Honor Your Ozone Layer September 16

Be glad we have an ozone layer on September 16, the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. The international community signed onto that treaty in 1987 after scientists proved that manmade chemicals were depleting the atmospheric layer that protects us from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. We scrapped the chemicals and are restoring the ozone layer and preventing a lot of cancer.

A layer of gas that protects us from the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays is honored with the International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer September 16.

The Montreal Protocol saved the ozone layer, the Earth's sunscreen. Nations forged the agreement after scientists realized manmade chemicals in the atmosphere were depleting the ozone layer and could lead to increased disease. In place for 25 years, the Montreal Protocol "demonstrates the world’s commitment to ozone protection and, more broadly, global environmental protection," according to a statement from the U.N. Environment Programme, which serves as the secretariat for the treaty.

The protocol has led to the phase-out of 98 percent of ozone-depleting substances, and the ozone hole — most serious over Antarctica, as seen here — is expected to recover by 2050. Millions of cases of fatal skin cancer and tens of millions of cases of nonfatal skin cancer and eye cataracts have been avoided thanks to the Montreal Protocol.