Timeline of history of environmentalism
Encyclopedia
This timeline is a listing of events that have shaped humanity's perspective on the environment
. This timeline includes human induced disasters, environmentalists that have had a positive influence, and environmental legislation.
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
. This timeline includes human induced disasters, environmentalists that have had a positive influence, and environmental legislation.
- For a list of geological and climatological events that have shaped human history see Timeline of environmental history
7th century
- 676 — Cuthbert of LindisfarneCuthbert of LindisfarneSaint Cuthbert was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, at that time including, in modern terms, northern England as well as south-eastern Scotland as far as the Firth of Forth...
enacts protection legislation for birds on the Farne IslandsFarne IslandsThe Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. There are between 15 and 20 or more islands depending on the state of the tide. They are scattered about 2.5–7.5 km distant from the mainland, divided into two groups, the Inner Group and the Outer Group...
(NorthumberlandNorthumberlandNorthumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, UK).
14th century
- 1366 — The city of ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
forces butchers to dispose of animal wastes outside the city (Ponting) - 1388 — The English Parliament passes an act forbidding the throwing of filth and garbageWasteWaste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
into ditches, rivers and waters. The city of CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
also passes the first urban sanitary laws in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
15th century
- 1420 to 1427, Madeira islands : destruction of the laurisilva forest, or the woods which once clothed the whole island when the Portuguese settlers decided to clear the land for farming by setting most of the island on fire. It is said that the fire burned for seven years.
17th century
- 1609 — Hugo GrotiusHugo GrotiusHugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
publishes Mare Liberum (The Free Sea) with arguments for the new principle that the sea was international territory and all nations were free to use it for seafaring trade. The ensuing debate had the British empireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
and France claim sovereigntySovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over territorial watersTerritorial watersTerritorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
to the distance within which cannon range could effectively protect it, the three mile (5 km) limit. - 1640 — Isaac Walton writes The Compleat Angler about fishing and conservation.
- 1690 — Colonial Governor William PennWilliam PennWilliam Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
requires PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
settlers to preserve 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) of trees for every five acres cleared.
-
- — The last MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
dodoDodoThe dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....
dies. The extinction was due to hunting, but also by the pigs, rats, dogs and cats brought to the island by settlers. Later the species has become an icon on animal extinction.
- — The last Mauritius
18th century
- 1711 — Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
notes the contents of London's gutters: "sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts and blood, drowned puppies, stinking sprats, all drenched in mud..." - 1720 — In India, hundreds of Bishnois Hindus of Khejadali go to their deaths trying to protect trees from the Maharaja of Jodhpur, who needed wood to fuel the lime kilns for cement to build his palace. This event has been considered as the origins of the 20th century Chipko movementChipko movementThe Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan is a social-ecological movement that practised the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-violent resistance, through the act of hugging trees to protect them from being felled...
. - 1739 — Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and neighbors petition Pennsylvania Assembly to stop waste dumping and remove tanneries from Philadelphia's commercial district. Foul smell, lower property values, disease and interference with fire fighting are cited. The industries complain that their rights are being violated, but Franklin argues for "public rights." Franklin and the environmentalists win a symbolic battle but the dumping goes on. - 1748 — Jared EliotJared EliotJared Eliot was a farmer, minister and physician in Guilford, Connecticut who wrote several articles on agriculture and animal husbandry. Eliot was the eldest son of Joseph Eliot and his second wife, Mary Wyllys. The Eliots raised their family in Guilford , which was settled by Europeans in 1639...
, clergyman and physician, writes Essays on Field Husbandry in New England promoting soil conservation. - 1762 to 1769 — Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin FranklinBenjamin FranklinDr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollutionWater pollutionWater pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....
. - 1773 — William BartramWilliam BartramWilliam Bartram was an American naturalist. The son of Ann and John Bartram, William Bartram and his twin sister Elizabeth were born in Kingsessing, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. As a boy, he accompanied his father on many of his travels, to the Catskill Mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens,...
, (1739–1823). American naturalist sets out on a five year journey through the US Southeast to describe wildlife and wilderness from FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to the MississippiMississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. His book, Travels, is published in 1791 and becomes one of the early literary classics of the new United States of America. - 1798 - Thomas Robert Malthus publishes An Essay on the Principle of PopulationAn Essay on the Principle of PopulationThe book An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798 through J. Johnson . The author was soon identified as The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. While it was not the first book on population, it has been acknowledged as the most influential work of its era...
, an evolutionary social theory of population dynamics as it had acted steadily throughout all previous history.
19th century
- 1820 — World human population reached 1 billion.
- 1828 — Carl SprengelCarl SprengelKarl or Carl Philipp Sprengel was a German botanist from Schillerslage ....
formulates the Law of the Minimum stating that economic growthEconomic growthIn economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
is limited not by the total of resources available, but by the scarcest resource. - 1845 — First use of the term "carrying capacityCarrying capacityThe carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
" in a report by the US Secretary of State to the Senate. - 1849 — Establishment of the U.S. Department of Interior.
- 1851 — Henry David ThoreauHenry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
delivers an address to the Concord (Massachusetts) Lyceum declaring that "in Wildness is the preservation of the World." In 1863, this address is published posthumously as the essay "Walking" in Thoreau's Excursions. - 1854 — Henry David Thoreau publishes WaldenWaldenWalden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
; or, Life in the Woods. - 1859 — Publication of second edition of William ElliottWilliam ElliottWilliam Elliott may refer to:*William Henry Elliott , British general*William Elliott , lieutenant in the Royal Navy and marine painter*William Elliott , English engraver...
's Carolina Sports by Land and Water (first published in 1846), an early example of the hunter-as-conservationist, a phenomenon which became increasingly important for conservationism. - 1860 — Henry David Thoreau delivers an address to the Middlesex (Massachusetts) Agricultural Society, entitled "The Succession of Forest Trees," in which he analyzes aspects of what later came to be understood as forest ecologyForest ecologyForest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management...
and urges farmers to plant trees in natural patterns of succession; the address is later published in (among other places) Excursions, becoming perhaps his most influential ecological contribution to conservationistConservationistConservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
thought. - 1862 — John RuskinJohn RuskinJohn Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
publishes Unto This LastUnto This LastUnto This Last is an essay on economy by John Ruskin, first published in December 1860 in the monthly journal Cornhill Magazine in four articles. Ruskin says himself that these articles were "very violently criticized", forcing the publisher to stop the publication after four months. Subscribers...
