We can all breath a little easier. In the next 50 years the ozone hole could be completely eliminated. During the 1980s the most publicized environmental topic and critical issue was the depletion of the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Despite millions of dollars spent by skeptics, corporate interests and political operatives, the scientific evidence and commitment through international cooperation averted a global disaster of epic proportions. The ozone hole is still there, it will be a slow recovery but the chemical source of the problem has been banned world wide.

“With ozone depletion, mankind has demonstrated the capability to alter the world’s atmosphere” says Larry Flynn a physical scientist at NOAA. “The  world’s nations realized that it was not a limitless expanse but that human activity could have large important impacts on the atmosphere.”