Climate security

Good news: The hole in the ozone layer is finally starting to heal

Sometimes the world really can get together and avert a major environmental catastrophe before it's too late. Case in point: A new study in Science finds evidence that the Earth's protective ozone layer is finally healing — all thanks to global efforts in the 1980s to phase out CFCs and other destructive chemicals.

This is one of the great green success stories of all time. Back in the 1970s, scientists first realized that we were rapidly depleting Earth's stratospheric ozone layer, which protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

The culprit? Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a chemical widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners. These chemicals had already chewed a massive "hole" in the ozone layer above Antarctica, and the damage was poised to spread further north.

Without the ozone layer's protection, more and more people would be exposed to UV rays. Skin-cancer rates would have soared in many regions, as they already have in Puentas Arenas, Chile, which lies under the existing ozone hole. Those UV rays would also harm crops and the marine food chain.