Antarctic Ozone Layer Expected to Return to Normal, EPA Report Says
The six-mile-high ozone layer that shields the earth from harmful solar rays is on the road to recovery, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
By CleanLink Editorial Staff
The six-mile-high ozone layer that shields the earth from harmful solar rays is on the road to recovery, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A report from the EPA,
Achievements in Stratospheric Ozone Protection: Progress Report, recognizes the investments of the many collaborators who have worked towards protecting and restoring the ozone layer.
The report finds the ozone layer has not grown thinner over most of the world since 1998 and the Antarctic ozone level is projected to return to pre-1980 levels between 2060 and 2075.
The EPA estimates that measures implemented by the U.S. to restore the ozone layer will have impacts including:
- By 2165, actions to protect and restore the ozone layer are projected to save 6.3 million U.S. lives that would otherwise have been lost to skin cancer.
- Every dollar invested in ozone protection is estimated to provide $20 of societal health benefits in the U.S.
- Protecting the stratospheric ozone layer is estimated to produce $4.2 trillion in societal health benefits over the period 1990 to 2165.
- Additionally, since many ozone-depleting substances are also greenhouse gases, replacing these substances with substitutes that are safer for the ozone layer can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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