Word: layering
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...cleaning up environmental messes, but there was one time we really outdid ourselves. That was back in 1989, when over 190 nations signed the Montreal Protocol, phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The decade before, scientists had discovered that CFCs were blowing a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, exposing us to dangerous ultraviolet radiation and boosting the risk of skin cancer. Today, CFCs are no longer in widespread use, and the ozone layer appears to be on the mend...
...even with that battle all but won, scientists are finding a new man-made threat to the ozone layer: nitrous oxide (N2O), otherwise known as laughing gas. A study published in the Aug. 28 Science found that N2O - a by-product of agricultural fertilizer and a number of other industrial processes - is now the biggest ozone-depleting gas in the air, and could present a real threat to the ozone layer in coming decades. And worse, unlike CFCs, N2O - which also adds to global warming - is not regulated by the Montreal Protocol, meaning there is no global effort...
...idea that N2O poses a threat to the ozone layer is not new, but the Science study is the first comprehensive look at the exact concentrations and consequences of the gas. The investigators found that although N2O is only one-sixtieth as dangerous to the ozone layer as CFCs on a gram-by-gram basis, the sheer amount of N2O - each year nearly 1 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent are released globally - means that it now poses a more significant threat to the atmosphere. (N2O emissions are calculated in terms of their impact on global warming...
...demand for gas, despite its low price, stays relatively low. Then layer on the effects of the recession: gas-intensive industrial production is down 12.8% since this time last year, according to Barclays Capital bank estimates. On top of that, there's weather: this has been a cool summer in much of the U.S., so less natural gas has been burned for electricity to power air-conditioning than in recent years. (Read "America's Untapped Energy Resource: Boosting Efficiency...
...been living through? Was it a result of some of these excesses? I wouldn't pretend it all boils down to the fact there are a lot of M.B.A.s running around. But I think it's reasonable to suggest all this phony expertise and credentials were a layer of fat or parasitism on top of the overall economy. Some of these people learned how to extract profits at the expense of the system as a whole...