Nice to see a shred of environmental good news amidst the morass of disasters both man-made and natural: According to a study in the Journal of Geophysical Research, the Ozone layer has stopped shrinking, thanks to 20 years of international efforts to reduce CFCs, proving that attention and cooperation can make a difference. But don’t get too excited — we’re not out of the woods just yet:
“Chemicals pumped into Earth’s atmosphere decades ago still are affecting ozone levels today,” said Sherwood Roland of the University of California Irvine. “This problem was a long time in the making, and because of the persistence of these chlorine compounds, there is no short-term fix.” The ozone layer remains so thin that cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation is still getting through.
Still, it’s progress.
Thanks Jim