INTRODUCTION TO THE 2013 CRITICAL REVIEW
Stratospheric ozone, global warming, and the principle of unintended consequences—An ongoing science and policy success story 1,⁄ 2 3,4 3,4 A. Gwen Eklund, George M. Hidy, John G. Watson, and Judith C. Chow 1
TRC Solutions, Austin, TX Envair, Placitas, NM 3 Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 4 Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, China ⁄Please address correspondence to: A. Gwen Eklund, TRC Solutions, 505 East Huntland Drive, Suite 250, Austin, TX 78752; e-mail:
[email protected]
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One of the important technical achievements to protect human health and wellbeing in the 20th century was the widespread development and application of refrigeration for food preservation and building and vehicle cooling using chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants. These compounds are nontoxic at low atmospheric concentrations and nonreactive in the A. Gwen Eklund lower atmosphere. In the mid-1970s, as an outgrowth of international concerns for the photochemistry of aircraft engine effluents emitted at high altitude, workers discovered that the coupling of the nitrogen oxide cycle and the halogen (chlorine) cycle could deplete the stratospheric ozone layer (Farman et al., 1985; Molina and Rowland, 1974; Rowland and Molina, 1975). The stratospheric ozone layer is important to human and ecosystem health because it protects the lower atmosphere from ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and vegetation damage (Slaper et al., 1998; Solomon, 2008). By the 1980s, stratospheric ozone depletion was observed directly (Norman, 1981) and the deterioration was increasing year by year (Anton et al., 2011; Stolarski et al., 1992). Later in the 1980s, halocarbons were identified as strong radiation absorbers in the solar spectrum—climate-forcing greenhouse gases analogous to carbon dioxide (MacCracken, 1987, 2008). This recognition added a second environmental risk of halocarbon accumulation in the atmosphere. Active scientific communication of the environmental issues associated with halocarbon emissions took place in the 1980s and resulted in a series of international regulatory agreements among stakeholders intended to reduce key halocarbon emissions across the world (Jain and Bach, 1994; Kuijpers, 1990,
1993). The nexus of science, technology, and government policy development to address the stratospheric ozone issue illustrates the chain from risk recognition to risk management through regulation of a series of pollutants. The development of international policy to manage halocarbon emissions culminated in the Montreal Protocol of 1987 (Benedick, 1991). The 2013 critical review (Anderson et al., 2013) tells the story of the science underlying the interaction of halogen chemistry with ozone under stratospheric conditions, then discusses the evolution of refrigerant manufacturing and use from their early 19th century beginnings to today’s use of halocarbons in many applications. The review documents the ongoing technological changes brought about by evolving regulation meant to protect the stratospheric ozone layer and mitigate undesired climate change. The review authors include Steven Anderson, a leader of U.S. regulatory policy for halocarbons, Marcel Halberstadt, prior director of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, and Nathan Borgford-Parnell, an expert on international environmental policy and its application to the refrigeration industry. Their comprehensive and thorough summary of the science, technology, and policy, as well as the industrial response to the issue, provides a unique perspective to this international environmental issue for Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) members and other readers of Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. The lessons learned from the work underlying this public policy and collaborative technological response provide an important roadmap for international environmental risk management. A&WMA members and guests are invited to read, attend, and comment on the 43rd Annual Critical Review at A&WMA’s 106th Annual Conference & Exhibition to be held in Chicago,
605 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 63(6):605–606, 2013. Copyright © 2013 A&WMA. ISSN: 1096-2247 print DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2013.799984
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IL, June 25–28, 2013. The presentation of the review and the discussants’ commentary is planned for Wednesday morning June 26, 9:00–11:50 a.m. (CDT), in the Grand Ballroom, Gold Level, East, of the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Invited discussants will provide perspectives on different aspects of stratospheric ozone protection and international environmental management. They will agree (or disagree) with the narrative and conclusions of the review author and of one another. They will identify additional issues and offer alternative commentary. Comments also will be solicited from the floor and from written submissions to the Critical Review Committee chairperson. The chairperson will synthesize these points in the October issue of Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. Members are encouraged to suggest topics and authors for future critical reviews and to apply for membership on the Critical Review Committee to participate actively in the process. If you are interested in joining the committee, please send an e-mail to geklund@trcsolutions. com.
Critical Review Committee A. Gwen Eklund, Chair George M. Hidy, Immediate Past Chair (2009–2012) Samuel L. Altshuler Patricia A. Brush, Technical Council Chair Judith C. Chow, Past Chair (2001–2008) Luis Diaz-Robles Prakash Doraiswamy Marcel Halberstadt Michael T. Kleinman Naresh Kumar Dan L. Mueller, Liaison to the Technical Council Peter K. Mueller Thomas Overcamp Abhilash Vijayan John G. Watson, Past Chair (1994–1997)
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