Jun 30, 2026 · 48 min · 12 segments
In 1987, the United Nations called a huge meeting in Montreal to negotiate the phase out of ozone depleted chemicals. And…it worked. The ozone layer is healing. And the Montreal Protocol is probably…
Jasmin BaoumyHost
Mark Malloch BrownHostArunabha GhoshGuest
Ana ToniGuestJack EllisGuest
Megumi Seki NakamuraGuest
The most famous study was by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, which hypothesized that CFCs get broken down by ultraviolet radiation, releasing active chlorine, which then attack ozone molecules.
Those are chemical compounds that have been around since the 1920s, and at first they were seen as super chemicals.
Because it was a very stable chemical and it can be used for many things.
But then scientists developed the theory that those CFCs were eating away at the earth's protective shield, the ozone layer.
So one active chlorine can actually react and destroy ozone molecules by hundreds of thousands.
This was not confirmed until the British Antarctic Survey study that actually showed the depletion occurring in Antarctica.
The most famous study was by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, which hypothesized that CFCs get broken down by ultraviolet radiation, releasing active chlorine, which then attack ozone molecules.
Those are chemical compounds that have been around since the 1920s, and at first they were seen as super chemicals.
Because it was a very stable chemical and it can be used for many things.
But then scientists developed the theory that those CFCs were eating away at the earth's protective shield, the ozone layer.
So one active chlorine can actually react and destroy ozone molecules by hundreds of thousands.
This was not confirmed until the British Antarctic Survey study that actually showed the depletion occurring in Antarctica.
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