Environmental Newsletter – March 2024

What ever happened to the ‘Ozone Hole’?

When I was younger, I would always hear chatter about the ‘hole in the ozone layer’, and horrifying stories of what was to come with this new problem. And then one day, nobody mentioned it again. If you’re wondering ‘what ever happened?’ to this crisis that shook humanity and then disappeared just as fast as it had emerged, read on and find out!

CFCs and The World

In the 1930s, Thomas Midgely Jr. (also known as the one-man climate disaster) invented and released a new refrigerant and aerosol called the CFC (or chlorofluorocarbon). Though his invention was arguably the most efficient aerosol, being non flammable and nontoxic, they were extremely damaging to the ozone layer. Though the ozone layer is in itself a layer of greenhouse gases, it is also responsible for reflecting much of the sun’s carcinogenic ultraviolet rays; with the newly-forming ‘hole’, future generations would experience unprecedented increases in cancer, cataracts, and macular degradation.

Realising the impending danger of CFCs, the United Nations and other international groups began meeting in the late 1970s to try to minimise their damage. In 1978, the Montreal Project brought together many of the World’s nations in an effort to cut use of CFCs in half, and by the year 2000, most of the globe had banned their use.

However, as with everything, when one problem is solved, another is bound to emerge; following the phasing-out of CFC use, a new aerosol, HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) began to flood markets as a new, less damaging replacement. Though HFCs do not damage the Ozone Layer nearly as much as CFCs, they do increase net global warming. HFCs, left long enough in the atmosphere, can form water vapour in the troposphere. This water vapour, unknown to most, is also a greenhouse gas that can contribute to the enhanced greenhouse effect.

This seemingly heroic rescue of the ozone layer followed by a slew of new problems shows the extreme difficulties that may be faced by climate activists when trying to solve our world’s toughest problems.

The One Man Climate Crisis

Though the release of CFCs was a climate disaster in its own right, it was not Thomas Midgley’s most careless or damaging invention; in the 1920s, Midgley was hired by General Motors to create an efficient and affordable replacement to diesel for motorcars. In 1921, he discovered that the addition of tetraethyllead (TEL) made for a perfect fuel that prevented internal combustion knocking (one of the problems associated with diesel).

Later, Midgely formed the company ‘Ethyl’ with the vision of producing a multi-million dollar leaded petrol company. Despite knowing the carcinogenic properties of tetraethyllead, Midgley pushed his new product onto the international market, and it flourished.

He went to extreme lengths to ‘prove’ the safety of both of his products, going as far as inhaling CFCs and the fumes released by his leaded petrol. For much of the latter part of his career, Midgely did not take part in public appearances, not because of the continued accusations of the petrol’s dangers, but because he himself was fighting lead poisoning.

– By Max