Climate crisis | Peter Schulte

46 countries sign the Montreal Protocol in historic move to restore the ozone layer

Peter Schulte / September 17, 1987

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 September 1987 and entered into force on 1 January 1989. The ozone treaty has since been ratified by 198 parties, making it the first universally ratified treaty in United Nations history.

U.S. Windpower installs the world’s first wind farm in New Hampshire

Peter Schulte / May 23, 1980

The world’s first wind farm stood on the north side of Crotched Mountain in southern New Hampshire, on land owned by the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, a hospital and school that serves individuals with disabilities and their families. It consisted of 20 30kW turbines – quite small by standards of the 2020s.

Ecuador formally establishes Yasuní National Park

Peter Schulte / July 26, 1979

Arguably the most biologically diverse spot on Earth, it remains the South American nation’s largest national park. It is within the claimed ancestral territory of the Huaorani Indigenous people and is home to two uncontacted Indigenous tribes.

Sweden goes first to ban aerosol sprays

Peter Schulte / January 23, 1973

Scientific evidence had mounted that CFCs were damaging to Earth’s ozone layer. Sweden was the first to act on this evidence.