovered that the ozone hole is starting to heal. This discovery gives all of us much hope and is a great encouragement for us to continue our efforts to care for our world. Remember, no action is too small be it preserving… or polluting. So, please always be mindful of your actions.
Tsem Rinpoche
Ozone hole over Antarctica is starting to heal
The hole has shrunk by a fifth and is taking 10 days longer to reach its full size, study finds
Chile’s Navy ship Aquiles moves alongside the Hurd Peninsula, seen from Livingston Islands, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago in Antarctica. Antarctica’s ozone hole is finally starting to heal, a new study finds. (Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press)
Antarctica’s ozone hole finally is starting to heal, a new study finds.
In a triumph of international cooperation over a man-made environmental problem, research from the United States and the United Kingdom shows that the September-October ozone hole is getting smaller and forming later in the year. And the study in Thursday’s journal Science also shows other indications that the ozone layer is improving after it was being eaten away by chemicals in aerosols and refrigerants. Ozone is a combination of three oxygen atoms; high in the atmosphere, it shields Earth from ultraviolet rays.
The hole has shrunk by about 4.5 million square kilometres (1.7 million square miles) in the key month of September since the year 2000 — a decline of about one-fifth, the study found. That difference is more than six times larger than the state of Texas. It also is taking about 10 days longer to reach its largest size, according to the study.
The hole won’t be completely closed until mid-century, but the healing is appearing earlier than scientists expected, said study lead author Susan Solomon of MIT.
“It isn’t just that the patient is in remission,” Solomon said. “He’s actually starting to get better. The patient got very sick in the `80s when we were pumping all that chlorine” into the atmosphere.
A simulation of the Antarctic ozone hole, made from data taken on October 22, 2015. Last October threw a big scare into scientists who had been tracking the Antarctic. After years of slow decline, the ozone hole blew up to its biggest size ever. ( NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (edited by MIT News))
“I think it’s a tremendous cause for hope” for fixing other environment problems, such as man-made climate change, said Solomon, who led two U.S. Antarctic expeditions to measure the ozone layer in the 1980s and has also been a leader in studying global warming.
In the 1970s, scientists suggested that Earth’s ozone layer — about 10 to 50 kilometres high (6 to 30 miles) in the stratosphere — was thinning because of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons from aerosols and refrigerants.
Those chemicals would break down into chlorine that attacked ozone, which at that level protects people from ultraviolet rays linked to skin cancer. Then in early 1980s, a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica started appearing in October — and then, September and October — making the problem more urgent. Ozone thinned elsewhere on Earth and already has begun healing in the middle section of the planet, but the Antarctic ozone hole was the gaping wound that grabbed the world’s attention.
Montreal Protocol Success
The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 global treaty to phase out many of the ozone-depleting chemicals, led companies to develop new products that didn’t eat away at the ozone layer. Still, scientists said it would take time before the problem would heal. Now it is actually getting better, not just stabilizing, based on new observations using different methods to measure the ozone layer, Solomon said.
“There is a sense of ‘mission accomplished’,” emailed University of California San Diego’s Mario Molina, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his characterization of the ozone problem. He praised the study, in which he played no part.
A woman sunbathes on the edge of a cliff at Maroubra beach in Sydney, Australia in a 2013 photo. The ozone layer protects people from ultraviolet rays linked to skin cancer. (Daniel Munoz/Reuters)
Last October threw a big scare into scientists who had been tracking the Antarctic. After years of slow decline, the ozone hole blew up to its biggest size ever.
“It was ‘Oh my God, how could there be this record large ozone hole’?” Solomon said. “It was a huge setback.”
But the increase was sudden, which told Solomon something else was happening. She determined that small particles in the air from the Calbuco volcano eruption were mostly at fault.
“The paper is quite convincing. To me at least it resolves the mystery of the 2015 Antarctic ozone hole,” University of Maryland atmospheric scientist Ross Salawitch, who wasn’t part of the research, wrote in an email. “So, 28 years after the Montreal Protocol was agreed upon, we have strong evidence that the ozone hole is getting smaller. I’d say this is a remarkable achievement, particularly in the instant gratification world in which we live.”
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ozone-hole-1.3661394
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This is excellent news, that the ozone hole is healing and starting to close. We could really do with less ultra violet coming through and destabilising the earth’s climate and environment.
This is very encouraging news to know that a part of the Earth is healing.Everyone in this planet plays an important part to the mother nature. If we destroy it with our own hands and actions, then we will have to bear the consequences and suffer. Thanks to the people who educated the general public on the ozone layer and the problems relating to the ozone hole. This knowledge and actions has resulted in this early healing of Mother Earth.
