The Montreal Protocol turned 20 this weekend — and you forgot to get it a gift, didn’t you. As nearly 200 nations convene this week to discuss the protocol, which has been successful in spurring an international phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals, it has been lauded by no less a person than Pope Benedict XVI, who declared on Sunday, “In the last two decades, thanks to an exemplary collaboration in the international community among politics, science, and economics, important results have been obtained with positive results for current and future generations.” Da pope is on an eco-roll, having installed solar power at the Vatican and preached the green gospel to Italy’s yoots. He may also soon preside over the world’s first carbon-neutral state, as cardinals recently accepted a Hungarian startup’s offer to offset the Vatican’s emissions by planting trees.
