New study shows how well we beat climate change back in the 1980s

Now we need to come together and try again

Now we need to come together and try again

New study shows how well we beat climate change back in the 1980s

Now we need to come together and try again

With the current discussion over climate change ranging from dystopian to denial, it's worth remembering that humanity can take actions that over time resolve tough environmental problems. A new study takes a look at the Montreal Protocols, signed in 1987, and finds that its implementation allowed us to successfully close the hole in the Earth's ozone layer.Like many widespread movements, the Montreal Protocols had humble beginnings almost a decade prior. In 1973, two scientists at the University of California, Irvine began to study the effects of chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs and its commercial name, freon, on the environment. A colorless gas first developed in the 1890's and perfected in the 1920's, freon had grown to be a part of every day life. It replaced toxic ammonia in refrigeration systems, allowing refrigerators to become a common sight in homes. By the 60s, CFCs were common ingredients in everything from fire retardants to deodorant spray cans. But F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, the scientists seen above, found that when CFC gases mixed with solar radiation they eat away at the ozone layer, a region of the Earth's stratosphere that absorbs deadly ultraviolet radiation. The two pushed their findings on to whoever would listen, often attacked by industry groups who had built entire economies around CFCs. The aerosol industry tried to claim that Rowland was a secret Russian agent bent on destroying capitalism. But by 1985, the science was indisputable. British scientists had discovered what Rowland and Molina said was coming: a hole in the ozone layer had been found in the South Pole. Plans were made to discuss ending CFC use in 1987, and then-President Ronald Reagan, no fan of environmental regulation, offered his enthusiastic support. "The U.S. was historically the largest producer of CFCs, accounting for 50 to 70 percent of world production in the 1960s–1970s," the new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters notes. That level of production fell "to near zero in 1996." The effects have been clear. Using data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's atmospheric monitoring network, co-author Lei Hu of the University of Colorado, Boulder and her colleagues show that from 2008 to 2014, the elimination of CFCs has been as good for the environment as reducing CO2 emissions by 170 million tons per year.It's an unqualified climate success, led by the United States. "The overall climate impact of the Montreal Protocol in the future," Hung notes, "will also be determined by emissions of HFCs ." While HFCs don't gnaw away at the ozone, they trap heat with twenty times the efficiency of CFCs. As powerful as the Montreal Protocols have been in shaping the planet, a treaty's work is never done.Source: Geophysical Research Letters via Gizmodo

With the current discussion over climate change ranging from to , it's worth remembering that humanity can take actions that over time resolve tough environmental problems. A new study takes a look at the Montreal Protocols, signed in 1987, and finds that its implementation allowed us to successfully close the hole in the Earth's ozone layer.

Like many widespread movements, the Montreal Protocols had humble beginnings almost a decade prior. In 1973, two scientists at the University of California, Irvine began to study the effects of chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs and its commercial name, freon, on the environment. A colorless gas first developed in the 1890's and perfected in the 1920's, freon had grown to be a part of every day life. It replaced toxic ammonia in refrigeration systems, allowing refrigerators to become a common sight in homes. By the 60s, CFCs were common ingredients in everything from fire retardants to .

But F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, the scientists seen above, when CFC gases mixed with solar radiation they eat away at the ozone layer, a region of the Earth's stratosphere that absorbs deadly ultraviolet radiation. The two pushed their findings on to whoever would listen, often attacked by industry groups who had built entire economies around CFCs. The aerosol industry tried to claim that Rowland was a bent on destroying capitalism.

But by 1985, the science was indisputable. British scientists had discovered what Rowland and Molina said was coming: a hole in the ozone layer had been found in the South Pole. Plans were made to discuss ending CFC use in 1987, and then-President Ronald Reagan, of environmental regulation, offered his .

"The U.S. was historically the largest producer of CFCs, accounting for 50 to 70 percent of world production in the 1960s–1970s," the new study, in Geophysical Research Letters notes. That level of production fell "to near zero in 1996." The effects have been clear. Using data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's , co-author Lei Hu of the University of Colorado, Boulder and her colleagues show that from 2008 to 2014, the elimination of CFCs has been as good for the environment as reducing CO2 emissions by 170 million tons per year.

It's an unqualified climate success, led by the United States. "The overall climate impact of the Montreal Protocol in the future," Hung notes, "will also be determined by emissions of HFCs [hydrofluorocarbons]." While HFCs don't gnaw away at the ozone, they trap heat with twenty times the efficiency of CFCs. As powerful as the Montreal Protocols have been in shaping the planet, a treaty's work is never done.

Source: via

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