It is good to know that the planet that we inhabit is healing.
The ozone layer is what shields the earth from most harmful UV rays. Uv rays can destroy cells DNA and in turn cause them to mutate and become cancer cells. On a larger extent the uv rays can warm up the sea causing large ice caps to melt, that can mean that less light is reflected back in to space and more is absorbed this leads to a domino effect which can in turn cause flooding in coastal areas which will lead to people being displaced.
I really hope that the ozone layer will heal completely as a small ozone hole can lead to world wide destruction.
I do hope this is a first of many steps, towards the reconciliation and repair of the Earths environment. Sometimes I wonder, if there was an external threat towards humanity, perhaps human beings can come together for the benefit of this earth, and really protect and care for the EARTH.
We all knew about the ozone thinning issue since many years back. Thanks to the global ban on the use of CFCs, ozone layer is actively growing again. This is a great role model where developed and developing countries were able to work together on dealing with the ozone holes. This also shows how effective it can be to tackle global environmental problems if we can all come together and work hand-in-hand. It also gives us hope that we shouldn’t be afraid to tackle large environmental issues.
Other major environmental issues e.g. deforestation, waste disposal, energy depletion, pollution, etc. are causing destruction to the earth too. There are smaller steps that all of us can do on a daily basis to save our planet, e.g. walk more, drive less; use no plastic; go paperless, etc. Governmental efforts are necessary too to implement nationwide policy and to create more public awareness. For example, Malacca government has imposed a total ban on plastic bags starting January 1, 2016 where all supermarkets and shops are prohibited from supplying shoppers with plastic bags made from petroleum by-products. This initiative is part of Malacca state government’s aim to reduce wastage and to be a fully green state. Only with the concerted efforts, that we can make this earth a safer place for our next generation.
Just this morning, I read an article in CNN where Stephen Hawking said that humans need to migrate from this earth within 1,000 years for our survival due to the inconsiderate manner we are treating our earth. Then I came across this article that said our earth is showing sign of healing if we do things right. I think this provides a glimpse of hope and encourage the world leaders businesses to hold their commitments to control environmental damages.
It is heartening news that international cooperative efforts are paying dividends. The ozone hole over the Antarctica is beginning to heal. It has shrunk in size by one-fifth. Awareness creation about the ozone hole has helped. In the first place, this hole was man-made. The ozone layer which shields Earth from the ultra-violet rays of the sun , has been thinning after it was being eaten away by chemicals in aerosols and refrigerants. Now it too is showing improvement . The healing is appearing earlier than scientists expected and that too is another piece of good news.
The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 global treaty to phase out many of the ozone-depleting chemicals, led companies to develop new products that didn’t eat away at the ozone layer. So the Montreal Protocol has contributed greatly to this healing process.
We need to recognise the strong interdependence that exists between our physical state, the environment we live in, and the beings that surround us. As Buddhists, we have to train ourselves to be mindful that our actions do not harm the environment and the fellow beings that surround us on this planet. One area of harming is environmental harming. We need to be part of efforts that are being undertaken to preserve and prevent destruction of the environment –sea, water or air – which are the habitats of other beings.
Thank you Rinpoche for this informative article. Everyone in this planet plays an important part to the mother nature. If we destroy it with our own hands and actions, then we will have to bear the consequences and suffer. We need to be mindful in whatever we do.
With folded plams,
Vivian
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this great news about ozone hole is starting to become smaller as compared to early 1970s and 1980s. People can benefit from mindfulness when they were started to know about ozone layer is getting thinner in 1970s and took many actions especially to reduce the usage of chlorofluorocarbons and refrigerants.
Nevertheless, we should not stop but continue our effort to take care our environment and reduce the waste. When everyone can do that , the global warming will become a historical record in the book.
It is comforting to learn that the ozone is beginning to heal; hopefully the scientist can educate us more on the importance of having this ozone. Without the ozone protection, human, ecology, animals and everything else would face extermination.
Mother earth has really been kind to us by providing the forest and giving us oxygen and absorbing our carbon dioxide. However with the unchecked deforestation still continuing, pumping of poisonous chemical to the atmosphere, other pollutants that threatened the ozone layer, damage control would be harder to achieve in the near future.
I remembered reading somewhere sometime ago that the ozone layer had a hole some years back and it was actually God’s intervention to purposely make a hole to release the pollutants. If that had not being done humans would not be able to sustain mother earth and continue living in it.
This is very encouraging news to know that a part of the Earth is healing. It goes to show that as long as we are abiding to the eco-friendly lifestyle and be aware of the consequences of our consumption and the chemical we use, we can be a responsible citizen of the earth. Thank you for sharing this article with us.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this great article.
