If you caught the ABC special "earth 2100" last week, you were treated to a frightening version of the world as it could be if humans do not act quickly to address issues such as global warming and population growth. But how real are such scenarios? Unfortunately more real than some might like to believe.
To this end, atmospheric chemists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Johns Hopkins University, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency ran a simulation of “what might have been” if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been banned with the 1989 Montreal Protocol.
In summary:
"The year is 2065. Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s ozone is gone—not just over the poles, but everywhere. The infamous ozone hole over Antarctica, first discovered in the 1980s, is a year-round fixture, with a twin over the North Pole. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., is strong enough to cause sunburn in just five minutes. DNA-mutating UV radiation is up more than 500 percent, with likely harmful effects on plants, animals, and human skin cancer rates."
Read all about it online at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldWithoutOzone/page1.php
