Tag: international-day-for-the-preservation-of-the-ozone-layer

It’s almost 100 years since Thomas Midgley Jr. first synthesised chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It was 1928 and he was working for General Motors, looking for a safe refrigerant to avoid using flammable or toxic alternatives. General Motors and Dupont soon began producing ‘Freon’ chemicals, which quickly dominated the market for refrigerants and also found wide use […]

As we mark the UN’s International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, we can’t afford to be complacent – the ‘hole’ discovered in the ozone layer above the Antarctic during the 1980s is still there and challenges, both old and new, continue to threaten the recovery of our planet’s invisible shield against ultraviolet rays.