Ozone - Cancer of the Sky

The ozone hole only occurs over the Antarctic, and there's a very good reason for that. The cold temperatures of the Antarctic allow a certain type of chemistry that depletes ozone to occur.

– Atmospheric Scientist Sylvia Nichol on the location of the ozone hole

The atmosphere just can't deal with this chlorine we've been putting it in for some decades from the CFCs. During the 1980s it was building up at about five per cent a year, and it's this great reservoir of chlorine in the atmosphere which is now running at about six times the natural amount of chlorine you'd expect up there. That is causing this ozone depletion.

– Atmospheric Chemist Tom Clarkson on the effect man-made chemicals have had in the world's stratosphere

I think people should be very conscious of the dangers of exposure to UV radiation, it can be very deceptive. We have no in-built sense to tell us we've got UV radiation, and I think a big danger right throughout New Zealand, in fact, is there is frequently a cooling breeze, so we can stay out in the sun an awful lot longer.

– Radiation Chemist Dr Gerald Smith on the effect of UV radiation for New Zealanders

The ozone hole has been likened to a mild heart attack, a warning that globally we need to change our lifestyle, a warning that will continue to haunt us for a long time to come...

– Narrator Eugene Fraser on the growing anxiety about human-made environmental damage