Ozone Day 2013: a Healthy Atmosphere, the Future We Want

Chitkara College of Education for Women, Punjab celebrated ozone day on September 16, 2013.

Ozone is a gas in the atmosphere that protects everything living on the Earth from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the Sun. The ozone layer absorbs 93-99% of the sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth. That's why ozone layer is so important to human and other lives on earth.

The Ozone Layer acts as a shield for us from very harmful UV rays. Without the Ozone Layer we wouldn't be able to survive. Exposure to UV rays causes skin cancer, damages crops, and harms ocean life. Without the Ozone Layer the risk of these things would greatly increase.

An example of this is in Australia, where a large amount of ozone has depleted. Around 97% of the citizens have or have had skin cancer problems due to the exposure to harmful UV rays that leak through the Ozone layer. Another risk is polar shifting, a complex event that occurs when uneven melting of ice shelfs occur. A major hole is now over Antarctica, where there are ice shelfs. If these Ice shelfs melt, it could increase coastal flooding and the poles could shift, causing a violent shift in climate.

Keeping it in mind in 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Since then it has been celebrated throughout the world as Ozone Day.

Various activities are done to promote the theme like plantation, skits, street play etc so that to make people aware. Students of Chitkara College of Education for Women had participated in plantation programme in a huge manner. It was no doubt a remarkable initiative towards protect the ozone layer.

Source: Karambir Singh, click4college Specialist