DAMBAR K SHRESTHA
Syangboche ,Nepal
Syangboche ,Nepal
Narmaya Tamang is a Grade 8 student at the Khumjung School and says she sees signs of climate change all around her. The snowline is receding on Ama Dablam, which she sees from her classroom window. It is getting warmer year by year, and there is less winter snow.
Narmaya, with classmates Kabindra Rai and Lakpa Tenzing, are members of the Eco Club at the Khumjung School, and they thought they knew what caused this: emissions from fossil fuel burning that led to global warming. What they didn't know is that there is another, even more dangerous greenhouse gas: hydro-cholorofluorocarbon (HCFC), used in refrigeration and air-conditioning.
HCFCs replaced the CFCs that were the main cause of the depletion of the earth's ozone layer that protects the planet's surface from harmful ultraviolet rays. The Montreal Protocol phased out all CFCs by 2010, and the ozone hole over Antarctica has stopped growing. But while solving one problem (ozone depletion) another was created. HCFC is 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Narmaya, with classmates Kabindra Rai and Lakpa Tenzing, are members of the Eco Club at the Khumjung School, and they thought they knew what caused this: emissions from fossil fuel burning that led to global warming. What they didn't know is that there is another, even more dangerous greenhouse gas: hydro-cholorofluorocarbon (HCFC), used in refrigeration and air-conditioning.
HCFCs replaced the CFCs that were the main cause of the depletion of the earth's ozone layer that protects the planet's surface from harmful ultraviolet rays. The Montreal Protocol phased out all CFCs by 2010, and the ozone hole over Antarctica has stopped growing. But while solving one problem (ozone depletion) another was created. HCFC is 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.