, which contains a proto-environmental indictment of the effects of unrestricted industrial expansion on both human beings and the natural world. The book influences Mahatma Gandhi, William MorrisWilliam MorrisWilliam Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
and Patrick GeddesPatrick GeddesSir Patrick Geddes was a Scottish biologist, sociologist, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning and education....
. - 1864 — George Perkins MarshGeorge Perkins MarshGeorge Perkins Marsh , an American diplomat and philologist, is considered by some to be America's first environmentalist, although "conservationist" would be more accurate...
publishes Man and Nature; or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action (revised 1874 as The Earth as Modified by Human Action), the first systematic analysis of humanity's destructive impact on the natural environmentNatural environmentThe natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
and a work which becomes (in Lewis MumfordLewis MumfordLewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
's words) "the fountain-head of the conservation movementConservation movementThe conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
." - 1866 — The term EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
is coined (in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1834–1919) in his Generelle Morphologie der Organismen. Haeckel was an anatomist, zoologist, and field naturalist appointed professor of zoology at the Zoological Institute, Jena, in 1865. Haeckel was philosophically an enthusiastic Darwinian. Ecology is from the Greek oikos, meaning house or dwelling and logos, meaning discourse or the study of.
-
- — The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsAmerican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsThe American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing cruelty towards animals...
is founded.- 1869 — Samuel BowlesSamuel Bowles (journalist)Samuel Bowles III was an American journalist born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1844 he was the publisher and editor of The Republican , a position he held until his death in 1878....
publishes Our New West. Records of Travel between the Mississippi River and the Pacific OceanOur New West. Records of Travel between the Mississippi River and the Pacific OceanOur New West. Records of Travel between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean is a book by Samuel Bowles, .It was published in Hartford, Connecticut by The Hartford Publishing Company; and in New York, J.D...
, an influential traveller's account of the wilds and peoples of the West, in which he advocates preservation of other scenic areas such as Niagara FallsNiagara FallsThe Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
and the Adirondacks. - 1872 — The term acid rainAcid rainAcid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
is coined by Robert Angus SmithRobert Angus SmithRobert Angus Smith was a Scottish chemist, who investigated numerous environmental issues. He is famous for his research on air pollution in 1852, in the course of which he discovered what came to be known as acid rain...
in the book Air and Rain.
- 1869 — Samuel Bowles
- — US first national park, Yellowstone National ParkYellowstone National ParkYellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
. - — Arbor DayArbor DayArbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. It originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States during 1872 by J. Sterling Morton. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872, and an estimated 1 million trees were planted that day.Many...
was founded by J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City, NebraskaNebraska City, NebraskaNebraska City is a city in Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,228 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Otoe County...
. It occurs every year on the last Friday in April in the US.- 1873 — International Meteorological OrganizationInternational Meteorological OrganizationThe International Meteorological Organization was the first organization formed with the purpose of exchanging weather information among the countries of the world. It was born from the realization that weather systems move across country boundaries and knowledge of pressure, temperature,...
is formed. - 1874 — Charles HallockCharles HallockCharles Hallock was an American author born in New York City to Gerard Hallock and Elizabeth Allen. On September 10, 1855 he married Amelia J. Wardell.He was educated at Yale, 1850-51, and Amherst College...
establishes Forest and StreamForest and StreamForest and Stream was a magazine featuring hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. Founded in 1873, it was the ninth oldest magazine in the United States....
magazine sparking a US national debate about ethics and hunting.
- 1873 — International Meteorological Organization
- — German graduate student Othmar ZeidlerOthmar ZeidlerOthmar Zeidler was an Austrian chemist credited with the first synthesis of DDT.He was a son of the Viennese pharmacist Franz Zeidler. Othmar's brother, Franz Zeidler Jr. , also became a chemist and would collaborate with him on several projects...
first synthesises DDTDDTDDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
, later to be used as an insecticide.- 1876 — British River Pollution Control Act makes it illegal to dump sewage into a stream.
- 1879 — U.S. Geological Survey formed. John Wesley PowellJohn Wesley PowellJohn Wesley Powell was a U.S. soldier, geologist, explorer of the American West, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions...
, explorer of the Colorado RiverColorado RiverThe Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
a decade earlier, will become its head in March 1881. - 1883 — Francis GaltonFrancis GaltonSir Francis Galton /ˈfrɑːnsɪs ˈgɔːltn̩/ FRS , cousin of Douglas Strutt Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician...
coins the still controversial concept of eugenicsEugenicsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
in his book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development. - 1890 — Yosemite National Park Bill, established the Yosemite and Sequoia National ParkSequoia National ParkSequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...
s in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. - 1891 — Oscar BaumannOscar BaumannOscar Baumann was an Austrian cartographer with a keen interest in ethnography.He attended classes on natural history and geography at the University of Vienna, and in 1885 was part of an Austrian exploratory expedition of the Congo Basin headed by Oskar Lenz. However, he had to leave the...
, Austrian explorer of East Africa, publishes an eye-witness account of the extreme drought period 1883-1902 called Emutai by the Maasai.
- — General Revision ActGeneral Revision ActThe General Revision Act of 1891 repealed the Timber Culture and Preemption Acts and authorized the President of the United States, under the Forest Reserve Act, to create forest preserves "wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not...."about of forest...
.- 1892 — John MuirJohn MuirJohn Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
, (1838–1914), founded the Sierra ClubSierra ClubThe Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
. - 1895 — Sewage cleanup in London means the return of some fish species (grilse, whitebait, flounder, eel, smelt) to the River ThamesRiver ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
.
- 1892 — John Muir
- — The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
20th century
- 1902 — George Washington CarverGeorge Washington CarverGeorge Washington Carver , was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864....
writes How to Build Up Worn Out Soils. - 1903 — March 14, US President Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
creates first National Bird Preserve, (the beginning of the Wildlife Refuge system), on Pelican IslandPelican Island National Wildlife RefugePelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located just off the western coast of Orchid Island in the Indian River Lagoon east of Sebastian, Florida. The refuge consists of a island that includes an additional of surrounding water and is located off the...
, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
-
- — 7300 hectares of land in the Lake District of the AndesAndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
foothills in PatagoniaPatagoniaPatagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
are donated by Francisco MorenoFrancisco MorenoFrancisco Pascacio Moreno was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno...
as the first park, Nahuel Huapi National ParkNahuel Huapi National ParkEstablished in 1934, the Nahuel Huapi National Park is the oldest national park in Argentina. It surrounds Nahuel Huapi Lake in the foothills of the Patagonian Andes. The largest of the national parks in the region, it has an area of , or nearly 2 million acres...
, in what eventually becomes the National Park System of ArgentinaNational Parks of ArgentinaThe National Parks of Argentina make up a network of 30 national parks in Argentina. The parks cover a very varied set of terrains and biotopes, from Baritú National Park on the northern border with Bolivia to Tierra del Fuego National Park in the far south of the continent .The creation of the...
.- 1905 — The term smogSmogSmog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollutionAir pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
.
- 1905 — The term smog
- — The National Audubon SocietyNational Audubon SocietyThe National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
is founded.- 1906 — Antiquities ActAntiquities ActThe Antiquities Act of 1906, officially An Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities , is an act passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906, giving the President of the United States authority to, by executive order, restrict the use of...
, passed by US Congress which authorized the president to set aside national monument sites.
- 1906 — Antiquities Act
- — San Francisco earthquake1906 San Francisco earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and subsequent fires destroy much of the city.
- — 7300 hectares of land in the Lake District of the Andes
- 1908 — Muir Woods National MonumentMuir Woods National MonumentMuir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on the Pacific coast of southwestern Marin County, California, north of San Francisco and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
was established on January 9 and now governed by the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
.
-
- — The National Conservation CommissionNational Conservation CommissionThe National Conservation Commission was appointed in June 1908 by President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and composed of representatives of the United States Congress and relevant executive agencies with Gifford Pinchot as chairman. It compiled an inventory of U.S...
, appointed in June by President Roosevelt. - — An article by Robert Underwood JohnsonRobert Underwood JohnsonRobert Underwood Johnson was a U.S. writer and diplomat. His wife was Katharine Johnson.-Biography:A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson joined the staff of The Century Magazine in 1873...
in Century magazine, "A High Price to Pay for Water," helps bring the Hetch Hetchy controversy to national attention.- 1909 — US President Theodore Roosevelt convenes the North American Conservation Conference, held in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and attended by representatives of Canada, NewfoundlandDominion of NewfoundlandThe Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
, Mexico, and the United States.
- 1909 — US President Theodore Roosevelt convenes the North American Conservation Conference, held in Washington, D.C.
- — The National Conservation Commission
1910s
- 1913 — US Congress enacts law which destroyed the Hetch Hetchy ValleyHetch Hetchy ValleyHetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
. - 1916 — US Congress created the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
. - 1918 — The Save-the-Redwoods LeagueSave-the-Redwoods LeagueThe Save the Redwoods League is an organization dedicated to the protection of the remaining Coast Redwood trees in the state of California. It was founded in 1918 by Frederick Russell Burnham, Madison Grant, John C. Merriam, and Henry Fairfield Osborn....
is founded to the protect the remaining Coast Redwood trees. Over 60% of the redwoods in California's state redwood parks have been protected by the organization.
-
- — Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
reports alcohol-gasolineAlternative fuelAlternative fuels, known as non-conventional or advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels...
anti-knock blend is "universally" expected to be the fuelFuelFuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
of the future. Seven years later, in Public Health Service hearings, General Motors and Standard Oil spokesmen will claim that there are no alternatives to leadedTetra-ethyl leadTetraethyllead , abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula 4Pb. An inexpensive additive, its addition to gasoline from the 1920's allowed octane ratings and thus engine compression to be boosted significantly, increasing power and fuel economy...
gasoline as an anti-knock additive. - — Congress approves the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 , codified at , is a United States federal law, at first enacted in 1916 in order to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain...
, which implements a 1916 Convention (between the U.S. and Britain, acting for Canada) for the Protection of Migratory birds, and establishes responsibility for international migratory bird protection. - - Spanish FluSpanish fluThe 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
kills between 50 to 100 million people worldwide- 1919 — The National Parks Conservation AssociationNational Parks Conservation AssociationThe National Parks Conservation Association is the only independent, membership organization devoted exclusively to advocacy on behalf of the National Parks System...
is founded.
- 1919 — The National Parks Conservation Association
- — Scientific American
1920s
- 1921 — Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr. was an American mechanical engineer and chemist. Midgley was a key figure in a team of chemists, led by Charles F. Kettering, that developed the tetraethyllead additive to gasoline as well as some of the first chlorofluorocarbons . Over the course of his career, Midgley was...
discovers leadLeadLead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
components to be an efficient antiknock agentAntiknock agentAn antiknock agent is a gasoline additive used to reduce engine knocking and increase the fuel's octane rating.The mixture known as gasoline, when used in high compression internal combustion engines, has a tendency to ignite early causing a damaging "engine knocking" noise...
in gasolineGasolineGasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
engines. In spite of the well known toxic effects, lead was in ubiquitous use. First banned from use in Japan 1986. - 1922 — The Izaak Walton LeagueIzaak Walton LeagueThe Izaak Walton League is an American environmental organization founded in 1922 that promotes natural resource protection and outdoor recreation. The organization was founded in Chicago, Illinois by a group of sportsmen who wished to protect fishing opportunities for future generations...
is founded. - 1924 — The death of English textile worker Nellie KershawNellie KershawNellie Kershaw was an English textile worker from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Her death due to pulmonary asbestosis was the first such case to be described in medical literature, and the first published account of disease attributed to occupational asbestos exposure...
from asbestosisAsbestosisAsbestosis is a chronic inflammatory and fibrotic medical condition affecting the parenchymal tissue of the lungs caused by the inhalation and retention of asbestos fibers...
was the first account of disease attributed to occupational asbestos exposure. - 1927 — Great Mississippi Flood.
