An Environmental Success Story (for Once)

Two of the scientists responsible for sounding the alarm on the thinning ozone layer have reported that the hole over the Antarctic has stopped widening, and may close within a generation or two. If true, this proves what can be achieved when government works to address, rather than deny, an environmental catastrophe. Global warming, anyone?

International agreements were reached to end the use of ozone-depleting chemicals called CFCs after the hole was discovered in 1986.

It is hoped the hole may “heal” fully over the next 60 years.

Two of the scientists whose work helped alert the world to the existence of a hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s told a conference in Washington they were hopeful that the ozone layer was recovering.

“I’m very optimistic that we will have a normal ozone layer sometime, not in my lifetime, but perhaps in yours,” said Dr David Hofman, who works for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as director of the Global Monitoring Division.

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