We like to whine that the world is rolling into an abyss. Global warming, eco-catastrophes, endless crises. But I remembered one story here. We have already saved ourselves once, on a large scale and collectively. We simply took and plugged a hole in the sky, informs Ukr.Media.
It all started with refrigerators. In the 1920s, they literally killed people. A simple gas leak from the compressor would leave the family unable to wake up. Something had to be done, and in 1928, Freon was invented. It was cheap, non-flammable, and odorless. Everyone loved it. Freon was stuffed into everything from air conditioners to hairspray and whipped cream. You spray deodorant on it and you don't realize that you're destroying the planet at that very moment.
In the 70s, a couple of scientists asked: where does this freon go? It turned out that it flies up and eats the ozone layer like crazy. There is no ozone – solar radiation burns out all living things. Skin cancer becomes the norm, crops die. Corporations, of course, turned on the fool mode. Chemical manufacturers shouted for years that this was science fiction in order to continue selling their cans. Classic.
But in the mid-1980s, an ozone hole the size of North America was discovered over Antarctica. When satellite images of this purple patch appeared, it became truly scary. These were no longer boring graphs, but a very real prospect of living underground or moving around the city on foot under protective domes.
And you know what happened? Instead of expressing deep concern for years, in 1987 the world got together and signed the Montreal Protocol. They just took it and agreed to cover up the production of these chemicals. No exceptions.
It worked. The ozone layer is now thinning. The hole over Antarctica should be gone by 2066. We have literally canceled the dystopia.
Of course, we wouldn't be human if we didn't get along again.
We replaced Freon with substances that do not affect the ozone layer, but turned out to be powerful greenhouse gases. We solved one problem – but created another, even worse one.
But the mechanism already exists: in 2016 the protocol was updated, and this new crap is also being gradually removed.
Oil and coal are much more complicated than gas in the refrigerator. There is more money involved, and it is harder to give up. But the point is that when it is hot, we are able to negotiate and not die. When we see an abyss, we know how to put on the brakes.
So the next time you go out in the sun, just remember: you're not wearing a spacesuit just because we had enough brains to fix the sky once. Hopefully, we'll have enough now.
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