An Environmental Success Story- With Lessons To Be Learned (Pt. 2)

I already covered this story (from another source) a week ago, but it's important enough to deserve mentioning again. It is a story that confirms that if people and politicians take decisive action against an environmental threat, we can get results. People claimed 'An Inconvenient Truth' was all just doom and gloom, but also had at its core a message that we have the power to reverse the trends. It takes time, and sacrifice, but it can be done. As Al Gore said in that film, all we lack now is the political will to do it. We need to get it back.

Here's a success story from an earlier crisis...

AP: Earth's formerly thin ozone layer is recovering

Earth's protective ozone layer, which was notably thinning in 1980, may be fully recovered by mid-century, climate scientists said on Wednesday.

Ozone in the stratosphere, outside the polar regions, stopped thinning in 1997, the scientists found after analyzing 25 years worth of observations.

The ozone layer shields the planet from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation, but human-made chemicals -- notably the chlorofluorocarbons found in some refrigerants and aerosol propellants -- depleted this stratospheric ozone, causing the protective layer to get thinner.

The scientists said the ozone layer's comeback is due in large part to compliance with an 1987 international agreement called the Montreal Protocol, which aimed to limit emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals.

"These results confirm the Montreal Protocol and its amendments have succeeded in stopping the loss of ozone in the stratosphere," said Eun-Su Yang of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who led a team that analyzed the data.

"At the current recovery rate ... the global ozone layer could be restored to 1980 levels -- the time that scientists first noticed the harmful effects human activities were having on atmospheric ozone -- sometime in the middle of this century," Yang said in a statement...

Bold added proudly by me.