Atmospheric Ozone

Atmospheric Ozone: A Qualified Success Story of International Cooperation

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.  Luckily these early sustainable development measures
have been around since before the term came to be mainstream.

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.

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