There’s great news for those trying to consciously make an effort to save our environment. According to the researchers from the University of Leeds and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer is shrinking, and should be completely healed by 2050!

There is a ray of hope. Finally!

The ozone layer shields the Earth and its inhabitants from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, and as per the new findings published in the journal Science, the average size of the ozone hole shrunk by more than 1.7 million square miles each September since 2000, which is pretty impressive. Researchers have now predicted that the hole above the South Pole should be completely sealed permanently by 2050.

 
What did we/are we doing right?

It is being said that the positive news is all thanks to the success of the 1987 Montreal Protocol that banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons in aerosols (spray cans) and refrigerators. “We can now be confident that the things we’ve done have put the planet on a path to heal,” said Susan Solomon, a professor at MIT.

The ozone hole was first noticed by scientists from the British Antarctic survey using ground-based data that began in the 1950s and mid-1980s. The hole kept becoming bigger ever since. But it truly reached an alarming stage in 2000 at 15 million square miles. The hole starts expanding when the Sun returns to the South Polar cap from August and reaches its peak in October. Talking to Telegraph UK, professor Solomon said, “We decided collectively, as a world, ‘Let’s get rid of these molecules’. We got rid of them, and now we’re seeing the planet respond.”

With this, the Montreal Protocol becomes a fantastic example of how, if we do things right, we can possibly end up saving our dear planet Earth.