I suppose the saddest part about this is that we have no idea how much worse the ozone hole will get and that it will pretty certainly be around until 2050 or after before it starts to shrink. Human beings are just not good at thinking about things over the long term, and much of the real environmental crisis is incremental, cumulative, and long term -- by the time they are beaten over the head with something, it is too late for human beings put the horse back in the barn. We depend upon the resilience and forgiveness of earth systems.

It is not clear what the effects of increased UV will be on non-human systems. The human and higher animal effects are well known (Cancers, cataracts, etc), but what this is doing to the phytoplankton, zooplankton, and the basics of the foodchain is the real concern. These may adapt quickly, but if not, then a whole raft of creatures up the food chain -- birds, fish, and the large whale species that feed on Antarctic krill and others -- will be decimated.

The truth is, we are conducting a great experiment on the earth, and have no idea what it will do. We are that stupid still about this one and only planet. Which makes us doubly stupid.

yours, Peter T.