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■Ozone Layer

Characters: C - Chan; N - Nozomi

A GV and a learner in class talking about the ozone layer

N: I’m really taking this climate change seriously these days

　 because Japan’s climate has changed drastically.

C: What changes happened to Japan’s climate?

N: We have way hotter summers and shorter winters. I think

it may be a consequence of the hole on the ozone layer.

C: The ozone hole is quite a controversial topic. Many people

have different opinions about it.

N: Different opinions? The ozone layer has a hole and we

need to stop using CFCs and limit our carbon emissions

or else we’ll face a global catastrophe. People should have

only one opinion about it.

C: It is true that there is still a hole in the ozone layer but not

a lot of people are informed or updated about its condition.

According to research, the hole is actually getting smaller.

Are you familiar with National Geographic?

N: Yeah, why?

C: The ozone hole was first discovered in 1985 and scientists

have been observing it for a few decades since then.

But according to a 2016 report in Nat Geo, the ozone hole

has stabilized and is already healing.

N: Wow! I didn’t even know that was possible.

C: The global initiative of phasing out appliances

that produce CFCs was successful and the ozone has

continued to heal itself since then. In fact, researchers believe

the ozone hole has shrunk by more than four million square

kilometers. Furthermore, the hole is not as deep as it used to be.

N: Even so, I think it’s still safer to lessen our carbon footprint

instead of being careless and end up making things worse for us.

C: I agree. Industrial CFC production may have ceased in the

1990s, but the chlorine molecules produced in the 1970s and

1980s will remain in the atmosphere for around one hundred

more years.

N: We still have a long way to go then. Hopefully, things will go better

for the sake of our descendants in the future.

●Vocabulary:

Ozone layer 　オゾン層

Climate change　　　 気候変動

Drastically 大幅に、極端に

Way ~ はる