Environmental damage seen from shuttle

[Bob]

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- Commander Eileen Collins said astronauts on shuttle Discovery had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned on Thursday that greater care was needed to protect natural resources.

Her comments came as NASA pondered whether to send astronauts out on an extra space walk to repair additional heat-protection damage on the first shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Discovery is linked with the international space station and orbiting 220 miles above the Earth.

"Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the world," Collins said in a conversation from space with Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used," said Collins, who was standing with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi in front of a Japanese flag and holding a colorful fan.

Collins, flying her fourth shuttle mission, said the view from space made clear that Earth's atmosphere must be protected, too.

"The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it's so very thin," she said. "We know that we don't have much air, we need to protect what we have."

[Venus]

Wow to think it took astronauts to remind us of the environmental concerns. We have known this for years, yet we still to this day do nothing about it. Thanx for the article I enjoyed the reminder of this.

[trojanmiro]

nature harms itself at an alarming rate though itself. i remember hearing before that a volcanic eruption is equal to about 100,000 shuttle launches. perhaps ill check up on that info.

[Pumpkin]

So basically we're screwed... :sad:
I'll never ever forget Columbia, exploded on my birthday, February 1st, 2003...
I swear my birthday's cursed... :unsure:

[sws4420]

First you, then the shuttle. I agree.

[trojanmiro]

:laughing:
First you, then the shuttle. I agree.

[trojanmiro]

i actually followed up a lil on my statement with some research.

Natural sources also contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer, but not nearly as much as human activity. Natural sources can be blamed for approximately 15 to 20 percent of ozone damage. A common natural source of ozone damage is naturally occurring chlorine. Naturally occurring chlorine, like the chlorine released from the reaction between a CFC molecule and UV radiation, also has detrimental effects and poses danger to the earth.

Finally, volcanic eruptions are a small contributor to ozone damage, accounting for one to five percent. During large volcanic eruptions, chlorine, as a component of hydrochloric acid (HCl), is released directly into the stratosphere, along with sulfur dioxide. In this case, sulfur dioxide is more harmful than chlorine because it is converted into sulfuric acid aerosols. These aerosols accelerate damaging chemical reactions, which cause chlorine to destroy ozone.

The ozone hole: Why over Antarctica?

When the topic of the ozone layer arises, many people immediately think of the hole over Antarctica, but few know why the hole is actually there. In 1985, British scientists discovered this hole. A special condition exists in Antarctica that accelerates the depletion of the ozone layer. Every Arctic winter, a polar vortex forms over Antarctica. A polar vortex is “a swirling mass of very cold, stagnant air surrounded by strong westerly winds” (Roan, 126). Since there is an absence of sun during Arctic winters, the air becomes incredibly cold and the formation of ice clouds occurs. When the sun returns in the spring, the light shining on the nitrogen oxide filled ice particles activates the formation of chlorine. This excess of ozone destroying chlorine rapidly accelerates the depletion of the ozone layer. Finally, when the polar vortex breaks up, the rapid dissolution decreases. It is evident that the effects of the polar vortex are dramatic. “For about two month every southern spring, the total ozone declines by about 60% over most of Antarctica. In the core of the ozone hole, more than 75% of the ozone is lost and at some altitudes, the ozone virtually disappeared in October, 1993” (Nilsson, 19). The average size of the ozone hole is larger than most continents, including South America, Europe, Australia, and Antarctica, and the maximum size of the ozone hole in 1996 was larger than North America (See Figure 5). Finally, one must note that the “hole” over Antarctica is truly a “hole” only in the Antarctic spring, when the depletion is extremely severe due to the vortex.

[sws4420]

There isn't a liberal alive that understands any of that and the reason why the tree-hugging hippies don't bring that up on their moronic Earth Day. I think it illustrates how important we think we are in this universe to think that we could affect something on a global level like that. Any any given moment, when Mother Earth is tired of our shit, she'll just shake us off like the fleas that we are. In the meantime, there's :eg0.org:.

[trojanmiro]

life will never exist on earth forever. the suns gravity slowly draws us closer and closer each year. i dont know how long it will take but earth will eventually be like mars. theonly chance the human race will have to survive is to hope to find a habitable planet to jump too. with an economy based on fossill fuels i dont see that advancement ever happening without some drastic overhaul of politicians we elect.