More Evidence Identifies China as The Source of Mysterious Ozone-Destroying Emissions
For years, a mystery puzzled environmental scientists. The world had banned the use of many ozone-depleting compounds in 2010. So why were global emission levels [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0106-2] [DX] still so high?
The picture started to clear up in June. That's when The New York Times published an investigation into the issue. China, the paper claimed, was to blame for these mystery emissions. Now it turns out the paper was probably right to point a finger.
In a paper [open, DOI: 10.1029/2018GL079500] [DX] published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, an international team of researchers confirms that eastern China is the source of at least half of the 40,000 tonnes of carbon tetrachloride emissions currently entering the atmosphere each year. They figured this out using a combination of ground-based and airborne atmospheric concentration data from near the Korean peninsula.
Previously: Someone, Somewhere, is Making a Banned Chemical that Destroys the Ozone Layer
Illegal Chinese Refrigerator Factories Are Selling Banned CFCs
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 29 2018, @08:35PM (1 child)
Yeah, I realize this as it becomes a fad. I've been on the internet since it was a government only thing - before it was called the internet, and also with BBSes and have noticed very sharp shifts in public opinion out of seemingly nowhere and have long wondered about this. Could be an eternal September thing, who knows? Would make a good archeology/history study someday.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @03:27AM
I'd agree with Eternal September, which I count as the transition from the Second Age to the Third Age. Opinions would shift as democratization increases during the early Third age, but as corporations begin to exert influence in the late Third Age, opinions shift again. We're starting to see the transition to the Fourth Age when deplatforming will be common on the clearnet, causing another shift in apparent public opinion. The defining characteristic of the Third Age is a parallel to the pattern of capitalism: an initial, flourishing democratization followed by stagnation into oligarchy. The defining characteristic of the Fourth Age is the split of the free internet to darknets.
Democratization will be absent during the Fourth Age. The clearnet will be tightly controlled by corporations (an end run around to the First Amendment in the USA), and the free internet will only be accessible to those who have the skill to do so, possibly at personal risk. During this time, it will be up to those of us who have that skill (and bravery) to facilitate communication among the working class (viz. the "deplorables" including left-wing views and the "alt-right").