In 1985 a report indicated that there was a hole in the ozone layer. Ozone protects the Earth from UV radiation.

A story about fear, hope, and hope humans can fix the Earth they broke.

Ozone is pretty boring stuff. It’s basically an unstable molecule made up of three oxygen atoms. So why do we care? Because oxygen likes to pair up with other atoms. Here is the cool part: when it is in the stratosphere it literally takes the brunt of UV radiation (which causes an atom or two to split off).

But like your car which has “crumple zones” it takes all that energy and as a result, protects planet Earth.

So how does that ozone occur in the first place? As I said, oxygen LOVES other atoms, including oxygen. Ozone is self-perpetuating. Cool.

Except when it isn’t.

When they finally realized the hole was man-made a lot of smart people made some incredibly difficult decisions. The main culprit for the ozone hole was CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) — which Earthside were inert and boring.

So inert and so boring no one gave them a second thought. They were used in hairsprays, refrigerators and A/C’s. CFC’s were created to replace ammonia as a refrigerant. What no one paid attention to is what happened when CFC’s reached the upper atmosphere.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

“Once in the stratosphere, they release atoms from the halogen group through photodissociation, which catalyze the breakdown of ozone (O3) into oxygen (O2).”

O3 (ozone) blocks UV. O2 does not.

In 1987 the Montreal Protocol was adopted. This was the first of many protocols to save our planet from ourselves (Kyoto Protocol was to limit greenhouse gases and was not as successful).

Has it worked? Remember geologic time is incredibly slow, so breaking is a lot easier than fixing, but, yes. We actually may be repairing the damage (or rather we are not damaging it more).

“The hole is expected to completely heal by 2050.”

We have succeeded. It’s one thing. But it was important.