WEEK 42 October 2nd to 8th

   ENORMOUS HOLE IN THE OZONE LAYER

   The hole in the Ozone layer over the South Pole has never been bigger, and it's growing. At present it covers an area of 29 million square kilometers, four times the size of Australia and twice as much as The Antarctic itself, according to NASA. The disintegration of the ozone layer in the atmosphere is caused by industrial production of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC).
   Several countries signed a treaty years ago, to reduce the emitions, but so far the releases have not shown any signs of slowing down. There are people who are claiming that the hole will stop growing in about 15 years, but those predictions are dependent on a severe reduction in the CFC-releases. The prognosis has instead worsened significantly in recent years. There are already daily registrations of radiation in many European and American cities. The rays from the sun have become more dangerous already. Use of sun lotion has increased. For a long time there has been talks about future horror scenarios, about people staying indoors the entire day, that it will be impossible to go outside without protective gear. Well, it seems that those "far fetched future scenarios" are about to become a horrible reality.
   The first cities in New Zealand and South America are, for the first time, "officially" covered by the hole. Other holes have periodically appeared over Europe and North America. The future is already here.