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IN 1971, while en route to the moon aboard Apollo 14, Edgar Mitchell said upon viewing the earth: “It looks like a sparkling blue and white jewel.” But what would a person from space see today?

If special spectacles permitted him a view of the invisible gases of earth’s atmosphere, he would see a very different picture. In the magazine India Today, Raj Chengappa wrote: “He would see giant punctures in the protective ozone shields over Antarctica and North America. Instead of a sparkling blue and white jewel he would see a dull, dirty earth filled with dark, swirling clouds of dioxides of carbon and sulphur.”

What has punctured holes in our upper atmosphere’s protective shield of ozone? Is the increase of atmospheric pollutants really so dangerous?

How Ozone Is Being Destroyed

Over 60 years ago, scientists announced the discovery of a safe refrigerant that could replace others that were toxic and gave off a bad odor. The new chemical was composed of molecules having one carbon, two chlorine, and two fluorine atoms (CCl2F2). It and similar man-made chemicals are called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

By the early 1970’s, the production of CFCs had grown into a huge worldwide industry. They were being used not only in refrigerators but also in aerosol spray cans, in air conditioners, in cleaning agents, and in the manufacture of fast-food containers and other plastic-foam products.

However, in September 1974, two scientists, Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, explained that CFCs gradually rise into the stratosphere where they eventually release their chlorine. Each chlorine atom, the scientists calculated, could destroy thousands of ozone molecules. But rather than ozone being destroyed evenly throughout the upper atmosphere, destruction of it has been much greater over the poles.

Every spring since 1979, large amounts of ozone have vanished then reappeared over the Antarctic.

This seasonal drop in ozone is called the ozone hole. Moreover, in recent years the so-called hole has been getting bigger and lasting longer.

In 1992, satellite measurements revealed an ozone hole of record size—larger than North America. And not much ozone was left in it. Balloon measurements revealed a drop of more than 60 percent—the lowest ever recorded.

Meanwhile, ozone levels have also been dropping in the upper atmosphere over other parts of the earth. “Latest measurements,” reports the magazine New Scientist, “show that . . . there were unusually low values of ozone concentration in 1992 between latitudes 50° North and 60° North, covering Northern Europe, Russia and Canada. The ozone level was 12 per cent below normal, lower than at any time in the 35 years of continuous monitoring.”

“Even the most dire predictions,” states the journal Scientific American, “are now shown to have underestimated ozone loss caused by chlorofluorocarbons. . . . And yet at the time, powerful voices in government and industry strongly opposed regulations, on the grounds of incomplete scientific evidence.”

An estimated 20 million tons of CFCs have already been released into the atmosphere.

Since it takes years for CFCs to drift up to the stratosphere, millions of tons have not yet reached the upper atmosphere where they do their damage. However, CFCs are not the only source of ozone-destroying chlorine.

“NASA estimates that about 75 tons of chlorine are deposited in the ozone layer each time a shuttle is launched,” reports the magazine Popular Science.

What Consequences?

The consequences of less ozone in the upper atmosphere are not fully understood. One thing that seems certain, however, is that the amount of harmful UV (ultraviolet) radiation reaching the earth is increasing, resulting in a greater incidence of skin cancer. “During the last decade,” reports the journal Earth, “the annual dose of harmful UV striking the northern hemisphere rose by about 5 percent.”

Just a 1-percent rise in UV is estimated to cause a 2- to 3-percent rise in skin cancer. The African magazine Getaway states: “There are more than 8 000 new cases of skin cancer in South Africa every year . . . We have one of the lowest levels of ozone protection and one of the highest incidences of skin cancer (the connection is no coincidence).”

That the destruction of ozone in the upper atmosphere would cause an increase in skin cancer was predicted years ago by scientists Rowland and Molina.

They recommended an immediate ban on the use of CFCs in aerosols in the United States. Recognizing the danger, many countries have agreed to stop production of CFCs by January 1996. In the meantime, however, the use of CFCs continues to pose a danger to life on earth.

