There are a number of ozone depletion myths in Eco-Sanity, a "brownlash" book by Joseph L. Bast, Peter J. Hull and Richard C. Rue. Many of theses myths are taken from Dixy Lee Ray's book Environmental Overkill. Robert Parson wrote a critique of the material on ozone depletion in that book, and I will point out the sections that correspond to the myths in Eco-Sanity. Here are some of the myths in Eco-Sanity.
Myth: The Antarctic Ozone hole was discovered in the 1950s by G. M. B. Dobson.
This myth is repeated several times. All that is needed to show that this is a myth is to look at the paper that announced the discovery of the hole to the world , Farman, et al.. (This paper, one of the most important in ozone depletion science, is not cited in Eco-Sanity.) The graphs in the paper show that they used data going back to 1956, and they also show that the amount of springtime ozone over Antarctic began dropping rapidly in the 1970s. Clearly it is very unlikely that this was not the natural phenomena that Eco-Sanity claims it is. (A copy of the graph showing springtime ozone levels can be seen at http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/images/easoe/total_ozone.gif) (For a longer analysis see Parson item number 6.) In the references (page 279) the book cited a paper (Rigaud and Leroy) that has been used to claim that there was an ozone hole in 1958. Paul A Newman took a thorough look at the issue and concluded that "There is no credible evidence for an ozone hole in 1958."
Myth: CFCs are not persistent in the atmosphere.
This claim is based on a series of myths.
1. "In August 1993, NOAA researchers found that the initial phase of replacing CFCs had already resulted in a virtual halt in the growth of CFC-11 and CFC-12 concentrations. . . .This accomplishment occurred much sooner than was expected by proponents of the CFC ban or by scientists working for industry. What happened?" (page 71)
This "accomplishment" did not come as a surprise to anyone. Elkins et al. reported that the decrease in the atmospheric growth rates of the two gasses "is consistent with CFC-producer's own estimates of reduced emissions."
2. "Part of the answer appears to be that a natural mechanism for removing CFCs from the atmosphere exists after all." (page 71)
It was the identification of the natural removal mechanism that initiated the concern that CFCs would damage the ozone layer. Using laboratory experiments and calculations, Molina and. Rowland determined that CFCs would drift up to the stratosphere, and then be decomposed by ultraviolet radiation. The decomposition would release chlorine, and the chlorine would catalytically destroy ozone molecules.
3. "Two scientists studying termite colonies reported in 1989 that soil microbes are capable of speedily destroying several kinds of CFCs, including that notorious ozone killer, CFC-12." (pages 71-73)
For references, the authors cite two scientific papers by Khalil and Rasmussen, and add "For discussion see Dixy Lee Ray and Lou Guzzo, Environmental Overkill, p. 47". However, neither paper supports the claim that soil microbes break down CFCs, and it is clear that their conclusions come straight from Environmental Overkill. There are so many errors in Ray's statements that it would be difficult to even list them all. (Some of the major ones are discussed by Parson in item 4).
Myth: There has been no significant decrease in stratospheric ozone.
The recent scientific literature does not support their claims, especially the claim that since 1986 global ozone has been increasing steadily. The reference for the increase since 1986 is the anti-environmental George C. Marshall Institute, which has been criticised for not peer reviewing its reports. Stolarski et al., published in 1992, found that the found that the long term trends (January 1958 through March 1991) for North America, Europe and the Far East were -2.1, -1.9 and -1.5 percent per decade. The short term trends (November 1978 to March 1991) were even more negative, -4.6, - 3.8 and - 3.8 percent per decade. All of these trends were statistically significant. Since 1991 the amount of stratospheric ozone has continued to fall. Recent papers have included "Record Low Global Ozone in 1992" by Gleason et al.. and "Further Ozone Decline During the Northern Hemisphere winter-spring of 1994-1995 and the New Record low Ozone Over Siberia" by Bojkov et al..
Myth: The amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth is decreasing.
