The hole in the ozone layer

• larger pattern: how a problem is identified, political action is taken (deciding on regulation), solution put into place
  
• ground level ozone is a dangerous pollutant
• stratospheric ozone protects us from UV radiation
• in the upper atmosphere ozone is constantly being created and decaying
  
• certain chemicals, particularly CFCs used in air conditioning and aerosol cans, cause reactions that cause stratospheric ozone to decay faster
• hole in the ozone layer discovered by scientific experiments at the south pole and from satellites
• we got very quickly to clear scientific data about the problem
  
• if this had continued the ozone layer would have gotten thinner and thinner all over the earth
• if the ozone layer gets thinner there will be more skin cancer
  
• international agreements to stop producing those chemicals--1987 Montreal Protocol
• countries agreed to stop using CFCs
  
• chemical engineers went out and found alternative chemicals (green chemistry)
  
• this is working
  
• a much easier issue than global warming because there are easy substitutes
• this is a technological fix--we can invent a solution to the problem instead of having to change our behavior
  

Backlash against the environmental movement on the grounds of personal property rights and local control

• if you own swampy land near the coast, you aren't allowed to drain and fill it to build houses because wetlands are protected
  
• the mainstream big-government approach was a paternalistic state--the government should protect us
  
• trend 1990-2006--more suspicion of government, more individualism, maybe people have to protect ourselves, questioning when the government tries to make things better does it really work?
  
• but there was significant reaction against the federal government telling people what to do
  
• as in the Sagebrush Rebellion people tried to claim local control over federal land
• fight in Cantron county, New Mexico, about the owners of a small ranch who had permits to graze cattle on 145,000 acres of federal wilderness land
• more recently the issue has been property rights--should the government compensate you every time regulation limits what you can do with your property?
• if it did, regulation would be too expensive
• compromise--you can fill wetlands in one place if you restore an equal amount someplace else
• how much are we willing to accept limits on individualism and property rights for the collective good?
  
• the sucess of the environmental movement meant problems were less obvious and less pressing
• how bad do we see the problem to be, how much will it cost us to fix it, how much will we have to give up to fix it
  
• opinions became more polarized--people on both sides were less willing to compromise
  

Global warming is a new kind of issue forcing us to confront the changes in behavior and need to work globally that Rothman says the environment movement failed to achieve in the mid 1990s

• hard case--the problem did not become clear quickly and the solution requires changes in behavior, there isn't an easy technological fix
  
• the industrial revolution led to burning of fossil fuels and increasing carbon levels in the atmosphere--increase in carbon dioxide from 280 to 375 ppm
  
• it is hard for us to believe we are affecting the whole world, not just our local area
• how to balance action globally?

• the third world will be hurt most
• is there a technological fix?
  
• nuclear power (expensive, some people are afraid of it)
• make cars and houses more efficient (maybe 10 or 20%)
• pump carbon back into the ground--can this be done at a reasonable cost?  Carbon sequestration requires the least change in what we do, but would be very expensive
• plant more trees (maybe 10%)
• put sulfur dioxide in the upper atmosphere (artificial volcano)
• put mirrors in space to reflect sunlight away
• should we consider such geoengineering?
  
• there aren't easy substitutes; we may actually have to change our way of life
• people in the developed world use far more than our share of resources
  
• we can reduce energy use (this is actually the cheapest alternative), find sources of energy that don't produce carbon (hydro, wind, solar, nuclear) or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
  
• are we willing to change the way we do things to prevent these problems?  the next few years will tell
  
• science cannot give us sure predictions