- 1928 — Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr.Thomas Midgley, Jr. was an American mechanical engineer and chemist. Midgley was a key figure in a team of chemists, led by Charles F. Kettering, that developed the tetraethyllead additive to gasoline as well as some of the first chlorofluorocarbons . Over the course of his career, Midgley was...
develops chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) as a non-toxic refrigerant. The first warnings of damage to stratospheric ozoneOzone depletionOzone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s: a steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in Earth's stratosphere , and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone over Earth's polar regions. The latter phenomenon...
were published by Molina and RowlandFrank Sherwood RowlandFrank Sherwood Rowland is an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research is in atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics....
1974. They shared the 1995 Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for Chemistry for their work. Since 1987 world production is reduced under the Montreal ProtocolMontreal ProtocolThe Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion...
and banned in most countries. - 1929 — the Swann Chemical Company develops polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for transformer coolant use. Research in the 1960s revealed PCBs to be potent carcinogens. Banned from production in the US 1976, probably 1 million tonnes of PCBs were manufactured in total globally.
1930s
- 1930-1940 — The Dust BowlDust BowlThe Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
, widespread land degradation due to drought in the North American prairie. - 1930 — World human population reached 2 billion.
- 1933 — First legislation on Animal rightsAnimal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
adopted, Germany.
-
- — Publication of Game Management by Aldo LeopoldAldo LeopoldAldo Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac , which has sold over two million copies...
.- 1934 — Fish and Wildlife Coordination ActFish and Wildlife Coordination ActThe Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of the United States was enacted March 10, 1934 to protect fish and wildlife when federal actions result in the control or modification of a natural stream or body of water...
. - 1935 — Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment ActSoil Conservation and Domestic Allotment ActThe Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act is a United States federal law that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve soil", prevent erosion, and accomplish other minor goals...
.
- 1934 — Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
- — The Wilderness Society (United States)The Wilderness Society is founded.
- 1936 — The National Wildlife FederationNational Wildlife FederationThe National Wildlife Federation is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over four million members and supporters, and 48 state and territorial affiliated organizations...
is founded. - 1939 — The insecticidal properties of DDTDDTDDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
discovered by Paul Hermann MüllerPaul Hermann MüllerPaul Hermann Müller also known as Pauly Mueller was a Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate. In 1948 he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of vector diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.Müller was born...
, who was awarded the 1948 Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Physiology and Medicine for his efforts. The first ban on its use came in 1970.
- 1936 — The National Wildlife Federation
- — Publication of Game Management by Aldo Leopold
1940s
- 1947 — Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide ActFederal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide ActThe Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act , et seq. is a United States federal law that set up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation to protect applicators, consumers, and the environment. It is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the appropriate...
(FIFRA)
-
- — Defenders of WildlifeDefenders of WildlifeDefenders of Wildlife is a United States-based, 501 non-profit organization founded in 1947, "dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities." The organization is active in political interventions and lobbying aimed at protection of wildlife, and...
founded.- 1948 — World Conservation UnionWorld Conservation UnionThe International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
or International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. Founded in 1948, its headquarters is located in Gland, SwitzerlandGland, SwitzerlandGland is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.-History:Gland is known to have been a prehistoric settlement. During the Roman period a farm called Villa Glanis was there...
. - 1949 — First known dioxinDioxins and dioxin-like compoundsDioxins and dioxin-like compounds are by-products of various industrial processes, and are commonly regarded as highly toxic compounds that are environmental pollutants and persistent organic pollutants . They include:...
exposure incident, in a Nitro, West VirginiaNitro, West VirginiaNitro is a city in West Virginia, along the Kanawha River. Most of the city lies in Kanawha County, with the remainder in Putnam County. The population was 7,178 at the 2010 census.Nitro was incorporated in 1932 by Circuit Court.- City name origin :...
herbicide production plant. Extensively used during the Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
1961 - 1971 as Agent OrangeAgent OrangeAgent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
. Production ban in the US on some component from 1970.
- 1948 — World Conservation Union
- — Aldo LeopoldAldo LeopoldAldo Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac , which has sold over two million copies...
publishes A Sand County AlmanacA Sand County AlmanacA Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There is a 1949 non-fiction book by American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Describing the land around the author's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, the collection of essays advocate Leopold's idea of a "land ethic", or a...
- — Defenders of Wildlife
1950s
- 1951 — The Nature ConservancyThe Nature ConservancyThe Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
is an environmental organization founded in the United States.
-
- — World Meteorological OrganizationWorld Meteorological OrganizationThe World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
(WMO) established by the United Nations. - — Drinking water fluoridationWater fluoridationWater fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding fluoride...
becomes an official policy of the U.S. Public Health Service to reduce tooth decay, soon followed by other countries.- 1954 — The first nuclear power plantNuclear power plantA nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
to generate electricity for a power grid started operations at ObninskObninskObninsk is a city in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located southwest of Moscow. Population: Obninsk is one of the major Russian science cities. The first nuclear power plant in the world for the large-scale production of electricity opened here on June 27, 1954, and it also doubled as a training...
, Soviet unionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
on 27 June. The first substantial accident happened on 10 October 1957 in WindscaleWindscale fireThe Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in Great Britain's history, ranked in severity at level 5 on the 7-point International Nuclear Event Scale. The two piles had been hurriedly built as part of the British atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in...
, England.
- 1954 — The first nuclear power plant
- — Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention ActWatershed Protection and Flood Prevention ActThe United States Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 is a United States statute. It has been amended several times.Under this Act, the Soil Conservation Service at the Department of Agriculture provides planning assistance and construction funding for projects constructed by...
- 1955 — Air Pollution Control ActAir Pollution Control ActThe Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 was the first United States Clean Air Act enacted by Congress to address the national environmental problem of air pollution on July 14, 1955...
- 1956 — Minamata diseaseMinamata disease', sometimes referred to as , is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death...
, a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
- 1955 — Air Pollution Control Act
- — Fish and Wildlife ActFish and Wildlife ActFish and Wildlife Act of 1956 of the United States of America establishes a comprehensive national fish, shellfish, and wildlife resources policy with emphasis on the commercial fishing industry but also with a direction to administer the Act with regard to the inherent right of every citizen and...
.- 1958 — Mauna Loa ObservatoryMauna Loa ObservatoryThe Mauna Loa Observatory is an atmospheric baseline station on Mauna Loa volcano, on the big island of Hawaii.-The observatory:Since 1956 Mauna Loa Observatory has been monitoring and collecting data relating to atmospheric change, and is known especially for the continuous monitoring of...
initiates monitoring of atmospheric Carbon DioxideCarbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
(CO2) levels. The time series eventually became the main reference on global atmospheric changeGreenhouse gasA greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
.
- 1958 — Mauna Loa Observatory
- — World Meteorological Organization
1960s
- 1960 — World human population reached 3 billion.
-
- — Mobilisation in France to preserve the Vanoise National ParkVanoise National ParkVanoise National Park , is a French national park in the Tarentaise Valley in the French Alps, created in 1963 after mobilization from the environmentalist movement against a touristic project. It was the first French national park. This park is in the département of Savoie...
in the AlpesAlpesAlpes may refer to:*Alpes-de-Haute-Provence , a French department in the south of France*Hautes-Alpes, a department in southeastern France*Alpes-Maritimes, a department in the extreme southeast corner of France...
(Val d'Isère, Tignes, etc.) from an important touristic project. The park itself was created three years later, in 1963, and was the first French natural park. - — Wallace StegnerWallace StegnerWallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
writes the Wilderness Letter, credited with helping lead to Wilderness ActWilderness ActThe Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
. - — Federal Water Pollution Control Act
- 1961 — World Wildlife Fund (WWF) registered as a charitable trust in MorgesMorgesMorges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges and is also the seat of the district.-History:...
, Switzerland, an international organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment. - 1962 — Rachel CarsonRachel CarsonRachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
publishes Silent SpringSilent SpringSilent Spring is a book written by Rachel Carson and published by Houghton Mifflin on 27 September 1962. The book is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement....
.
- 1961 — World Wildlife Fund (WWF) registered as a charitable trust in Morges
- — Murray BookchinMurray BookchinMurray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics,...
publishes Our Synthetic EnvironmentOur Synthetic EnvironmentOur Synthetic Environment is a book published in 1962 that was written by Murray Bookchin under the pseudonym of "Lewis Herber".The book warns of the dangers of pesticide use and it predates Silent Spring, a more widely known book on the same topic.... - — The first White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
Conservation Conference takes place.- 1963 — The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is signed by the U.S., the U.K. and the U.S.S.R.
- 1964 — Norman BorlaugNorman BorlaugNorman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution". Borlaug was one of only six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal...
takes position as the director of the International Wheat Improvement Program in Texcoco, Mexico. The program leads to the Green RevolutionGreen RevolutionGreen Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
.
- — Wilderness ActWilderness ActThe Wilderness Act of 1964 was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness, the Wilderness Act was signed...
. - — United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
releases John MuirJohn MuirJohn Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
stamp.- 1965 — In the Storm King case, a judge rules that aesthetic impacts could be considered in deciding whether Consolidated EdisonConsolidated EdisonConsolidated Edison, Inc. is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $14 billion in annual revenues and $36 billion in assets...
could demolish a mountain, a landmark case in environmental lawEnvironmental lawEnvironmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...
.
- 1965 — In the Storm King case, a judge rules that aesthetic impacts could be considered in deciding whether Consolidated Edison
- — Northeast Blackout of 1965Northeast Blackout of 1965The Northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on November 9, 1965, affecting Ontario, Canada and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey in the United States...
- — Water Quality Act
- — Solid Waste Disposal Act
- — Amendments to the Clean Air ActClean Air ActA Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
- 1966 — National Wildlife Refuge System ActNational Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966The provided guidelines and directives for administration and management of all areas in National Wildlife Refuge system including "wildlife refuges, areas for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife that are threatened with extinction, wildlife ranges, game ranges, wildlife management...
.
- 1966 — National Wildlife Refuge System Act
- — Fur Seal Act.
- — National Historic Preservation Act
- — Air inversion in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
- — 1966 Palomares B-52 crash
- — Ralph NaderRalph NaderRalph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
publishes Unsafe at Any SpeedUnsafe at Any SpeedUnsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing resistance by car manufacturers to the introduction of safety features, like seat belts, and their general reluctance to spend money on improving safety...
- 1967 — Environmental Defense Fund founded.
- — Torrey CanyonTorrey CanyonThe Torrey Canyon was a supertanker capable of carrying a cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil, which was shipwrecked off the western coast of Cornwall, England in March 1967 causing an environmental disaster...
oil spillOil spillAn oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters... - — Amendments to the Clean Air Act.
- — Apollo 1 fire
- 1968 — The Apollo 8Apollo 8Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
picture of earthriseEarthriseEarthrise is a famous photograph taken on the 1968 Apollo 8 space mission.Earthrise may also refer to:* Earthrise , a computer game by Interstel...
.
- 1968 — The Apollo 8
- — National Trails System Act.
- — Wild and Scenic Rivers ActNational Wild and Scenic RiverNational Wild and Scenic River is a designation for certain protected areas in the United States.The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was an outgrowth of the recommendations of a Presidential commission, the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission...
. - — Paul R. EhrlichPaul R. EhrlichPaul Ralph Ehrlich is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera , but...
publishes The Population BombThe Population BombThe Population Bomb was a best-selling book written by Paul R. Ehrlich and his wife, Anne Ehrlich , in 1968. It warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth...
. - — Zero Population GrowthZero population growthZero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG , is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines, considered as a social aim....
founded. - — UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
hosts the Paris Biosphere Conference, which would ultimately result in the creation of the Man and the Biosphere Programme - — Club of RomeClub of RomeThe Club of Rome is a global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues. Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the CoR describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." It consists of current and...
founded.- 1969 — National Environmental Policy ActNational Environmental Policy ActThe National Environmental Policy Act is a United States environmental law that established a U.S. national policy promoting the enhancement of the environment and also established the President's Council on Environmental Quality ....
including the first requirements on Environmental impact assessmentEnvironmental impact assessmentAn environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects....
.
- 1969 — National Environmental Policy Act
- — Accidental pollution of the Rhine in Europe, by 500 liters of EndosulfanEndosulfanEndosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide that is being phased out globally. Endosulfan became a highly controversial agrichemical due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor...
, a kind of insecticide. The river was contaminated on more than 600 km and more than 20 million fish died. - — The IcelandIcelandIceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic summer-spawning herringAtlantic herringAtlantic herring is a fish in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species on earth. Herring can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can grow up to in length and weigh more than...
stock collapses as a result of a combination of high fishing pressure and deteriorating environmental conditions. From being a stock that was distributed over large areas in the North Atlantic, the stock was reduced to a small stock in Norwegian coastal waters. International efforts have later started to rebuild the stock. - — Category 5 Hurricane CamilleHurricane CamilleHurricane Camille was the third and strongest tropical cyclone and second hurricane during the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season. The second of three catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 20th century , which it did near the mouth of the Mississippi River...
caused damage and destruction across much of the Gulf Coast of the United States. - — Friends of the EarthFriends of the EarthFriends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
founded. - — 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill1969 Santa Barbara oil spillThe Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters at the time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills...
- — Cuyahoga River Fire
- — Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
bans sodium cyclamate and places limits on the use of monosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamateMonosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids.... - — René DubosRené DubosRené Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...
publishes So Human an AnimalSo Human an AnimalSo Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events, is a book written by René Dubos and published by Scribner in 1968. It won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.... - — Ecologist Frank Fraser DarlingFrank Fraser DarlingSir Frank Fraser Darling was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland.-Early life:...
invited to give the Reith Lectures.
- — Mobilisation in France to preserve the Vanoise National Park
1970s
- 1970 — Earth DayEarth DayEarth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
- April 22., millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth day organized by Gaylord NelsonGaylord NelsonGaylord Anton Nelson was an American politician from Wisconsin who served as a United States Senator and governor. A Democrat, he was the principal founder of Earth Day.-Public service and leadership:...
, former senator of Wisconsin, and Denis HayesDenis HayesDenis Hayes is an environmental activist and proponent of solar power. He rose to prominence in 1970 as the coordinator for the first Earth Day.Hayes founded the Earth Day Network and expanded it to more than 180 nations...
, Harvard graduate student.
-
- — US Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
established. - — Clean Air ActClean Air ActA Clean Air Act is one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of airborne contaminants, smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans...
. - — Resource Recovery ActResource Conservation and Recovery ActThe Resource Conservation and Recovery Act , enacted in 1976, is the principal Federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.-History and Goals:...
. - — Francis A. Schaeffer publishes Pollution and the Death of ManPollution and the Death of ManPollution and the Death of Man is a philosophical work by presuppositionalist theologian Francis A. Schaeffer, published in 1970.-Quotations:...
. - — Arne NæssArne NæssArne Dekke Eide Næss was a Norwegian philosopher, the founder of deep ecology. He was the youngest person to be appointed full professor at the University of Oslo....
leads the non-violent civil disobedience protest against damming of the MardalsfossenMardalsfossenMardalsfossen is one of the ten highest waterfalls in Europe. It is located in the municipality of Nesset in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The falls are on the Mardøla river which flows into the lake Eikesdalsvatnet, about northwest of the village of Eikesdalen...
waterfall, later publishing on the deep ecologyDeep ecologyDeep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the...
philosophy. - — Center for Science in the Public InterestCenter for Science in the Public InterestCenter for Science in the Public Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group focusing on nutritional education and awareness.-History and funding:...
founded. - — Environmental Action founded.
- — League of Conservation VotersLeague of Conservation VotersThe League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy organization founded in 1969 by American environmentalist David Brower in the early years of the environmental movement. LCV's mission is to "advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt...
founded. - — Natural Resources Defense CouncilNatural Resources Defense CouncilThe Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
founded. - — Norman BorlaugNorman BorlaugNorman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution". Borlaug was one of only six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal...
, the father of the Green RevolutionGreen RevolutionGreen Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s....
, wins the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. - — A Sand County AlmanacA Sand County AlmanacA Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There is a 1949 non-fiction book by American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Describing the land around the author's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, the collection of essays advocate Leopold's idea of a "land ethic", or a...
by Aldo LeopoldAldo LeopoldAldo Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac , which has sold over two million copies...
is reissued. - — Occupational Safety and Health ActOccupational Safety and Health ActThe Occupational Safety and Health Act is the primary federal law which governs occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed by President Richard Nixon on December 29, 1970...
- — Public Interest Research Group founded.
- 1971 — The international environmental organisation GreenpeaceGreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
founded in Vancouver, Canada. Greenpeace has later developed national and regional offices in 41 countries worldwide.
- 1971 — The international environmental organisation Greenpeace
- — International Institute for Environment and DevelopmentInternational Institute for Environment and DevelopmentThe International Institute for Environment and Development is a London-based policy research centre and think tank.- History :IIED was established by the economist Barbara Ward in 1971...
established in London, UK. One offshoot is the World Resources InstituteWorld Resources InstituteThe World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
with its biannual report World Resources since 1984. - — Nonprofit Keep America BeautifulKeep America BeautifulKeep America Beautiful is a U.S. based nonprofit organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with approximately 589 affiliate organizations and more than 1,000 community organizations that participate in their programs.Keep America...
launches the nationwide "Crying Indian" television public service advertisement, reaching nearly every American household. - — Public CitizenPublic CitizenPublic Citizen is a non-profit, consumer rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas. Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, headed for 26 years by Joan Claybrook, and is now headed by Robert Weissman.-Lobbying Efforts:Public Citizen...
founded. - — Calvert CliffsCalvert Cliffs Nuclear Power PlantThe Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay near Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland.-Overview:...
' Coordinating Committee, Inc. v. United States Atomic Energy Commission- 1972 — The Conference on the Human Environment, held in StockholmStockholmStockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden 5 to 16 June, the first of a series of world environmental conferences.
- 1972 — The Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm
- — United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeThe United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
founded as a result of the Stockholm conference. - — the Oslo Convention on dumping waste at sea, later merged with the Paris Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution into the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East AtlanticConvention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East AtlanticThe or OSPAR Convention is the current legislative instrument regulating international cooperation on environmental protection in the North-East Atlantic. It combines and up-dates the 1972 Oslo Convention on dumping waste at sea and the 1974 Paris Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution...
