Now we all know about the ozone, that layer of gases that surrounds our earth, but what does it mean to say that it has a hole on it? Can we pierce it with a shuttle? In reality, what we know as “ozone” consists of many layers and it gets weaker as it goes farther away from the earth. A whole on it is caused by certain chemicals that deteriorate these gases and makes them weaken in certain areas. The reason why we care is that the gases that used to be all over the place are there for a reason, they filter out the Ultra Violet rays from the sun.

These rays burn the skin of many people who might not even be using the polluting artifacts such as sprays with CFC. If we stop to think about it for a minute, we realize that it is mainly our fault that the South Pole is melting. It does not take an Einstein to figure it out; we produce most of the Earth’s pollution yet we are able to go to the beach and get a tan without getting skin cancer. Even though North Americans own almost half of the world’s cars, and the contamination of the earth comes from countries not too far from the Equator, the whole was formed way south of this area.

In some areas of southern Argentina and Chile called “Tierra de Fuego” (Spanish for “Land of Fire”) people cannot step out of their houses in short sleeves because there is nothing protecting them from the sun’s strong rays. What worsens this situation is that once these rays are around the earth, they reflect on the earth but cannot get out because these same gases keep them in. This Causes the Greenhouse effect because, just like in a greenhouse, the sun’s heat stays in the atmosphere without escape. According to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average global temperature increased about 1ºF (0.6ºC) during the 20th century.

This might not be so alarming now, but if we do not take action now, they will continue to boost up the same way, faster and faster with time. What about trees? Don’t they turn the bad gases (Carbon Dioxide) into the ones we can breathe? The answer is yes, they do, but we are running out of those too… but enough for today, you will know more about that in a future issue.