Though its edges balloon over the Southern Ocean and reach South America, there isn't much to see if you look up at the sky, scientists say. Perhaps the lack of an obvious change in the sky is one reason we have come to think of ozone depletion as a problem solved. But it is not fixed. The ozone hole this spring is almost as big as Africa. Scientists do not know exactly when it will stop growing and are pushing out their estimates of a final repair date.
Doctors warn that ozone depletion is still increasing skin cancer risks.
Biologists are debating its effects on ecosystems. All this, yet many green lobbyists have gone quiet on ozone. In Australia, government officials and public health advisers worry about a growing community perception that the job is over when in fact we are at a critical point. Hesitation may demolish work already done. Instead, they say, we should think of ozone protection as the Hundred Years War of our time.