Ozone: Our protector

Ozone: Our protector

~Usman Aquib

         It was noon - the sun was on its peak. Everyone was seated comfortably after lunch while little Zaid entered the house carrying an ice cream in his hand.

"Mummy...Mummy!

I saw a crazy woman outside who was carrying an umbrella even its not raining! hahaha"

Zaid said innocently.

Everyone laughed at his words.

Abbu lovingly called him and explained ,

"Son ,she is not crazy, she must have taken an umbrella to avoid the harmful rays of the sun."

Zaid looked at the ceiling and started to thinking…

Everyone understood that the questions were about to bombard on them and here came his first question..."Harmful rays of the sun ... What is it?" 

"Yes, my boy..there are many harmful rays in the direct sunlight. These rays are also called ultraviolet rays which causes skin cancer and other diseases."

"Oh good!

But Abbu, although we don't carry an umbrella, we are still fine?"

"Oh son ... tell me one thing, if all the people in the world carry umbrella.. dont you think it will create a lot of chaos???

As Allah loves his servants alot, he gave the whole earth an umbrella that protects us all from these rays and this umbrella is called 'Ozone'. "

"What is ozone? what umbrella? I can't see any umbrella?"

"Hahaha - Because it is above the earth's surface which surrounds our mother earth from the outside."

"Oh okay.. But Abbu when Allah has already given us the ozone umbrella, isn't it crazy that aunty was carrying one… Hahaha!" Zaid giggled.

"Well it's a deep question. Now listen to me carefully ...

Smoke which comes out of factories and cars are very dangerous and they cause pollution which is the enemy of our ozone. When this pollution gets mixed in the air it makes the air polluted and that damages our ozone making a hole in it.

"Uh-oh! That's a bad thing, right Abbu?" Zaid asked.

"Yes, son, earlier it was a single hole and was small , but now, due to constant pollution, our ozone has a lot of big holes in it."A

Abbu said.

"oh Allah ... what will happen abbu, if Ozone gets completely eliminated one day?" Zaid asked with utmost concern and innocence

"Yes, my son , it is a possibility..but if we humans refrain from our activities and reduce pollution, ozone will begin to recover automatically."

Abbu explained.

Zaid, who was listening to all these words and imagining, wondered, "Abbu ..., why don't we reduce pollution? If the main cause of pollution is smoke coming from factories and cars, so why don't we shut them down? "

Abbu first got stuck at this question and then replied, "Son, we cannot close factories and vehicles, but we can limit their use and the government has already done this."

"Then we are good! Right abbu?" Zaid said carelessly -

Abbu thought that he should tell him about how people exceed limits and spread more pollution, but Zaid was too young to understand all this.

Abbu explained , "Yes, son we are fine, but we should always keep our surroundings clean and also inform people about its advantages and disadvantages."

"Okay Abbu, I'll take care."

"Okay now go and play, I have some work to do" - then he went out to play and Abbu got busy with his job.