BATTLE

We never worked for a better world. We never cared. But now, the battle is in our hands, let us put up our armors and fight.

And the battle starts with the Most Successful Environmental Treaty in the World – The Montreal Protocol. 

We too often take the rescue of the ozone layer for granted.  A whole generation has grown up not hearing about the risk to the earth's ozone layer, except maybe once a year when the recurrence of the ozone hole gets a brief mention on the news. 

Montreal Protocol averted global disasters through global collective action. Countries, starting 1987 has agreed to phase out nearly 100 CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals. If they didn’t, the thin layer of stratospheric ozone that protects us from dangerous ultraviolet radiation would have been badly depleted, and rates of skin cancer, cataracts, and other illnesses would be soaring off the charts around the world.  And because many of those ozone-depleting chemicals are also powerful heat-trapping gases, the dangerous weather extremes of climate change could have come even faster and harder.    

So let us give thanks to the Montreal Protocol as proof positive that the earth’s nearly 200 countries can effectively cooperate, when they want to.  Let’s remember that as those same countries pursue their campaign, we will have a better chance of having a safe and beautiful Earth.

They started the battle to save the World. Now, the battle is also in our hands, let us put up our armors and fight.