The Ozone Layer: Earth’s Invisible Shield of Protection

The ozone layer plays a critical role in protecting life on Earth and the wondrous flora and fauna that thrive in its lush landscapes. During the 1980s, Jonathan Shanklin, a junior researcher at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), detected a hole in the ozone layer. Recognizing that the ozone hole resulted from ozone-depleting chemicals, namely chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the Montreal Protocol was adopted in 1987 to phase out the use of CFCs and other chemicals that were breaking down the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was the first successful environmental treaty to be signed by a group of nations worldwide.

Scientific studies have investigated the various impacts on climate-chemistry interactions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). It’s been found that increases in the gases nitrous oxide and methane in the stratosphere could impact catalytic ozone cycles. Regarding these studies, atmospheric scientist Jonathan Shanklin says, “The creation of the ozone hole showed how rapidly we can change our planetary environment for the worse. Climate change is a bigger problem. But that doesn't absolve the politicians of responsibility for making the necessary decisions.”

A wide range of scientific studies and reports from organizations around the world assert that the animal-people-based diet is the major cause of climate change. The studies stress that a global shift to a sustainable plant-based diet is needed to prevent further damage to our planet’s ecological systems. The discovery of a massive hole in the ozone layer extending across almost the entire tropical region of planet Earth was reported in June 2022. The hole was found to be seven times larger than the one discovered over Antarctica in the 1980s.

Let’s now listen to the wisdom of our Most Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai on this subject. May Her important message help to clarify why an international law banning meat productions should be passed. “It looks beautiful from the outside. But our planet is full of fire underneath. Boiling, not just boiling, but extremely boiling, almost like the heat of the sun. It came from boiling gas. And on top of that, some of the planetary humans awakened to their old habit of invention, of the knowledge of destruction, and invented some bombs. And testing here, missiles there, H-bomb here, and whatever bomb next there, disturbing the atmosphere, killing the ozone layer, not completely, but injuring the protective layer of our planet, and changing the ecosystem, destroying many things slowly or quickly, some of them irreplaceable. Many of the species are gone, beautiful ones gone. And no one can replace them.”

“If we don’t do it now, the Earth will be gone! Who is there to eat meat? The government can ask people that. The governments have to explain to people that it’s truly harmful now and this is an emergency, that people should stop eating meat.”