‘Ozone Hole’ informs and entertains
Looking for good news? A story about the triumph of reason over fear? A tale of smart people facing up to a problem, discussing it, coming up with a solution and getting to work? “Ozone Hole: How We Saved the Planet” (10 p.m., PBS, TV-G, check local listings) is all of that and more.
It’s also proof that an hourlong film can discuss topics like chemistry, engineering, business, politics and diplomacy in an entertaining fashion. It does so not by lecturing viewers about concepts, but by telling colorful stories about interesting people.
The “Ozone” story begins in the 1920s, when the brilliant but luckless scientist Thomas Midgley Jr. came up with a formula for chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, which revolutionized refrigeration and, later, air conditioning. CFCs were also used as gaseous propellants for everything from spray paints to hair sprays and even asthma inhalers.
Like many “miracle” inventions of the 20th century, they were seen as a boon to mankind. It would take more than 50 years to realize that CFCs would drift up to the stratosphere and react in such a way as to destroy the planet’s protective ozone layer, exposing everyone and everything on Earth to dangerous radiation.
Midgley’s reputation for inadvertently dangerous ideas grew after he came up with the idea for leaded gasoline. But that’s another story.
Fast-forward a half-century and scientists began to detect higher levels of CFCs in the air — all over the planet, particularly at the poles, where there were few refrigerators running and nobody was shellacking their beehive hairdos with hair spray.
Research soon showed a remarkable loss of ozone coverage in Antarctica.
The association of aerosol spray and ozone loss was injected into the public consciousness by a single episode of “All in the Family.” After that, sales of aerosol deodorants and other consumer items plummeted.
It would take more
than another decade and the cooperation of a multibillion-dollar industry and conservative governments in both Washington and London, but an international treaty on phasing out dangerous CFCs was finally enacted.
At a time when many fear that nothing can be done to address climate change, “Ozone Hole: How We Saved the Planet” arrives like a tonic. Highly recommended.
› Bear Grylls hosts “You vs. Wild,” streaming today on Netflix. Not unlike his earlier series, “Running Wild With Bear Grylls,” it invites viewers to join him in exotic locales. But with this interactive show, viewers are asked to make decisions for Bear and alter the outcome of his adventure.
This is the second interactive Netflix series. A “Black Mirror” installment, “Bandersnatch,” unfolded in the same fashion.
› Also on Netflix, Stanley Tucci stars in “The Silence,” a 2019 horror thriller with a similar premise to “A Quiet Place.”
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› A gun goes missing on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-14).
› Andre recuperates on “Empire” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) presents “The Egg: Life’s Perfect Invention.”
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.