Some Good Environmental News - What We Avoided

[NeedleCast]

Not to break up the general doom and gloom, but every now and then we get something right.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/03/20/ozone-success-story-nasa-video-of-enviro-action-that-worked/#more-27561

Summary:

A simulation of what would have happened to the ozone layer had the Montreal Protocal (which banned most ozone-depleting CFCs) not gone into effect.

*snip*

By the simulated year 2020, 17 percent of all ozone is depleted globally. An ozone hole starts to form each year over the Arctic, which was once a place of prodigious ozone levels.

By 2040, global ozone concentrations fall below the same levels that currently comprise the "hole" over Antarctica. The UV index in mid-latitude cities reaches 15 around noon on a clear summer day, giving a perceptible sunburn in about 10 minutes. Over Antarctica, the ozone hole becomes a year-round fixture.

By the end of the model run in 2065, global ozone drops 67 percent compared to 1970s levels. The intensity of UV radiation at Earth's surface doubles; at certain shorter wavelengths, intensity rises by as much as 10,000 times. Skin cancer-causing radiation soars.

*snip*