The History of Human Impact on Ozone Depletion

The main cause of ozone depletion has been us, human beings. We were the ones who created the man-made CFC's and compounds which have destroyed our environemnt significantly. In 1978, the United States Government banned the use of CFC aersols. Ten years later, DuPont Company announced plans to phase out production of CFC's. Formerly, DuPont sold CFC's under the market name, Freon. In 1989, the Montreal Protocol resulted in 30 countries agreeing to reduce CFC usage, but the protocol only asked to eliminate half of CFC production. In 1990 however, many nations agreed to  stop production by 2000, but in late 1992, the deadline was moved to end of 1995 while others complied to end production by 2010. By 2000, the U.S. and twelve countries agreed to ban all use and production of CFC which total 3/4 of the world's, and the hole looks as it is recovering very slowly. Emissions dropped slightly in 1990's, but the compounds contined to leak from older equipment through the 2000's. As humans who caused most of this problem, we need to be aware of the risks and stop using these chemicals and help save the earth. In addition, we have contributed to global warming, and climate change has been another factor to ozone depletion and how the layer will be in coming years.

The 1989 Montreal Protocol Conferences