What Can Be Done to Prevent Ozone Depletion?
The primary chemicals that cause damage to the ozone are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs or freons) and bromofluorocarbon (halons). Decreasing or eliminating the use of these chemicals will help protect the ozone layer. For the most part, this has already been done, and substitute chemicals have been found for use. However, many of the other chemicals still cause ozone layer depletion, just not as much, or cause other environmental damage when used. We could try to go in, and remove the extra chemicals from the atmosphere. There are two problems with this approach: 1. It’s very expensive. Scientists predict that the human-caused depletion of the ozone layer will be corrected by 2050, just by not using those chemicals anymore. In the grand scheme of things, that isn’t very long, so would it be worth an enormous cost to speed it up? 2. The consequences are not well known. What else could we end up doing to disturb the atmosphere if we go in and tinker with it? What will the next chemicals do t
