Update 08/23/2006: See link at the end of the original post!

A few months ago, I added a few thoughts I had about the efforts by the green people to balance the system of the Earth, and thereby the Universe….I just now realized that’s the same thinking before Copernicus had his ideas accepted, so this set of Earth centric thinking is actually medival at it’s very core….

Anyhow….yesterday’s paper had an interesting article:

“Trying to help the ozone, with unintended effects”

WASHINGTON – Cool your home, warm the planet.

When more than two dozen countries undertook in 1989 to fix the ozone hole over Antarctica, they began replacing chloroflourocarbons in refrigerators, air conditioners and hair spray.

But, using other gases that contain chlorine or fluorine also contributes greatly to global warming.

CFCs destroy ozone, the atmospheric layer that helps protect against the sun’s most harmful rays, and trap the earth’s heat, contributing to a rise in average surface temperatures.

In theory, the ban should have helped both problems. But the countries that signed the Montreal Protocol didn’t realize that CFC users would seek out the cheapest alternative.

The chemicals that replaced CFCs are better for the ozone layer, but do little to help global warming. These chemicals, too, act as a reflective layer in the atmosphere that traps heat like a greenhouse.

Wow…first it was the skies are getting too dirty, so we have to clean up the plannet, so we don’t have an ice age, only to find out a clearer atmosphere allows more of the sun’s energy to reach us, and thereby heats up the atmosphere, so we now are in a warming cycle.

I’m not for blatant waste and environmental destruction, but I think it’s quite arrogant of us to think we can possibly comprehend the mechanisms involved with the plant’s climatology, and try to pass laws to make “the system” conform to the desires of a few people who need more grant money to justify their jobs….

So, I open up Netscape this moring, and one of the featured articles is about how the ozone hole has stabilized:

“Ozone hole stable, say scientists”

Leading scientists in the United States say the hole in the ozone layer of the Earth’s atmosphere above the Antarctic appears to have stopped widening.

The ozone layer blocks the Sun’s ultra-violet rays, exposure to which is harmful to humans, animals and plants.

International agreements were reached to end the use of ozone-depleting chemicals called CFCs after the hole was discovered in 1986.

It is hoped the hole may “heal” fully over the next 60 years.

So…here we are. Some scientists say it’s stable (note in the main article on the stability of the hole, the Dr Susan Solomon is the scientist quoted is the one who originally “found” the hole”). Who are we to believe now?