Atmospheric Ozone Success Story

Not all the news about the atmosphere is bad. There are the occasional success stories that keep people going. The reduction of the very powerful ozone depleting chemical family known collectively as CFCs since being banned worldwide in the 1990s is one such story.

Originally drafted in 1987 in Helsinki, Finland, the international treaty for the control of substances that harm the ozone layer calls for a long phase-out of these chemicals by signatory nations to minimize the economic impact this act would have on less prosperous nations. Nearly every nation on Earth has signed on, including all of the most heavy users of these chemicals.

Chlorine and bromine are the worst offenders, and for the first time since they’ve been traced in the atmosphere, their levels are beginning to drop. The treaty calls for all CFCs to be phased out by 2030, with the worst offenders to be gone by 2010. The ozone hole that is observed over the South Pole each year will take longer to recover, with the largest hole ever recorded as recently as 2006.