Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway: Summary
Chapter 4: Constructing a Counternarrative: The Fight over the Ozone Hole The idea that human activities were damaging the Earth’s protective ozone layer entered the public’s mind in 1970. Supersonic Transport would fly inside the stratospheric ozone layer and that worried scientist because they thought the emission would do damage. The MIT commissioned a major study and released a statement to the state of the stratosphere and the possible impact of of the SST. Scientist at Boeing Laboratories accidently undermined the SCEP argument using a different model. They calculated that the water vapor produced by fleet of 850 SSTs would deplete the ozone column by 2-4 percent, occurring mostly in …show more content…
In Berkeley, Johnson tried to turn his calculations into a formal paper, but he had failed to do it properly and the process was delayed. When it was finally published it had an impact on stratospheric science. Meanwhile, in 1970 the National Environmental Policy Act required a shuttle program office to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. That same year James Lovelock documented the widespread presence of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s troposphere. If love lock was right, there were no chemical processes or sinks that could remove CFCs from the lower atmosphere. Rowland and Molin argued they would finally decompose under the impact of ultraviolet radiation, where it would be converted into fluorine and chlorine compounds (known to be ozone scavengers). The aerosol industry immediately responded to their work. In 1977, CFC propellant usage begun to drop by three-quarters because the public realized that there were many substitutes for CFCs, like roll-on-antiperspirants and pump sprays for kitchen cleansers. The ban of propellant took effect in 1979. In 1985, the British
Chapter 4: Constructing a Counternarrative: The Fight over the Ozone Hole The idea that human activities were damaging the Earth’s protective ozone layer entered the public’s mind in 1970. Supersonic Transport would fly inside the stratospheric ozone layer and that worried scientist because they thought the emission would do damage. The MIT commissioned a major study and released a statement to the state of the stratosphere and the possible impact of of the SST. Scientist at Boeing Laboratories accidently undermined the SCEP argument using a different model. They calculated that the water vapor produced by fleet of 850 SSTs would deplete the ozone column by 2-4 percent, occurring mostly in …show more content…
In Berkeley, Johnson tried to turn his calculations into a formal paper, but he had failed to do it properly and the process was delayed. When it was finally published it had an impact on stratospheric science. Meanwhile, in 1970 the National Environmental Policy Act required a shuttle program office to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. That same year James Lovelock documented the widespread presence of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s troposphere. If love lock was right, there were no chemical processes or sinks that could remove CFCs from the lower atmosphere. Rowland and Molin argued they would finally decompose under the impact of ultraviolet radiation, where it would be converted into fluorine and chlorine compounds (known to be ozone scavengers). The aerosol industry immediately responded to their work. In 1977, CFC propellant usage begun to drop by three-quarters because the public realized that there were many substitutes for CFCs, like roll-on-antiperspirants and pump sprays for kitchen cleansers. The ban of propellant took effect in 1979. In 1985, the British