Many crises have tested humanity's innovation and cooperation over the past few centuries. The thinning of the ozone layer, however, has proven to be one of the most widely considered issues. Increased solar radiation was predicted to cause higher rates of some cancers in many species, be detrimental to the development of some bacteria (some vital to agriculture), and cause cortical cataracts. 1 The world came together and responded with far-reaching international cooperation that significantly slowed the formation of depressions in the ozone layer. Ozone depletion has its roots in human chemical experiments funded through business politics. An innovative new company called Guardian refrigerator Company began manufacturing refrigerators in 1916. However, the company was not destined for immediate success and began to fail. General Motors, seeing a profitable opportunity, purchased the young refrigerator manufacturer, and the Guardian refrigerator Company became Frigidaire. The original self-contained refrigerators used sulfur dioxide as a refrigerant. Sulfur dioxide, being highly toxic, has caused occasional deaths due to refrigerator malfunctions. The search for an economical and non-toxic replacement then began. General Motors sought out Thomas Midgley Jr., a world-renowned chemist at the time, and asked him to continue research into possible alternative refrigerants. Midgley's research led him to consider carbon tetrafluoride and dichlorodifluoromethane.2 Both possessed stability, nonreactive nature, and extinguishing characteristics, but dichlorodifluoromethane was named as the preferable option because its boiling point was better suited to refrigerator mechanics. According to Susan Strahan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, "the hole is expected to disappear completely by 2070 and should begin to recover in the next decade." they are still industries with deep pockets that invest heavily in their respective substances of interest. Thankfully, the extreme power of the Montreal Protocol also makes such a debacle highly unlikely as any new material that poses a threat to the ozone layer would quickly be annexed to the protocol. The joint action of individuals, parties and nations led to an ingenious and flexible protocol that allowed humanity to undo one of its greatest mistakes to date. The events that emerged from the first synthesis of dichlorodifluoromethane inspired a sense of environmental awareness that shaped international politics and the globe's natural mechanisms.