Global Environment and Technology Foundation's ozone layer recovery report

¶ … Stratospheric Ozone Study Indicates: More is Needed for Full Recovery Report Released on the UN International Day to Protect the Ozone Layer (Business Wire)

The article concerns a report by the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, which is aimed at informing government officials, business leaders and the public on the stratospheric ozone issue. The report focuses on solutions rather than only explicating the problem itself. The ideal is then to make all interest holders aware of strategies that can be implemented to mitigate the problem of ozone depletion.

On a personal level, I find the article both encouraging and scary. In terms of the first, it is encouraging that a report of the kind summarized in the article exists. Other encouraging signs are that the depletion of the ozone layer is receiving widespread international attention. Governments, manufacturers, and other powerful stakeholders are taking the problem seriously, which means that something is done about the problem on a large scale.

What is however scary about the report is the fact that even though all the projected strategies and changes are in place well ahead of schedule, this is still not enough to make a significant difference. In fact, at the time of writing, in the year 2003, the ozone problem has reached even larger proportions than those measured previously. What I also find scary is that fact that the problem does not remain constant or localized, but has spread to the Arctic as well. How soon before these problems become significant for us?

I do think however that it is wonderful that scientists and governments are working together to help us as human beings to overcome the problem. I do not believe that it is too late yet, and reports such as the one in the article are beneficial to help us face our environmental problems and deal with them in an effective and sustainable manner. Only by facing problems such as these can we truly achieve not only environmental stability, but also a sense of humanity and respect for every living thing on earth.

Article 2: Conservation Efforts Fuel School Rivalries (Amy Forliti)

This is another encouraging article, although the title is somewhat misleading. The title appears to suggest a negative sense of competition. Upon reading the text, however, it becomes clear that this is not the case. Forliti expounds the efforts of various colleges to conserve energy and fuel. The rivalry occurs in terms of an old competitiveness that has revived because of similar efforts in conservation by the different schools. Ms. Forliti refers to this as "friendly rivalry" - schools are comparing numbers and outcomes to determine which effort resulted in the most benefits and savings to each school.

Examples of these conservation efforts include Carleton College's Wind Turbine and St. Olaf's effort to provide the school cafeteria with pesticide-free food. Sustainability of the latter is ensured by returning waste to the crop fields, thus keeping this from going to waste in landfills. Other efforts include Oberlin College in Ohio, which monitors electricity and water consumption in their dormitories, Conchise College in Douglas, Arizona, with their new energy-saving solar field, and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, with a fossil fuel and electricity saving co-generation plant. The latest planned project at Carleton is the conversion of vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel for oncampus vehicles.

What is particularly inspiring about the article is the attitude of the campus personnel in supporting their students' efforts towards energy and fuel conservation. Lecturers are passionate about teaching students the principles and importance of conservation in a practical way. Furthermore, lecturers understand the importance of cultivating the correct inner paradigm in their students: one where the seriousness of the environmental crisis is understood and internalized. In giving the gift of such wisdom to students, these colleges are creating a bright future for the human race.

Article 5: Overpopulation is "main threat to planet." (Steve Connor)

Even more than poverty, overpopulation is probably both the most controversial and most neglected issue that concerns humanity and the environment. This is also the subject of Steve Connor's article, the gloomiest of the five discussed here. Mr. Connor warns that environmentalists ignore the overpopulation issue at the peril of the future human race. The problem is however that the issue is not only a practical one, but also a moral and political one, including the elements of equity, fairness, and humanity. The scientists cited by the author substantiate the fact that the vast growing numbers of human population will before long have unsustainable energy needs, even if very stringent measures of energy conservation and sustainability are implemented. According to the article, one earth can simply not sustain the needs of the 9 billion people projected to inhabit the planet by the year 2050. Instead, the article suggests that firstly the issue needs to be recognized for the danger it holds to future sustainability, and secondly that practicable and humane solutions need to be implemented by humane measures such as family planning. Surely being politically correct takes a second position to saving a planet that is already straining under a population that is overindulging on the one hand and starving on the other.

A found this article particularly shocking for the immense figures suggested by the number of babies born daily. Such statistics opened my eyes to the core of the problem. Not only are we destroying the planet through our overindulgent, selfish and unsustainable habits, but also by the sheer number of us doing the same thing. No wonder studies such as the one in the first article found very little positive change in the environment around us. It is, as Connor says, time to raise our heads from the sand and face the core of our environmental problems. From the basis of sustainable population numbers, we can then create sustainable energy sources.