Determining trends in ultraviolet-B (the wavelengths blocked by the ozone layer) is much harder than determining changes in stratospheric ozone. The instruments are hard to calibrate, and readings can be thrown off by air pollution and cloud cover. The claim that UV-B is decreasing is based primarily on a study by Scotto et al. The study was based on instruments located in cities were they could have been effected by air pollution. The readings from Mauna Lou, Hawaii that the book cites are not relevant, little ozone depletion has occurred in the tropics. A number of more recent studies have shown increases in UVB radiation (Parson item 9,. Madronich et al.). Of particular note is a study by Kerr and McElroy which tracked daily changes in total ozone and UVB. There was a strong correlation between loss of ozone and increases in UVB They found that decreases in total ozone between 1989 and 1993 caused an increase in UV near 300 nanometers of 35 % per year in winter and 7 % per year in summer.
Poor scholarship: Parson ends by noting Ray's poor scholarship in Environmental Overkill, and many of the same criticisms can be made of Bast, Hill and Rue in Eco-Sanity. The authors did not use any of the reviews by the World Meteorological Organization, nor are there any references to the major papers on the subject. The papers that are cited are often misrepresented. The main source for much of the material is Environmental Overkill itself, much of the rest comes from such anti-environmental books and periodicals as Insight, Rational Readings on Environmental Concerns, Eco-Scam, and the World Climate Review.
References
Bast, Joseph l., Peter J. Hill, and Richard C. Rue, Eco-Sanity: A common-Sense Guide to Environmentalism, Madison Books, 1994
Bojkov, Rumen D. et al. "Further Ozone Decline During the Northern Hemisphere Winter-spring of 1994-1995 and the New Record low Ozone Over Siberia", Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 22, 1995, pages 2729 to 2732.
Elkins, J. W., et al., "Decrease in the growth rates of atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons 11 and 12", Nature, Vol. 364, 1993, pages 780 to 783..
Farman, J. C., B. G. Gardiner & J. D. Shanklin, "Large Losses of Total Ozone in Antarctica Reveal Seasonal ClOx/NOx Interaction"' Nature, Vol. 315, 1985, pages 207-210.
Gleason, J. F. et al., "Record Low Global Ozone in 1992", Science, Vol. 260, 1993, pages 523 to 526.
Kerr, J. B. and C. T. McElroy, "Evidence for Large Upward Trends of Ultraviolet-B Radiation Linked to Ozone Depletion", Science, Vol. 262, pages 1032 to 1034.
Khalil, M.. A. K. and R. A. Rasmussen, "The Potential of Soils as a Sink of Chlorofluorocarbons and Other Man-made Chlorocarbons", Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 16, 1989, pages 679-682.
Khalil, et al. "The Influence of Termites on Atmospheric Trace Gases: CH4, CO2, CHCL3, N2O, CO, H2 and Light Hydrocarbons", Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 95, No. D4, 1990, pages 3619 to 3634.
Madronich, Saha, et al. "Changes in Ultraviolet Radiation Reaching the Earth's Surface", Ambio, Vol. 24, 1995, pages 143 to 152.
Molina, Mario J. & F. S. Rowland, "Stratospheric Sink for Chlorofluoromethanes: Chlorine Atom Catalysed Destruction of Ozone"' Nature, Vol. 249, pages 810 to 812.
Newman, "Antarctic Total Ozone in 1958", Science, April 22, 1994, pp 543-546.
Ray, Dixy Lee & Lou Guzzo, Trashing the Planet: How Science Can Help Us Deal with Acid Rain, Depletion of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things), HarperPerennial, 1990.
Rigaud, P. and B. Leroy, "Presumptive Evidence for a Low Value of the Total Ozone content Above Antarctica in September 1958," Annales Geophysicae, Vol. 8, 1990, pages 791-794.
Scotto, Joseph, et al., "biologically Effective Ultraviolet Radiation: Surface Measurements in the U.S., 1974-1985"' Science, Vol. 293. 1988, pages 762-764.
Written by Jim Norton
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