Chronicles the experiences of F Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina, the scientists who first made the discovery and then tried to warn the world's leaders that the widespread release of CFCs into the earth's atmosphere was eating away at the ozone layer. The destructive character of these chemicals was first discovered in 1973; however, except for a ban on CFCs in aerosols in the late 1970s, warnings about the loss of the ozone layer went virtually unheeded until 1985, when the Antarctic hole was discovered. The book explores why it took so long for the world's leaders of government and industry to take the ozone problem seriously.
Discovery (January 1973-December 1973); Death to Ozone (January 1974-December 1974); The Politics of Science (January 1975-June 1975); Innocent until Proven Guilty (April 1975-December 1975); Aerosol Ban (January 1976-May 1977); The Dark Years (June 1977-October 1980); A Crisis that Wasn't (January 1981-March 1985); The Ozone Hole (October 1984-March 1986); The Sky Is Falling (March 1986-June 1986); Coldest Place on Earth (August 1986-October 1986); Chlorine, Dynamics, and Snowballs from Space (October 1986-May 1987); A Solution in Sight (June 1986-June 1987); Personal Protection (June 1987-September 1987); Proof--but Not Enough (September 1987-March 1988); The End of an Industry (March 1988-April 1988); The Importance of Knowing Sooner (May 1988-November 1988); Bibliography; Index.