“Things could heat up with ozone layer

By Bonnie Vance News Staff – A NASA scientist, saying that “We are conducting one big experiment with the Earth’s atmosphere,” warned that industrial pollutants are destroying the ozone layer that normally protects Earth from excessive solar ultraviolet rays. This destruction could result in increased rates of skin cancer, weakened immune systems (the body’s defense against disease) and destruction of entire life systems, Watson said he expects a decision from the EPA by November 1987 regarding fluorocarbon regulation. One of the same chemicals destroying the ozone, carbon dioxide, Is also responsible for the greenhouse effect, said Henrv Zintambilia, ISU professor of geography-geology. “A greenhouse’s glass allows solar radiation to get in. . .where it is converted to sensible heat,” Zintambilia said. “This heat starts trying to leave the greenhouse, but it cannot penetrate the glass to the outside. .

.this makes the greenhouse warmer.” Normally, the water vapor in the clouds acts as the panes of the greenhouse, allowing just enough heat to escape into space to keep the Earth’s temperatures relatively constant, he said. But increased levels of carbon dioxide from manufacturing processes increase the clouds’ abilities to absorb and reflect the heat back to Earth, and many scientists believe this is causing a reported increase in the Earth’s average temperatures, Zintambilia said. The immediate threat lies in the potential melting of the Earth’s glaciers, causing the sea levels to rise, Zintambilia said, which “will be a great catastrophe causing enormous flooding.” If we continue adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, he said, “There may be a time when the temperatures currently experienced in Florida may be experienced in New York.”

Summer Vidette 25 June 1986 — The Vidette Digital Archives

The transition of New York’s climate into Florida’s isn’t going very quickly.