Hope everyone appreciate the scientists and those trying to safe the environment for the earth. And we should take responsibility do not polluting our environment because the earth is our home. If our home is polluted then everyone will fall sick at the end of the day.
And the end of the world will soon coming if we do not take it seriously to help our environment healthy. Love the environment like loving your children or family.
Thank you. _/l\_
O3 layer is healing. That is a great news!
Finally the depletion of the ozone layer is retrograding i.e. it is healing. The combined efforts of the control of the usage of CFC and carbon footprint decreases the depletion (by CFC reaction) and UV light reaction with oxygen increases the production of ozone production; resulting in a net increase in the ozone layer.
But we have long way to go; by the article’s approximation, the middle of this centuries; unless efforts are stepped up. Anyhow, I rejoice in this news!
Cheers!
Dear Rinpoche,
This is certainly a good news for us. Who would had expected all the hard work of reducing carbon footprints and ozone depleting agents would had helped the ozone to heal itself. This shows that with the proper care and precautions we do to preserve the earth, the earth might have the ability to heal itself despite of the damage that we had done, If we stop being ignorant and start to do the necessary steps.
Humbly,
Chris Chong
In the chemical industry, there are many global treaties and Montreal Protocol is among one of them. There is also Stockholm Convention, Chemical Weapons Convention, Dual Use, Wassenaar Arrangement, etc. These chemical regulations or international treaties are put there to have some comprehensive control over the proliferation and abuse/misuse of dangerous/harmful chemicals. But it depends on countries to ratify and become signatories to the convention before they can be implemented by the country. Many countries choose to ratify as there is risk of economic sanctions if they do not. Certain countries do not cooperate or want to have a part of the effort. You could guess, countries like North Korea, Afganistan are on the black list.
Glad to know that scientists have recently discovered that the ozone hole is starting to heal.Is a great encouragement for us to keep up the good work. It would take some time for fixing other environment problems with every one of us and international cooperation. Thats the reason many devoted Buddhists live their lives with discipline and awareness, cultivating the attitude of doing no harm to the environment.In the Buddhist teachings, every action we take creates a chain of reactions as said by Rinpoche.That is very true.Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article.
这是非常好的一个消息。不过，我们还要继续照顾好我们的地球，而不是污染我们的环境，世界各地的一些国家已经实施对本国人民的法律，以减少对大自然进一步的伤害，我们大家都要努力保护好我们的地球，使地球健康和安全的给下一代居住。
Great news! Never know that Ozone layer could be healed by itself from damages. Totally fascinating! I always thought that the Ozone layer is going to vanish due to selfish acts(open burning, deforestation, all kinds of polluting and more!) by human beings since we have existed long ago.
Some countries around the world have enforcing laws on their people to minimise further damaging on the mother nature. etc., However, the pace of process is still extremely slow due to lack of supports from the people. We should start think long term wise for the sake of our next generation. Start taking parts on healing the earth within our own circles. Gradually, our actions will able to gather and influence the others to do the same thing.
Be the light, don’t wait for the light. – Tsem Rinpoche
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article and teaching on cause and effect in our daily lives on this Earth.
Thanks to the scientists who discovered the ozone hole and the remedial action. Thanks too, to the activist who educated the public and caused a change.
Thanks to the people who educated the general public on the ozone layer and the problems relating to the ozone hole. This knowledge and actions has resulted in this early healing of Mother Earth.
This is definitely a good news to everyone. Nevertheless, we have to continue to take care of our earth and not polluting our environment. All of us have to play our role so the earth is still safe to live in by the next generation.
I am thankful and grateful for the environment that we live in.
This is great news.
I hope that this wonderful news and information will help inspire the world to tackle the carbon emissions problem which is causing accelerating global warming and all its destructive repercussions.
Here is an article explaining the difference between the ozone hole and global warming – they do not have the same cause and effect:
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/ozone-hole-and-gw-faq.html#.V9wJDph97IU
Thank you Choong for that piece of information. It felt a little like a wet blanket but then again, we are still making some sort of progress in preserving our environment. I cannot imagine what if the ozone hole became bigger and stretched out towards the equator. We would all probably be zapped and get skin cancer or something.
Now, we are down towards reducing the green house gasses that contribute towards global warming. I think that would be easier said than done considering how essential these gasses is with some of essentials in our daily lives. Just in Malaysia, almost everyone lives with air-conditioners these days. The CFC in those machines are bound to leak out into the already huge amounts of green house gasses. It’s an uphill battle and perhaps more difficult than repair the ozone layer. Whatever it is, we have got to do it one way or another.
There’s more good news! Recently, there were enough countries which ratified the Paris Agreement on greenhouse gases for it to come into force.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement