Remember CFC's?

Whatever happened to the CFC scare?  Remember all of those "crazy scientists" who claimed the ozone hole was growing out of control, and that we would all get skin cancer?   Well, governments banned CFCs in 1987.  The result?

World chlorofluorocarbon consumption, 1986: 1.08 million tons
World chlorofluorocarbon consumption, 2006: 0.04 million tons

Oh, and the hole in the ozone layer has stopped growing.  And according to reports it will return to normal levels by 2065-2070.  It's nice to see what we can do with atmospheric pollutants when we put our minds to it.  You know I'm talking about CO2.  I know, it's apples and oranges.  Still...

Further Reading:

The U.N. Environmental Program assesses the Montreal Protocol:
http://ozone.unep.org/Assessment_Panels/

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adds its perspective:
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/

And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change looks at global warming:
http://www.ipcc.ch/

More:

PPI's Energy & Environment Project looks at climate change policy, biofuels and plug-in cars, environmental technologies as an export opportunity, pollution in China and other questions:
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ka.cfm?knlgAreaID=116

UNEP lists 97 multilateral environmental agreements:
http://www.unep.org/dpdl/Law/
Law_instruments/law_instruments_global.asp

And EPA statistics on air quality, 1970-2005:
http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/econ-emissions.html

Thanks to the Progressive Policy Institute for this info.

Chris