The drop in ozone over Antarctica, reports Our Living World, “has allowed ultraviolet radiation to penetrate deeper into the ocean than previously suspected. . . . This has caused sizeable reductions in the productivity of the single-cell organisms that form the base of the oceanic food chain.” Experiments also show that an increase in UV reduces the yield of many crops, posing a threat to the global food supply.

Indeed, the use of CFCs is potentially catastrophic. Yet our atmosphere is being bombarded by many other pollutants. One is an atmospheric gas that in trace amounts is vital to life on earth.

Effect of Pollution

In the mid-19th century, humans began to burn ever larger amounts of coal, gas, and oil, adding large amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. At that time the amount of this trace atmospheric gas was about 285 parts per million. But as a result of man’s increased use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide has reached over 350 parts per million.

What has been the consequence of more of this heat-trapping gas being in the atmosphere?

Many believe that the increase of carbon dioxide levels is what has caused the rise in earth’s temperatures. Other researchers, however, say that global warming is due particularly to our sun’s variability—that the sun has been emitting greater energy in recent times.

Whatever the case, the decade of the 1980’s was the hottest since records started to be kept in the mid-19th century. “The trend continued into this decade,” reports the South African newspaper The Star, “with 1990 the hottest year on record, 1991 the third warmest, and 1992 . . . the tenth warmest year in the 140-year record.” The slight decrease over the past two years is attributed to dust ejected into the atmosphere when Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991.

The future effects of the increase of temperatures on earth are hotly debated.

But one thing global warming evidently has done is to complicate the already difficult task of weather forecasting. New Scientist notes that wrong forecasts “may be increasingly likely as global warming changes the climate.”

Many insurance companies fear that global warming will make their policies unprofitable. “Faced with [a] spate of misfortunes,” admits The Economist, “some reinsurers are reducing their exposure to natural disasters. Others are talking of quitting the market altogether. . . . They are scared of uncertainty.”

Significantly, in 1990, the warmest year on record, a large portion of the Arctic ice pack retreated to an unprecedented degree. This resulted in hundreds of polar bears being stranded on Wrangell Island for over a month. “With global warming,” warns the magazine BBC Wildlife, “these conditions . . . might become a regular occurrence.”

“Weather experts,” reported an African newspaper in 1992, “are blaming global warming for a dramatic increase in the number of icebergs which are drifting north from Antarctica and presenting a hazard to ships in the south Atlantic.” According to the January 1993 issue of Earth, the gradual rising of the sea level off the coast of southern California is due, in part, to a warming of the water.

Unfortunately, humans keep pumping a staggering amount of toxic gases into the atmosphere. “In the USA,” states the book The Earth Report 3, “a 1989 report by the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that more than 900,000 tonnes of toxic chemicals are pumped into the air every year.” This figure is considered an underestimate because it does not include exhaust fumes from millions of motor vehicles.

Shocking reports of air pollution also come from many other industrialized countries. Especially horrifying have been the recent revelations of uncontrolled air pollution in Eastern European lands during decades of Communist rule.

Earth’s trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, are among the victims of toxic air. New Scientist reported: “Germany’s trees are growing increasingly unhealthy, according to . . . the minister of agriculture [who said] that air pollution continues to be one of the main reasons for the forest’s failing health.”

The situation is similar in the Transvaal Highveld of South Africa. “The first signs of acid rain damage are now appearing in the Eastern Transvaal where pine needles are changing from a healthy dark green to a sickly mottled beige,” reports James Clarke in his book Back to Earth.

Such reports come from around the world. No country is immune. With chimney stacks that reach high into the sky, industrialized countries export their pollution to neighboring lands.

Man’s record of greedy industrial development does not inspire hope.

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MANY scientists from around the world believe that global warming is here and that it will continue to worsen as developing countries push forward in industrial development. Some three billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) are spewed out annually into the global atmosphere through the burning of fuels, such as coal, oil, and wood, for energy, and through deforestation burning.

