Global warming is on the tip of everyone’s tongue these days, and with good reason, but it wasn’t long ago that the biggest environmental talking point was the depletion of Earth’s ozone layer. Scientists worked hard to prove that certain chemicals, namely CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon), were rapidly eating away at our planet’s protective shield, and eventually lawmakers took notice, initiating a worldwide effort to ban their use.
Now, a few decades since those agreements were galvanized, scientists believe that the ozone layer will indeed completely heal itself. It’s going to be a few more decades before it can complete its self-repairs, but all signs point to the annual hole in the ozone layer which regularly forms over Antarctica shrinking.
In a new report from the United Nations, scientists from around the world reveal their collective findings. The planet-wide effort to eliminate CFCs and similar chemicals has indeed helped a great deal, and the natural processes that replenish the ozone layer are slowly patching up the damage humans did prior to and including much of the 1980s.
If the healing continues at its current rate, researchers expect that the hole will be fully healed by sometime around 2060. That’s pretty remarkable news, and it’s also definitive proof that mankind can indeed achieve world-changing progress when we all agree to work together to solve the problem. In fact, the fight over the ozone layer in the mid-to-late 1980s somewhat mirrors the current debates surrounding global warming.
Global warming, also called “climate change,” is a huge problem that mankind must work together to solve. Scientists have amassed more than enough evidence to prove that human activity is responsible for the gradual warming of the globe, but, just like the shortsighted naysayers who pushed back against bans against CFCs decades ago, there are people who still refuse to believe that humans are responsible for something bad happening to the planet.
Embracing green energy while cutting back on emissions from fossil fuels is a challenge that needs to be tackled, and the clock is ticking.
