Fixing the ozone hole was a bigger deal than anyone realized
At the time it was signed, the Montreal Protocol was seen as a good thing for the planet. A new study shows it was even better than anyone first realized. Photo by Naeblys/Alamy Stock Photo This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. In 1985, the British Antarctic Survey alerted the world that in the atmosphere high above the South Pole a giant hole was forming in the Earth’s protective ozone layer. World leaders swiftly assembled to work out a solution. Two years later, the United Nations agreed to ban the chemicals responsible for eroding the layer of the stratosphere that shields Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Known as the Montreal Protocol agreement, it is still one...