Environment & climate
The ozone hole and the one global crisis the world actually fixed
11 min
How the discovery of a growing hole in the ozone layer led to the Montreal Protocol — the rare environmental treaty that worked — and what made global cooperation possible then but so hard since.
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Show notes
One chlorine atom from industrial chemicals can destroy over one hundred thousand ozone molecules in the stratosphere.
NASA satellites initially ignored ozone depletion data because the readings were so low they appeared to be errors.
The Montreal Protocol used trade sanctions to prevent non-participating countries from becoming manufacturing hubs for banned chemicals.
A dedicated multilateral fund provided financial aid to help developing nations transition away from ozone-depleting technologies.
Conservative leaders Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher championed the treaty despite the lack of absolute scientific proof.
Atmospheric recovery is a slow process with a projected return to nineteen eighty levels by twenty fifty.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Invisible Shield and the Chemical Culprit3 min
- 3The Antarctic Discovery and the 'Hole' Image2 min
- 4The Montreal Protocol: A Masterclass in Diplomacy3 min
- 5Why We Can't Just 'Montreal Protocol' Climate Change2 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- How scientists saved the ozone layer : Short Wave : NPR
- We Solved the Ozone Hole Problem 40 Years Ago. What Are the Lessons for Today? - GESDA Global
- NASA Knows: The Ozone Hole - NASA Science
- Whatever happened to the ozone hole, acid rain and DDT? | Scientific American
- https://ourworldindata.org/ozone-layer?insight=the-montreal-protocol-is-one-of-the-most-successful-international-agreements-to-date
- Planet Money: Has The Hole In the Ozone Been Fixed? : NPR
- GeoLog | Discovery to recovery: how international collaboration solved the ozone crisis
- About Montreal Protocol
- Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole? - Science History Institute
- 40 years: What happened to the hole in the ozone layer?
- The ozone hole discovery - British Antarctic Survey
- Nasa Ozone Watch: Ozone hole history facts
- The discovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole
- Ozone - NASA Science
- Basic Ozone Layer Science | US EPA
- The World We Avoided by Protecting the Ozone Layer - NASA Science
- Frequently Asked Questions about the Ozone Layer | US EPA
- Reflections on the ozone hole
- Discovering a hole in the ozone layer: 40 years later - British Antarctic Survey
- https://ozone.unep.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/Final_20Qs%202022%20full%20document_26April2023_digital%20version-reduced_0.pdf
- Science and Diplomacy: Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
- Learning from Success: Lessons in Science and Diplomacy from the Montreal Protocol
- Mario J. Molina - Nobel Lecture
- NASA Data Aids Ozone Hole’s Journey to Recovery - NASA
- Handbook for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985)
- https://csl.noaa.gov/assessments/ozone/2022/downloads/executivesummary.pdf
- https://ourworldindata.org/ozone-layer?insight=emissions-of-substances-that-deplete-the-ozone-layer-have-fallen-by-more-than-99
- WMO Bulletin shows successful recovery of ozone layer, driven by science
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