Mason Inman - science journalist

2007-03-06, 10:49:00 

I was surprised to see a new report that plugging the ozone hole should play a big role in countering global warming.

I was just working on an essay about air pollution for a new website, and was reading about various greenhouse gases. CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, are one of the most potent of these, but they were phased out from use in refrigerators and spraycans because they were creating the ozone holes. 

CFCs are usually called minor greenhouse gases, though, because they're relatively rare compared with carbon dioxide.

The new study tries to figure out just how much CFCs contribute to global warming, and how much cooler the planet will be as the ozone holes start to refill—a process that is already happening, sooner than researchers expected.

The study found that "the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which restricts the use of CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals, will cut warming by five or six times more than the Kyoto Protocol," New Scientist reports.

Most people who are concerned about future global warming don't think the Kyoto Protocol will do near enough to curb global warming. But still, I was surprised that filling the ozone holes could have such a big effect.

If these unintended consequences can be so much larger than the results from the Kyoto Protocol, which countries are striving to meet—but which many won't—then clearly we need to keep working to understand the atmosphere better. 

Maybe we'll find other ways that are easier than we'd expected for fighting climate change. I'm feeling optimistic this morning, but in general I think it would require people to cut back and make sacrifices, which the relatively rich in industrialized countries are unlikely to want to do.

Anyway, you can read more about the new study on ozone hole effect on New Scientist's website.