Old demons remain, new emerge

‘Developed nations want India to leapfrog to a technology which even they have not accepted’

Give us a brief background of the simmering debate between developed and developing countries on phasing out hydrofluorocarbons Interviewee:  Sukumar Devotta

Climate of irrationality

The multilateral treaty to protect the ozone layer has been a successful environmental agreement. But an impasse over restricting the use of extremely potent greenhouse gases is set to mar the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Protocol on September 16.

Fig leaf for the business world

India is obliged under the Montreal Protocol to gradually stop the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which cause unimaginable damage by burning a hole in the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. The industrialised countries have already phased out some of these substances. The first deadline for India and other developing nations comes on January 1, 2010, when these countries are expected to entirely stop using CFCs.

Widening the gap

ten years after the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed, it is being hailed as a success story of cooperation between policy makers, scientists, industry and non-government organisations.

Anxiety helps hasten ozone safety deadlines

DISAPPOINTMENT among green NGOs and irritation among developing countries over the foot-dragging attitude of some developed countries characterised the week-long meeting in Copenhagen of the parties to the so-called Montreal Protocol. But alarming data presented on the state of the ozone layer, which protects life on earth from the sun's ultra-violet (UV) radiation, inexorably nudged delegates into speeding up the timetable for the phasing out of a number of ozone-depleting substances.

Saving the Ozone

Try punching the air in front of you. Does it leave a hole? Surely not. But the ozone layer that exists in the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere just above us, does have a hole.

The disturbing Ozone alert

Eco-thriller

Many today talk about crimes against nature in the same breath as arms and drug smuggling. The film, Ozone Killers, is about a problem that many believed was taken care of long time ago. It shows how wrong the assumption was. In 1987 the Montreal Protocol banned the production of cfcs (chlorofluorocarbons) for use as propellants and coolants. These chemicals are considered to be the main cause of the destruction of the protective ozone layer in the Earth's atmosphere.

Why should progress be putrid?

Last time I wrote about the cycle of poison, where one toxic substance is replaced with another, equally toxic, one. This cycle, I wrote, is exactly like the modern economy where business is profitable only when it comes up with profitable solutions for old problems. It is a toxic tango, deadly for our health and environment. It defies the logic of progress.