How far is USA responsible for ozone depletion?

Answer 1

Soley responsible

Answer 2

This is actually a harder question to answer that people think. The chemicals found in aerosol can responsible for causing the hole in the ozone are not legal in the United States or Canada and haven't been since the 1970's - we switched voluntaryly. However, they are still available in many other countries.

The depletion of the ozone is a chain rection process. Once the Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) move into the upper layers of the atmosphere, they break down and those smaller compounds then break down ozone. What is left from that reaction, then continues to break down more ozone. There is some hope the ozone layer may rebound. The depletion seems to have stalled for now.

Answer 3

There is this theory going around that is gaining popularity that the United States is responsible for every bad thing that happens on the planet.

I don't buy it though. We have a lot of power, like Bush for instance created Hurricane Katrina and guided it to New Orleans, but we can't control an entire planet or destroy an entire planet.

By the way it was the evil US who developed space flight so we could know that the ozone layer was even there. We measured it and monitored it's size. As a result we also banned CFC use in this country. Many of the "good" countries still use CFCs and one molecule of Freon 12 can destroy a million ozone molecules.

Answer 4

Hi. America is responsible for quite a bit but as China and India and other countries develop the ratio may go down. (The ozone over Antarctica rebounded this year, meaning the ozone depletion was lessening and actually recovering. Hope springs eternal.)

Answer 5

Ozone depletion has nothing to do with gasoline consumption, as both the previous answerers seems to indicate.

We did developed most of the products that used CFC's (refrigerators, air conditioners, aerosols) but were also one of the first countries to ban production of CFC's and led the research that has developed ozone-friendly alternatives. And depletion of the ozone layer has actually begun to reverse itself, such that the ozone "hole" should disappear within the next 3-4 decades.

Answer 6

Why is it the USA's fault? Despite the fac that we do consume a huge amount of oil, nations, such as India and China have many more people than us. Could they play a huge role in the depletion of the ozone layer? I would say probably.

Answer 7

I would say just a little bit more than the rest of the world. Yes there are some of us that do use public transportation, car pool, bike, walk to work like the rest of the world try's to do. But a vast majority don't do those things.

But to say that the USA is the most I would have to say no.

Answer 8

i think we should set an example here we still have a lot to do as they say people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones

Answer 9

I say mostly. Any other country adding to it is only copying what we did here! Our government lies to us and hides things from us, so yes I feel it's our fault!

Answer 10

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