14 DAY TRIAL // Climate scientists say that the higher-than-average temperatures we have been recording for the past decade or so – which are part of a trend towards global warming – may have been even higher if the international community had not put a ban on a series of chemicals that were destroying our planet's ozone layer.
An entire class of compounds, called chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), was banned from widespread use in the late 1980s, especially in the Montreal Protocol. The document was signed in 1986 and entered effect shortly afterwards, essentially criminalizing the use of CFC.
Chlorofluorocarbons were used in a variety of applications, including for creating deodorants, various sprays, as well as in-house appliances such as refrigerators. Once they escaped into the atmosphere, they destroyed ozone by converting it into oxygen, ScienceMag reports.
A recent calculation shows that global temperatures would have increased by as much as 0.1 degrees Celsius over the past 27 years had the ban not been set in place. This may not seem like much, but the rise is, in fact, pretty steep.