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vwb2022 t1_j3n36eg wrote

This is a prime example of how to coordinate global action to address environmental issues. The world took notice of what was happening and, albeit slowly, took decisive action to ban ozone-destroying chemicals.

Such action can work for other environmental issues, don't believe people who tell you otherwise.

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RollingCarrot615 t1_j3ov0fb wrote

Dupont had a technology they had already developed and needed a way to market it as an alternative to something that was cheaper and easier to make. Shortly after the hole in the Ozone was discovered, and Dupont did everything they could to make sure the hole in the Ozone got the appropriate attention.

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HoldingTheFire t1_j3pxbxu wrote

Sounds great that a technological solution was found, and then incentivized via world wide law. We would never give up refrigeration without an alternative, nor should we.

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Equal-Sale t1_j3q7f3p wrote

Plus the chemicals destroying the ozone layer weren’t fueling 80% of the industrial society that we live in.

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TheRidgeAndTheLadder t1_j3pko01 wrote

This is Tesla's contribution. They made EVs sexy. Which were more expensive and harder to make at the time.

Edit: Haven't seen a comment awing this hard in a while. If you're brigading, why not leave a comment?

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Parabola_Cunt t1_j3pogqx wrote

Or, you know, Toyota Prius. Those were popular and the OG “eco friendly” car that celebrities popularized in the early 2000s when Musk was still playing leather clad dragon slayer steam punk.

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Elestriel t1_j3pq9t9 wrote

The Prius didn't make the population want EVs, though. Tesla did what Apple did for smartphones - made them interesting and desirable, then other companies came in and made them better. Now that people are interested in them, there are loads of alternatives to Teslas.

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its-not-me_its-you_ t1_j3pl85q wrote

It was amazing. Scientists said, this is bad and this is what's causing it. Governments went, well let's ban cfcs and hfcs. Manufacturers went, ok we'll just move to an alternative. And that was it.

No push back. No party politics. No anti-zoners. Nothing. It was just done.

The only other thing in my living memory that went as well as that was Y2k. But that was driven by corporate self-preservation

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zeyus t1_j3qa4yy wrote

I like your optimism, but apparently DuPont did try to squash it with trademark violation threats for the use of the word Freon(tm) in an academic paper, as well as trying to convince a conference organizer to push it off the bill.

I just learned about this whole insane story yesterday from the cautionary tales podcast https://timharford.com/2022/11/cautionary-tales-the-inventor-who-almost-ended-the-world/ and there are sources there but I haven't read the book yet, though it sounds interesting enough to have a go at!

Edit: formatting, added the conference part that I just remembered.

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Asd_dsA_Dsa_asD t1_j3r3kc8 wrote

>Such action can work for other environmental issues, don't believe people who tell you otherwise.

Hear! Hear!

Started recycling, driving less and conserving power, don't care if it's miniscule, makes me feel good man.

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MittenstheGlove t1_j3oasiv wrote

This is just Hopium. The ozone layer is peanuts by comparison.

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Ryboticpsychotic t1_j3pd5hg wrote

This has an impact on global warming as well, since “a depleted ozone layer would let more harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation reach the surface, inhibiting plants from storing carbon in their tissue and in the soil. As a result, atmospheric CO2 levels are estimated to be 30% higher than they would likely be under Earth’s current trajectory. Consequently, Earth would likely be an additional 0.85 °C (1.53 °F) hotter in that “world-avoided” scenario solely because of the impact on plants.”

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3112/protecting-the-ozone-layer-also-protects-earths-ability-to-sequester-carbon/

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MittenstheGlove t1_j3pjnn9 wrote

You’re right, but that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying by relation fixing the ozone layer won’t mean much due to the level of destabilized climate we’re experiencing today. We need a much faster plan than 25 years for the rest of our issues

I mean this IS good news, but I am still not counting on much of the way of global coordination if it took us this long to rectify the problem with the ozone layer.

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its8up t1_j3p9dyq wrote

I hope the penguins don't have peanut allergies.

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MittenstheGlove t1_j3pkcf8 wrote

Read my other reply. I’m saying that this like 45 year plan to fix the ozone layer was far too slow.

I’m glad they’re fixing it, but the rest of our climate action won’t have 45 years to rectify. We started this process in like the 90’s.

I do not have much faith in global efforts at the rate we’re going. We can take this victory, but we still have people actively denying the severity of climate change, if not climate change as a whole.

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its8up t1_j3plwa5 wrote

Well, to be fair, I've seen reports for ozone layer being healed by 2060, 2040, and 2050 in that order over the past 2 days. Risky with us on the co2. People are stupid, stubborn, and greedy.

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MittenstheGlove t1_j3pn37v wrote

I absolutely agree with you there. I just felt the last sentence from VWB. Just felt odd, considering fervent climate misinformation.

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