. - — The Club of RomeClub of RomeThe Club of Rome is a global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues. Founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy, the CoR describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." It consists of current and...
publishes its report Limits to GrowthLimits to GrowthThe Limits to Growth is a 1972 book modeling the consequences of a rapidly growing world population and finite resource supplies, commissioned by the Club of Rome. Its authors were Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The book used the World3 model to...
, which has sold 30 million copies in more than 30 translations, making it the best selling environmental book in world history. - — Marine Mammal Protection ActMarine Mammal Protection ActThe Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal,...
. - — Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries ActMarine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries ActMarine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 or Ocean Dumping Act is one of several key environmental laws passed by the US Congress in 1972. The Act has two essential aims: to regulate intentional ocean disposal of materials, and to authorize any related research...
(also known as Ocean Dumping Act). - — Noise Control ActNoise Control ActThe Noise Pollution and Abatement Act of 1972 is a statute of the United States initiating a federal program of regulating noise pollution with the intent of protecting human health and minimizing annoyance of noise to the general public....
. - — Clean Water ActClean Water ActThe Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...
. - — Coastal Zone Management ActCoastal Zone Management ActThe Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 is an Act of Congress passed in 1972 to encourage coastal states to develop and implement coastal zone management plans...
. - — First photograph of the whole illuminated Earth taken from space, Apollo 17, resulting in the famous "Blue Marble" photograph, said to have been at least partly responsible for launching the modern environmental movement.
- — Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide ActFederal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide ActThe Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act , et seq. is a United States federal law that set up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation to protect applicators, consumers, and the environment. It is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the appropriate...
(FIFRA) - major amendments - — (June 14) After seven months of hearings, the United States Environmental Protection AgencyUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
bans most uses of DDTDDTDDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
. - — The Trust for Public LandThe Trust for Public LandThe Trust for Public Land is a land conservation nonprofit founded in 1972 by Huey Johnson and based in San Francisco, California in the United States. TPL works throughout the United States to conserve land for people as parks, gardens, and other natural places.- TPL Conservation Initiatives :TPL...
founded. - — Values PartyValues PartyThe Values Party, considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party that pre-dated any fashionable Green terminology, was established in 1972 at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, one of its initial leaders being Tony Brunt...
founded. - — Blueprint for SurvivalBlueprint for SurvivalA Blueprint for Survival was an influential environmentalist text that drew attention to the urgency and magnitude of environmental problems....
published.- 1973 — OPECOPECOPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
announces oil embargo against United States.
- 1973 — OPEC
- — World Conservation UnionWorld Conservation UnionThe International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
(IUCN) meeting drafts the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - — Endangered Species Preservation ActEndangered Species ActThe Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
. - — E. F. SchumacherE. F. SchumacherErnst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher was an internationally influential economic thinker, statistician and economist in Britain, serving as Chief Economic Advisor to the UK National Coal Board for two decades. His ideas became popularized in much of the English-speaking world during the 1970s...
publishes Small Is BeautifulSmall Is BeautifulSmall Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered is a collection of essays by British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a phrase by his teacher Leopold Kohr...
. - — Cousteau Society founded.
- 1974 — ChlorofluorocarbonChlorofluorocarbonA chlorofluorocarbon is an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane. A common subclass are the hydrochlorofluorocarbons , which contain hydrogen, as well. They are also commonly known by the DuPont trade name Freon...
s are first hypothesized to cause ozone thinning.
- 1974 — Chlorofluorocarbon
- — National Reserves Management Act.
- — World human population reached 4 billion.
- — State Natural Heritage Program Network launched in the US.
- 1975 — Energy Policy and Conservation ActEnergy Policy and Conservation ActThe Energy Policy and Conservation Act declared it to be U.S. policy to establish a reserve of up to 1 billion barrels of petroleum. President Gerald Ford signed the legislation on December 22, 1975, setting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve into motion.The need for a national oil storage reserve...
. - 1976 — DioxinDioxins and dioxin-like compoundsDioxins and dioxin-like compounds are by-products of various industrial processes, and are commonly regarded as highly toxic compounds that are environmental pollutants and persistent organic pollutants . They include:...
accidental release in SevesoSeveso disasterThe Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 pm July 10, 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately north of Milan in the Lombardy region in Italy...
, Italy on 10 July, killing animals and traumatizing the population.
- 1975 — Energy Policy and Conservation Act
- — Resource Conservation and Recovery ActResource Conservation and Recovery ActThe Resource Conservation and Recovery Act , enacted in 1976, is the principal Federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.-History and Goals:...
(RCRA) - — Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
- 1977 — Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
- — Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act.
- — Abalone AllianceAbalone allianceThe Abalone Alliance was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States...
founded. - — Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founded.
- — New York City blackout of 1977New York City blackout of 1977The New York City blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout affected most of New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The only neighborhoods in New York City that were not affected were in southern Queens, and neighborhoods of the Rockaways, which are part of the Long Island Lighting...
- — Ekofisk oil fieldEkofisk oil fieldEkofisk is an oil field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea about southwest of Stavanger. Discovered in 1969, it remains one of the most important oil fields in the North Sea. Production began in 1971 after the construction of a series of off-shore platforms by Phillips Petroleum Company...
spill. - — U.S. admits to neutron bombNeutron bombA neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon or weapon of reinforced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon designed specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation rather than explosive energy...
testing.- 1978 — Brominated flame-retardantBrominated flame-retardantBrominated flame retardants are organobromide compounds that have an inhibitory effect on the ignition of combustible organic materials. Of the commercialized chemical flame retardants, the brominated variety are most widely used. They are very effective in plastics and textile applications, e.g....
s replaces PCBs as the major chemical flame retardant. Swedish scientists noticed these substances to be accumulating in human breast milk 1998. First ban on use in the EU 2004.
