A Pseudo Book Review: Solvable: How We Healed The Earth, And How We Can Do It Again

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For International Women’s Month, I went searched for female power in the field of renewables, electric vehicles, and a clean Earth. This is the first of a couple of stories, and I hope we can get faster replies from our selection of women leaders for the good of Mother Earth.

There are moments in this job when the boundary between objective reporting and personal inspiration completely dissolves. One such moment was in December 2023, at the VinFuture Prize awarding in Hanoi, Vietnam. I had spent days discussing the future of artificial intelligence and sustainable agriculture with various laureates, but the encounter I was truly waiting for was with the woman, who when as a 29-year-old girl, surrounded by penguins, had translated a distant atmospheric crisis into something personal, perceptible, and most importantly, solvable.

Meeting Susan Solomon felt less like a standard interview and more like a necessary audience with a pioneer of modern environmental hope.

I remember her distinctly. She possessed a steady, unassuming presence that contrasted sharply with the profound impact of her scientific legacy. She was in Hanoi to receive the Special Prize for Female Innovators, a designation she accepted with a grace that was both proud and practical. In a room full of global scientific heavyweights and international press, she spoke directly, but with an underlying patience. This was not a scientist who stayed within the ivory tower. This was a woman who knew how to bridge the gap between complex ozone depleting mechanisms and human consequences.

Solomon is best known for helping establish the scientific link between chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and the depletion of the ozone layer, research that underpinned the 1987 Montreal Protocol, widely regarded as the most successful environmental treaty in history. Nearly four decades later, satellite data confirm that the ozone layer is recovering.

She has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a long time. In our short chat, she spoke with clarity about how complex atmospheric chemistry moved from laboratory data to global diplomacy. For Vietnam, a rapidly developing country confronting climate and environmental pressures of its own, her visit carried symbolic resonance: global scientific crises can be addressed when evidence, public understanding and political will converge.

Solomon’s defining scientific chapter began in 1986, when at 29 she led a research expedition to Antarctica to collect measurements confirming that CFCs were breaking apart ozone molecules in the stratosphere. The data provided chemical proof of what had been suspected — that industrial compounds were thinning the planet’s protective shield. That clarity accelerated international negotiations and ultimately shaped the Montreal Protocol.

Three years after meeting her in Hanoi, I finally read the book she released shortly after returning from Vietnam: Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do It Again. As I thumbed through the pages of the book, I recalled the encounter with her. But her book revealed the structure behind her optimism.

Drawing from decades of research and teaching, Solomon argues that environmental progress follows identifiable conditions. Her framework rests on what she calls the three Ps: a threat must be personal, perceptible, and practical.

The ozone crisis met those conditions. The danger became personal through its link to skin cancer. It became perceptible through stark satellite images of the expanding ozone hole. And it became practical when industry developed chemical substitutes, allowing governments to phase out CFCs without dismantling refrigeration systems worldwide.

In the book, Solomon applies this framework to other environmental victories.

Ozone depletion and the power of visibility: The CFC crisis remains her central case study. The atmospheric chemistry was complex, but the imagery was simple and arresting. Once the public could see the hole and understand its health consequences, international action became politically possible. Industrial alternatives ensured that environmental protection did not require economic collapse.

DDT and the birth of environmental advocacy: The campaign against DDT demonstrated how ecological damage could translate into public mobilization. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring connected pesticide use to disappearing bird populations and broader health risks. The issue became emotionally immediate, generating political pressure for regulation and accelerating the growth of environmental organizations.

Lead, public health, and civil rights: The removal of lead from gasoline and paint illustrates the intersection of science and social justice. Research showed that millions of children were suffering cognitive harm from lead exposure. Civil rights advocates amplified the evidence by highlighting disproportionate impacts on minority communities. Automotive engineering adapted to unleaded fuel, proving that even deeply embedded industrial practices can be replaced when the human cost is undeniable.

Smog and technological adaptation: Urban smog turned air chemistry into a daily lived experience. In cities such as Los Angeles and London, visibility loss and respiratory illness made pollution impossible to ignore. The Clean Air Act and the development of catalytic converters provided a workable technological response, allowing continued mobility while sharply reducing emissions.

The Kigali Amendment and contemporary climate action: Solomon includes the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol to demonstrate that binding international agreements remain achievable. By targeting hydrofluorocarbons — potent greenhouse gases — governments extended a proven treaty framework into climate mitigation. She notes that if emissions had continued on a business-as-usual path from 2000, projected warming could have reached around four degrees Celsius. Current trajectories, though still dangerous, are closer to three degrees. With sustained effort, she argues, limiting warming to two degrees remains within reach.

In researching these episodes, Solomon was struck by the influence of political leadership, particularly US Senator Edmund Muskie, who insisted that environmental legislation rest on strong scientific assessment. Science alone does not produce policy, she writes, but policy collapses without credible science.

Her optimism is rooted not in sentiment but in precedent. More than 30% of global electricity now comes from renewable sources. Consumer pressure has influenced corporate decisions on plastic packaging and supply chains. Individual actions, while insufficient on their own, reinforce broader policy and market shifts.

The VinFuture is just one of her many, many accolades.

On May 24, 2018, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored atmospheric chemist Susan Solomon with the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences, one of the world’s most prestigious scientific awards. The ceremony, held in Stockholm in the presence of Swedish royalty, recognized Solomon’s fundamental contributions to understanding the role of atmospheric trace gases in Earth’s climate system.

The Crafoord Prize was established by Swedish industrialist Holger Crafoord and his wife, Anna-Greta Crafoord, and is awarded annually in scientific fields not covered by the Nobel Prize. Administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the prize carries a monetary award of 6 million Swedish kronor, equivalent at the time to roughly $690,000.

Solomon’s recognition reflects decades of work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly her research explaining the dramatic seasonal thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica. Her studies in the mid-1980s identified the chemical processes responsible for ozone destruction and traced the cause to chlorofluorocarbons, industrial compounds once widely used in refrigeration systems and aerosol propellants.

She led scientific expeditions to McMurdo Station in Antarctica in 1986 and 1987 to investigate the ozone hole. Working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),Through field measurements and laboratory analysis, Solomon and her colleagues demonstrated how these chemicals break down in the stratosphere and release chlorine atoms that rapidly destroy ozone molecules. The findings transformed what had been a puzzling atmospheric observation into a clear scientific explanation.

The research provided the scientific foundation for the Montreal Protocol, the 1987 international agreement that mandated the global phaseout of ozone-depleting substances. The treaty remains one of the most successful examples of science-driven environmental policy, with long-term monitoring showing gradual recovery of the ozone layer.

By identifying the chemical mechanisms behind ozone depletion and linking them to industrial emissions, Solomon’s work helped convert atmospheric science into actionable international policy. The Crafoord Prize recognized that contribution to understanding how trace gases influence both ozone chemistry and the broader climate system.

Looking back on that afternoon in Hanoi, the conversation feels more layered in hindsight. Solomon’s message was neither naïve nor rhetorical. It was analytical. Environmental repair has occurred before when threats became visible, personally relevant and technologically manageable.

The record of the past half-century suggests that decline is not irreversible. Under the right conditions, planetary damage can be addressed. The ozone layer’s gradual recovery stands as proof — and, in Solomon’s framing, as a template.