According to some scientists, the so-called greenhouse effect, resulting from the gases of fuel combustion, threatens to warm the atmosphere 3 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the next century. This increase would be fatal to corals and the reef communities.

But the death of the coral reefs would also adversely affect terrestrial life. Natural History magazine observed: “The coral reefs, however, are themselves key players in the greenhouse scenario and may be as important as tropical rain forests in reducing greenhouse gases. As they deposit calcium carbonate for their skeletons, corals remove a large volume of CO2 from the oceans. Without zooxanthellae [coral’s symbiotic-resident algae], the amount of carbon dioxide corals metabolize is drastically reduced. Ironically, damage to this undersea ecosystem could accelerate the very process that hastens its demise.”

Some scientists believe that other gases released by combustion add to the greenhouse effect.

Nitrous oxide for one, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for another. In fact, each CFC molecule is 20,000 times as efficient at trapping heat as one molecule of CO2. CFCs have also been targeted as the main cause for the thinning of the ozone layer, which protects life on earth from harmful ultraviolet rays. The ozone at the North Pole and the South Pole has thinned sufficiently to cause holes. That is more bad news for corals. Experiments exposing miniature coral reefs that were already stressed by warm water to tiny increases in ultraviolet light aggravated bleaching. The magazine Scientific American ruefully observed: “Even if chlorofluorocarbon emissions stopped today, chemical reactions causing the destruction of stratospheric ozone would continue for at least a century. The reason is simple: the compounds remain that long in the atmosphere and would continue to diffuse into the stratosphere from the tropospheric reservoir long after emissions had ceased.”

On a personal level, individuals can act responsibly by not contaminating the oceans or coastal areas with litter or pollutants. If you visit a reef, follow instructions not to touch or stand on coral. Don’t take or buy coral souvenirs. If boating near tropical reefs, set anchor on sandy bottoms or floating moorings supplied by marine authorities. Don’t speed or churn up the bottom with your boat propeller.

Don’t discharge boat sewage into the ocean; find docks and marinas that will accept it. Bill Causey, manager of the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary (Florida, U.S.A.), noted: “Man is probably creating the problem that causes the imbalance. We have to become conscious of it globally. If we continue to heighten public awareness of the threat of losing a major ecosystem, then maybe we can change things.”

On a regional level, laws to protect coral reefs are being passed and enforced. The state of Florida sues owners of ships that damage its reefs. The owners of a freighter that plowed up several acres of coral when it ran aground paid a $6-million fine. Part of the money was used to restore the marine habitat. Presently, using special adhesives, biologists are attempting to reattach coral that was damaged by a ship in 1994. Another fine, of $3.2 million, was levied against a company for damages done to a Florida reef by one of its freighters. Other countries are enacting similar sanctions. Popular sites for diving, such as the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, have limited areas where diving is permitted. Australia created its Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to control activities there. But as all have seen, the more divers, the more damage to the reefs.

Will All Nations Join the Fight?

On a global level, alarmed scientists and leaders conclude that the solution is beyond one nation or even a group of nations. Pollution is carried around the globe by circling currents of air and water, impacting the reefs. Individual nations have no jurisdiction beyond their territorial waters. Pollutants dumped on the high seas eventually end up on the shores. A unified global effort and solution are needed.

No doubt many sincere and capable people in the world will continue to struggle to save earth’s awesome coral treasures. A world government that is sensitive to and cares for earth’s environment is clearly and desperately needed.

Happily, the Creator himself will rescue the global environment. When God made the first humans, he said: “Let them have in subjection the fish [and all marine life] of the sea.” (Genesis 1:26) Since God didn’t abuse or exploit marine life, his mandate to mankind must have meant that man should care for the global environment.

The Bible foretells: “There are new heavens [God’s heavenly Kingdom] and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) In the near future, that heavenly government will completely cleanse this polluted earth, including its oceans. Then, citizens of God’s Kingdom will care for and enjoy the beautiful oceans and their marine inhabitants to the full.