So NASA now tells us ozone is still being depleted around boreal sunrise, despite the reduction in CFCs, because the same changes in the greenhouse effect that cause global warming also happen to induce stratospheric cooling, which hastens ozone depletion. That linkage of two aging issues is likely to strike out. Be aware that correlation here does not imply causation. All of this means that when the planet was teeming with dinosaurs, cycads, and whatever else fossilized itself into whatever makes General Motors go, the Earth's natural greenhouse effect was several times greater than it is today. Which means that the stratosphere was several degrees colder.
Nature really does bat last.
She survived through all those innings when ultraviolet radiation rained down through the naturally low stratospheric ozone. And in doing so, she reveals the truth about the current environmental game. Return to June 2000 contents .