• "o-zone hole"

    Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol

    In the early 1980s, two global environmental issues began to receive a lot of attention. Scientists discovered large holes in O-zone layer in the Antarctic region and attributed it to the correlation between the size of these ozone holes and CFCs. Meanwhile, scientists also discovered an alarming pattern of rise in global temperature and attributed it to the correlation between temperature and greenhouse gas emissions.

    Where the two are different is how they have been addressed. To state things rather simply, o-zone depletion rates have rapidly reduced and the o-zone should restore itself over the course of this century due to innovation from American companies and an international treaty called the Montreal Protocol. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with global warming where talks have stalled for nearly twenty years since James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard institute, went before the US congress forecasting continued rise in global temperature.

    Andrew Revkin in Tuesday’s New York Times Science section has an excellent commentary on the history of international treaties for o-zone depletion and global warming as the Montreal Protocol celebrates its 20th anniversary. If you don’t know much about the Montreal Protocol, it’s definitely an article worth checking out.

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