4,- Sunday, May 7,.19$9 - North Shore News Bos HUNTER LAST WEEK, the federal government released for discus- sion ‘‘a Report on Options for Meeting Canada’s Objective to Completely Eliminate Emissions of Controlled Ozone- Depleting Substances within the Next Ten Years.’’ Sounds great. The document has been published in the Canada Gazette, which means that in- dustry, politicians, environmen- talists, and, yes, even media, have three to six months to offer their reactions, at which point the gov- ernment will sit down to draft the “‘final’’ regulations. I put ’‘‘final”’ in quotes because the proposed regulations have been redrafted twice already — even though nothing has actually hap- pened — and, from the looks of things, they are going to have to be redrafted again, probably several times before the eco-mandarins get it right. Before looking at the current discussion paper, let us consider the horrendous amount of time that has been wasted so far, despite the appearance that some- thing substantial is being done te control the situation. Canada hosted an international gathering in Montreal a year and a half ago, at which 11 countries signed a protocol agreeing to substantially reduce the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, chemicals which, when they rise into the atmosphere, start eating away the ozone layer, the thin invisible chemical shield pro- tecting life on earth from solar radiation. Since the signing of the pro- tocol, a total of 33 countries repre- senting most of the industrialized world, have agreed to likewise case off on CFC production, although Third World countries are holding out for some kind of compensation in exchange for not setting up CFC factories. Again, it all sounds great. These countries are patting themselves on the back for responding to the threat to the ozone layer with un- VAP "BRAKE CLUTCH | ALTERNATORS, STARTERS, ETC. * DRUM BRAKE” ~~ PACKAGE - os CLUTCH . “Dis BEARING. epack bearings, install heavy ve :tuming . ake shoes. or organic pads, precedented speed, by historic standards. While this is true, the crisis itself is upon us, and the pattern throughout history has been for ecological catastrophes to have nearly and often entirely run their, course before anybody reacts. If usual slow-motion response pattern holds this time, forget any kind of hopeful tomorrow and start building spaceships to flee to a new planet. Canada, quite undeservedly, has presented itself as perhaps the foremost champion of ozone layer protection. Yet all across Canada, fridges and air conditioners continue to pile up in garbage dumps, with ab- solutely nothing having been done to remove the CFCs. Leaking air conditioners in cars continue to be sloppily refilled be- fore being thrown on the junk heaps. Stereos continue to be packed in rigid polyurethane foam. The result is that the chlorine molecules are escaping into the en- vironment at exactly the same rate they were before Canada signed the Montreal Protocol. Worse than that, manufacturers of CFCs, like the giant Du Pont Co., have not — repeat NOT — cut back on CFC production at all. Last year, Du Pont manufac- tured 21,000 tonnes of CFCs at its plant in Maitland, Ontario. This year, they'll manufacture just as much, although the total will include, according to company officials, more of the ‘‘soft CFCs”’ than before, soft CFCs being the same type of comnound, but less harmful. These officials ¥ < itd not tell me exactly how much i:ss of the worst CFCs they'll be manufacturing, but they did acknowledge the ; { GREAT LOCATIONS > TO SERVE YOU @ OPEN EVENINGS @ SUNDAYS 11 A.M.-5 P.M. 21,000-tonne overall figure. What this means is that in the years that humanity has lost since the first hole in the ozone was discovered in 1982, Du Pont alone has dumped something like 147,000 tonnes of CFCs into the already outrageously polluted at- mosphere of Planet Earth. A single chlorine molecule escaping from a CFC compound has the capacity to destroy 100,000 ozone molecules in the at- mosphere. : There is no natural law standing in the way of total destruction of the ozone layer, should we con- tinue to manufacture CFCs. As long ago as 1972, two Amer- ican scientists warned that con- tinued production of CFCs at the level of 800,000 tonnes a year could destroy as much as 30 to 40 per cent of the total global ozone filter within two decades. We are approaching the end of that period, and a month-long 30 per cent reduction in the ozone layer has been recorded over Canada’s Arctic, covering an area one-third the size of the U.S. In the Antarctic, the hole is as big as all of the U.S., and in some places the level of depletion is 97.2 per cent of the layer. If this was happening anywhere in the world except at the poies, particularily the uninhabited South Pole, national emergencies would long since have been declared. The worst part of the crisis is that the chlorine molecules involv- ed can remaia in the atmosphere for up to 100 years. There has been a truly terrifying concentration of them in the upper atmosphere since 1931, when Gen- eral Motors and Du Pont began production of FREON-12, the Progenitor of all CFCs, If we stopped absolutely all CFC production tomorrow morning, there woutd still be 500,000 tonnes of chlorine that would remain in the sky for at least a gencration. One year from now, over 80 per cent of it would still be there. Its decay rate is painfully slow. In the carly 1980's pruduction did drop off as aerosol sprays, the worst culprit, were 95 per cent eliminated. But new economic excuses were quickly found to keep the vast worldwide CFC production facili- ties humming. Stay tuned. The worst news is yet to come @ WHISTLER — SPECIAL PRICE! § Restaurant Return from only $30.00 Perfect for Birthdays, Weddings, | Special occasions or Airport Service ZAIRLIMO Call Anytime 273133) MAKEITA = MARKEDLY- MARVELOUS MOTHER’S DAY BEAUTIFUL BRUNCH DELIGHTFUL DINNER BRUNCH 12 to 4pm DINNER 5 to9 Pp £N han? “e E 445-13th at Marine Dr.. 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