So you've got the Ozone Layer depleting due to CFCs, and you've got ClO replacing O2 in the lower atmosphere. ClO is highly reactive, so you know what it recombines into? HCl aka Hydrochloric acid, and Chlorine Gas aka the gas used in World War I that led to chemical warfare being banned.
CFCs were the subject of the 1987 Montreal Protocol. It was the first UN treaty ratified by all members of the UN. Considering who was in power around the world in the 80s, this was surprising to me.
Then I remembered that literal acid was falling out of the sky, and the hairstyles the CFC-propelled hairsprays were enabling, and realized ratification was a no-brainer even if you were up for ruining most everything else in your country.
I don't know who you are, but you've done more for our planet than you know.
You might have heard that the problem with having a whole in the Ozone Layer is that radiation from the sun starts reaching lower levels like us, and we get skin cancer. Of course there's a lot between us and the Ozone Layer.
There's also a lot of ocean on our planet, and as annoying as acid rain is for us, it's kind of doubly so for the ocean where it ends up.
Nine years before the Montreal Protocol was signed, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy premiered on BBC Radio 4 (nine and four are always good numbers). It showed us what happens when the Earth's demise happens quickly, efficiently, and totally. That that may be completed by an alien race in love with bureaucracy is probably the least believable part of the text.
Now I get to tell you about what happens if the Earth's demise is slow, chaotic, and random. I'm doubtful it'll be as humorous as Adams' masterpiece, but it will be just as apocalyptic!
Without further ado, let's talk about The 90s.