A bit of good news for the Earthlings reading this: The ozone layer is set to be fully restored over most of the world within the next two decades, according to a new UN report.

Trends indicate a full ozone layer recovery by 2040 will take place across the planet, excluding the poles: The ozone is expected bounce back to 1980, pre-crisis levels over the Arctic by 2045 and over the Antarctic by 2066. So keep holding, South Pole property owners, good times are just over the horizon.

But why does it matter?

Science class refresher

The ozone layer is a thin part of the Earth’s stratosphere, about nine to 18 miles above its surface. This layer shields Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays linked to cancers and crop damage. In 1985, scientists identified a hole in the ozone layer caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the ozone-depleting chemicals found in air conditioners, refrigerators, and deodorants.

The loss of the ozone layer was one of the most feared environmental issues through most of the 1980s and ’90s, culminating in a poetic reference in Smash Mouth’s 1999 banger “All Star.” Perhaps due to the easily digestible urgency of the problem (a hole that was getting bigger), an international agreement to phase out CFCs, known as the Montreal Protocol, was reached quickly in 1987.

And, despite a few hiccups—including a 2018 discovery that factories in China were emitting large amounts of banned chemicals—the Montreal Protocol has proven successful. Yesterday’s report found that the primary ozone-depleting gases in the stratosphere were on the decline from their peaks:

• Chlorine decreased 11.5% from its peak in 1993.
• Bromine decreased 14.5% from its peak in 1999.

In a bit of a full circle moment, the defunct Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, which helped confirm the ozone layer’s decline in the ’80s, fell back to Earth on Sunday night.—MK

Storms keep slamming California. President Biden declared an emergency in California yesterday after a slew of winter storms drenched the state, causing at least 12 deaths, widespread power outages, and flooding. The declaration will allow federal agencies to coordinate relief efforts as atmospheric rivers and cyclones keep pummeling the northern part of the state. As of yesterday, about 34 million Californians, or ~10% of the US population, were under a flood watch, according to CNN, and Montecito was ordered to evacuate.

The DOJ is investigating Biden’s handling of classified docs. The department is looking into ~10 classified documents from President Biden’s tenure as VP that were found in a private office he used—an official appointed by former President Trump has been tasked with the review. Unlike the documents that were seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, however, it appears that Biden’s own attorneys found them and alerted the government, returning them the next day. In other political news yesterday, Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy made it through the first test in his hard-won speakership when the House passed the rules it will operate under, as well as a bill rescinding new funding for the IRS that’s unlikely to succeed in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Brazil detains 1,500 people after riots. Authorities cracked down yesterday after supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, who don’t believe he lost the last election, stormed its Congress, Supreme Court, and presidential palace on Sunday. Meanwhile, the situation is getting awkward for President Biden, as members of his own party are pressuring him to expel Bolsonaro, who’s been in Florida since days before his successor was sworn in. As for Bolsonaro himself, his wife said yesterday he was in the hospital with abdominal pain.

Windsor watchers who have yet to overdose on British monarchy drama are queuing up at their nearest bookstore. Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, hits shelves today and bombshell pre-release leaks suggest that it’s a juicy one (we already know more than we want to about royal circumcision).

Royalties for royalty

Celebrity narratives are big business: A four-book deal reportedly earned Harry and his wife, Meghan, up to $40 million. And though literary accolades are likely not on the horizon for Prince Harry (or his ghostwriter), Spare already clinched the No. 1 bestseller spot at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Its publisher, Random House, says it printed 2.5 million copies for North America, betting at least that many readers will be willing to shell out $25 to get further details on how Harry lost his virginity in a field, behind a pub.

Zoom out: Harry and Meghan have not shied away from getting paid to publicly air grievances with family members turning themselves into a powerful media brand after walking away from royal duties. Together they launched a Spotify podcast and a Netflix docuseries. It’s no doubt made them bank, but it’s also made Prince Harry less popular—at least in the UK, where his approval ratings plummeted the most with older people who tend to support the monarchy, according to a recent YouGov poll.—SK

Noma announced yesterday it’ll serve its last fried duck brain in a mallard head in 2024 (see the famous dish if you dare). Its creator and head chef, René Redzepi, told the NYT that the way fine dining currently operates is “unsustainable.”

If you couldn’t relate to anyone in The Menu except Margot and wouldn’t shell out $500 for a meal, here’s why this is a BFD:

• The Copenhagen-based restaurant has three Michelin stars and has topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list so many times (five) that it became ineligible to nab No. 1 again.
• Redzepi, who’s been called the greatest chef of his time, co-created “New Nordic” cuisine—which highlights the naturalness of foraged ingredients. If you’ve ever been served an entree on a log, that’s Noma’s influence.

But a lot of unpaid interns had to tweeze fruit leather into the shape of a beetle (seriously) to get Noma to the top. Grueling hours, low pay, and a workplace culture that would get zero stars on Glassdoor has become the norm in fine dining restaurants.

Redzepi told the NYT, “Financially and emotionally, as an employer and as a human being, it just doesn’t work.”

Looking ahead…in 2025, Noma will be converted into a culinary lab where Redzepi will pickle and ferment foods we’ve never heard of.—JW

Stat: Not to sound like the News at 10, but a common appliance in your kitchen might be making kids sick: A recent study found that about one in eight childhood asthma cases in the US could be traced back to gas stoves. Gas ranges, which are used in about 40% of American homes, emit enough harmful pollutants into the air that the government is now considering banning them, per Bloomberg.

Quote: “In a creative business like ours, nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe, and create with peers that comes from being physically together.”

Disney employees may not have been the happiest group on Earth yesterday after the company’s new-old CEO Bob Iger announced that all hybrid workers will need to start showing up at the office four days per week as of March. The move puts Disney out of step with many companies that have offered more flexible arrangements (though Mickey’s minions can still work from home on Fridays unlike, say, the folks at Elon Musk’s Twitter).

Read: How memes came to dominate Mexican piñata design. (Rest of World)

Get your oversized straw ready: A guide to finding your perfect bubble tea combo.

More moon landings, more rich people in orbit: Everything you can expect from space travel this year.

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Brew Mini: Today’s puzzle is a royal pain, in the best way. Play it here.

Prince trivia

To mark Prince Harry’s memoir release today, this quiz is going to be all about princes (real and fictional). See if you can name the prince referenced in the following clues.

1. The current heir apparent to the British throne
2. He was West Philadelphia born and raised
3. Aladdin’s alter ego in the Disney film
4. The title of a novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
5. The current crown prince of Saudi Arabia
6. The second of the seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia

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The Business Casual team chatted with Rachel Carlson, the founder and CEO of Guild Education, a company that partners with employers including Target and Disney to provide debt-free college degrees to employees.

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