Nov
06
| For NBC, An "F" In Climate Science |
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| Tuesday, 06 November 2007 | |
You'd think on the long plane ride down to Antarctica, NBC reporter Ann Curry would have time to brush up on climate science. But here is what she said on the evening news Monday night: "The big hole in the ozone is shrinking, potential proof that international limits on carbon dioxide emissions are working."
That's great, except that carbon-dioxide emissions have nothing to do with the ozone layer, and anyhow, there is no global decline in CO2 emissions. The big ozone hole resulted from chloroflourocarbons (CFCs), an industrial chemical that was pretty much banned in the 1980s by the Montreal Protocol. The ozone layer is found in the stratosphere and protects us from the Sun's ultraviolet rays.
Carbon dioxide emissions, on the other hand, are implicated in global warming, because they trap heat close to the surface. And despite efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, they continue to increase worldwide.
A reminder to take a grain of salt with any environmental news you get from the mainstream media!
Click here to view the video.
For a better informed take on our eco-situation, check out this video clip instead -- it features Chip Giller, one of the founders of Grist and a grad of Brown's environmental studies program, with easy tips for reducing your carbon footprint.
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