The Montreal Protocol had a dramatic ice-saving side effect
Rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic is the largest and most clear sign of human-made climate change. Deposit Photos The decades-old international treaty that banned ozone-depleting substances has successfully averted huge amounts of sea ice loss—delaying the first ice-free Arctic summer by as much as 15 years, according to a new study. The study published May 22 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that regulating these harmful substances helped delay further globalc heating. [Related: Fixing the ozone hole was a bigger deal than anyone realized.] In 1985, scientists first discovered a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica on the Earth’s south pole. Representatives from countries around the world gathered to craft a treaty to protect the ozone layer, which shields the planet from harmful...