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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Emergency Services, August 2 ... Part of West Rim Drive closed as firefighters battle Crater Lake blaze ... Officials say Zika virus likely will show up in Jackson County ... Emergency Services, August 2 ... Part of West Rim Drive closed as firefighters battle Crater Lake blaze ... Officials say Zika virus likely will show up in Jackson County ... OUR VIEW Our View: At one time, we heeded science Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jul. 7, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Jul. 7, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Remember the "ozone hole"? It's still there, but a new report in the journal Science says researchers have found clear indications that it is shrinking — because of international cooperation to attack what was causing it. The threat to the ozone layer from chemicals used in industry and consumer products was first documented in 1974. Two researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that widespread use of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases was taking a toll on the atmospheric ozone layer — an invisible blanket that shields the earth and its inhabitants from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. CFCs were commonly used as propellants in spray cans of all kinds and as refrigerants in air conditioners and refrigerators. The chemical industry attacked the findings, of course, but in 1985, a team of English researchers reported the continued release of CFCs had caused a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. The response was rapid, it was global — and it was effective. Nations all over the world agreed to phase out CFCs and use alternative compounds. The 1987 Montreal Protocol, still considered a model of international cooperation, resulted in the phasing out of industrial CFCs. The ozone hole stabilized. The United Nations estimates that international action will have prevented 2 million cases of skin cancer annually by 2030. The ozone hole still forms each year beginning in August, and it varies in size depending on weather and other factors. But this year, for the first time, researchers have found indications that it is reaching its largest size later in the year than before, which they say is clear evidence that it is healing, and it may close entirely by the middle of this century. This news is striking because it shows the ability of human beings to solve a global atmospheric problem, caused by humans, through international cooperation and concerted action. And yet we cannot seem to bring ourselves to take the same kind of action toward the problem of global climate change. The international agreements toward that end are ridiculed, scientists' warnings denounced and scientific conclusions ignored by people and politicians who find it in their economic or political interest to do so. Granted, it's a great deal easier to stop using chlorine-based compounds in spray cans, refrigerators and air conditioners than it is to stop using petroleum for virtually everything. But the success of limiting CFCs shows international cooperation can work, even on a problem of global scope. And CFCs happen to be greenhouse gases, so reducing their use has likely reduced global warming as well. Unfortunately, the substitutes for CFCs are also greenhouse gases. There are always tradeoffs. But the point remains: International compacts can make a difference in problems that do not recognize national borders. 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