On June 28, 1927, F. Sherwood Rowland was born in Delaware, Ohio. You may not recognize the name, but you should. He helped save the earth.
Rowland was a chemist at the University of California-Irvine several decades ago when he attended a talk on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). At the time, CFCs appeared as refrigerants, as propellants in aerosol cans, and in other uses.
Rowland began thinking about the effects that CFCs might have in the atmosphere when they broke down. Eventually, his studies confirmed that CFCs did break down at high altitudes. And the released chlorine atoms worked to destroy the ozone layer that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation.
He and a colleague, Mario Molina, published the results in the journal Nature in 1974. For a more technical explanation, here is a 2-minute video about the effects of CFCs.
How Rowland’s Work Saved the World
After Rowland published the findings, corporations attacked the study. Some of Rowland’s colleagues shunned him. No chemistry department in the U.S. invited him to give a lecture for most of a decade after the article appeared.
But eventually other scientists discovered that Rowland’s conclusions were accurate. Rowland worked to get CFCs banned, and the discovery in the mid-1980s of an ozone hole above the South Pole helped persuade politicians to act.
In 1987, major industrial nations approved a global treaty phasing out CFCs called The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The treaty went into effect in 1989.
Songs Reflect Concern About the Ozone Layer
At the time of the treaty and years afterwards, several songs invoked the growing concerns about the disappearing ozone layer. Public Enemy had one of the earliest songs mentioning the ozone layer, when they referenced it on “Public Enemy No. 1” on 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
Public Enemy also used the words a few years later on “Fear of a Black Planet” from the 1990 album of the same name: “I’m just a rhyme sayer/ Skins protected ‘gainst the ozone layers.”
Neil Young has one of the most famous songs mentioning the ozone layer with “Rockin’ in the Free World” from 1989’s Freedom album (“Got Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer”). In 1989 in “Sick of You” on his New York album, Lou Reed sang, “The ozone layer has no ozone anymore/ And you’re gonna leave me for the guy next door.”
Dire Straits sang “Don’t talk to me about ozone layer” on “My Parties” from On Every Street (1991). On “Run Straight Down” from Traverse City (1991), Warren Zevon sang, “Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer/ First the water and the wildlife go.”
Don McLean wrote about the ozone layer within around three years after the publication of Rowland’s initial study. In 1977, he released “Prime Time” on the album of the same name
In more recent years, artists continue to sing about the ozone layer. David Lee Roth mentioned it on “You’re Breathin’ It” (not available on YouTube) from Your Filthy Little Mouth
Eminem claimed some credit for damaging the ozone layer in “Role Model” on 1999’s The Slim Shady LP
The Cranberries took a more environmental approach in “Time is Ticking Out” from 2001’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. In the song, they conclude, “Looks like we screwed up the ozone layer/ I wonder if the politicians care.”
Remembering Sherwood Rowland and Others
It is funny that I knew the names of all of these artists who mentioned the ozone layer, but I did not know the name of the people who saved it. I also do not know of any song that mentions Sherwood Rowland or Mario Molina by name.
Rowland, who died on March 10, 2012, did receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 with Molina and Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute in Germany. But they deserve much more, including our thanks and that we remember their work.
Photo of aerosol pollution over Northern India and Bangladesh via public domain.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