- 1978 — Brominated flame-retardant
- — Love CanalLove CanalLove Canal was a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, located in the white collar LaSalle section of the city. It officially covers 36 square blocks in the far southeastern corner of the city, along 99th Street and Read Avenue...
contamination revealed. - — Three Mile Island accidentThree Mile Island accidentThe Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
- — Amoco CadizAmoco CadizAmoco Cadiz was a very large crude carrier , owned by Amoco, that ran aground on Portsall Rocks, from the coast of Brittany, France, on 16 March 1978, and ultimately split in three and sank, all together resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date.-Oil spill:Amoco Cadiz...
oil spill - — Samuel EpsteinSamuel EpsteinSamuel S. Epstein is a medical doctor, and currently professor emeritus of environmental and occupational health at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health...
publishes The Politics of Cancer - — David Ehrenfeld publishes The Arrogance of Humanism
- — Offshore drillingOffshore drillingOffshore drilling refers to a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled through the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently produce hydrocarbons which lie in rock formations beneath the seabed...
begins off the coast of New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
- 1979 — The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air PollutionConvention on Long-Range Transboundary Air PollutionThe Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, often abbreviated as Air Pollution or CLRTAP, is intended to protect the human environment against air pollution and to gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution.-Overview:The convention...
is established to reduce air pollutant emissions and acid rainAcid rainAcid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions . It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen...
.
- 1979 — The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
- — Three Mile Island, worst nuclear power accident in US history.
- — Hans JonasHans JonasHans Jonas was a German-born philosopher who was, from 1955 to 1976, Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.Jonas's writings were very influential in different spheres...
publishes The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age. - — Supersonic airliner ConcordeConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
is put in regular operation in spite of concern due to its sonic boom and the potential for its engine exhaust to damage the ozone layer. The last regular flight landed in 2003. - — Largest oil spill ever when the S.S. Atlantic Empress collides with Aegean Captain off of Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
- — US Environmental Protection Agency
1980s
- 1980 - SuperfundSuperfundSuperfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
(Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or CERCLA)
-
- — Earth First!Earth First!Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979. It was co-founded on April 4th, 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, and less directly, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar....
founded - — The Global 2000 Report to the PresidentThe Global 2000 Report to the PresidentThe Global 2000 Report to the President was released in 1980 by the Council on Environmental Quality and the United States Department of State. It was commissioned by President Jimmy Carter on May 23, 1977, and was directed by Gerald O. Barney. It was based on data collected by different institutions...
- — International Union for Conservation of Nature publishes its World Conservation Strategy
- — William R. Catton, Jr.William R. Catton, Jr.William R. Catton, Jr. is an American sociologist best known for his scholarly work inenvironmental sociology and human ecology. His intellectual approach is broad and interdisciplinary. Catton's repute extends beyond academic social science due primarily to his 1980 book, . Catton has written...
publishes Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change - — Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation ActAlaska National Interest Lands Conservation ActThe Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act was a United States federal law passed in 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year....
- — Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980
- 1981 — Lois GibbsLois GibbsLois Marie Gibbs is an American environmental activist.Gibbs's involvement in environmental causes began in 1978 when she discovered that her 7-year-old son's elementary school in Niagara Falls, New York was built on a toxic waste dump. Subsequent investigation revealed that her entire...
founds the Citizens' Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste - 1982 — Coastal Barrier Resources ActCoastal Barrier Resources ActThe Coastal Barrier Resources Act of the United States was enacted October 18, 1982. The United States Congress passed this Act in order to address the many problems associated with coastal barrier development. CBRA designated various undeveloped coastal barriers, which were illustrated by a...
.
- 1981 — Lois Gibbs
- — United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is signed on December the 10th at Montego Bay. Part XII of which significantly developed port-state control of pollution from ships.
- — Bat Conservation InternationalBat Conservation InternationalBat Conservation International is an international non-governmental organization working to conserve the world’s bats and their habitats through conservation, education and research efforts....
founded. - — Co-op AmericaCo-op AmericaGreen America, formerly known as Co-op America, is a nonprofit membership organization based in the United States that promotes ethical consumerism...
founded. - — Earth Island InstituteEarth Island InstituteThe Earth Island Institute was founded in 1982 by environmentalist David Brower. It organizes and encourages activism around environmental issues and provides public education. Funding comes from individual members and supporting organizations...
founded. - — Rocky Mountain InstituteRocky Mountain InstituteRocky Mountain Institute is an organization in the United States dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency. RMI was established in 1982 and has grown into a...
founded. - — Sewergate
- — World Charter for NatureWorld Charter for NatureWorld Charter for Nature was adopted by United Nations member nation-states on October 28, 1982. It proclaims five "principles of conservation by which all human conduct affecting nature is to be guided and judged." The vote was 111 for, one against , 18 abstentions.- See also :* Declaration of...
- — Nuclear Waste Policy ActNuclear Waste Policy ActDuring the first 40 years that nuclear waste was being created in the United States, no legislation was enacted to manage its disposal. Nuclear waste, some of which remains dangerously radioactive with a half-life of more than one million years, was kept in various types of temporary storage...
- — Evacuation of Times Beach, MissouriTimes Beach, MissouriTimes Beach, Missouri was a small town of 2,240 residents in St. Louis County, Missouri, 17 miles southwest of St. Louis and 2 mi east of Eureka, Missouri. The town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to a dioxin scare that made national headlines...
- 1984 — Bhopal disasterBhopal disasterThe Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India...
in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (Methyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanateMethyl isocyanate is an organic compound with the molecular formula CH3NCO. Synonyms are isocyanatomethane, methyl carbylamine, and MIC. Methyl isocyanate is an intermediate chemical in the production of carbamate pesticides . It has also been used in the production of rubbers and adhesives...
leakage).
- 1984 — Bhopal disaster
- — Green Committees of CorrespondenceGreen Committees of CorrespondenceThe Green Committees of Correspondence were founded in the summer of 1984 with the goal of organizing local Green groups, providing a clearinghouse and newsletter, and working toward the founding of a Green political organization in the United States...
founded. - — North America Bioregional Congress founded.
- — Brundtland CommissionBrundtland CommissionThe Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development , known by the name of its Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was convened by the United Nations in 1983...
appointed. - — 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia
- — Worldwatch InstituteWorldwatch InstituteThe Worldwatch Institute is a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts.-Mission:...
publishes its first State of the World report.- 1985 — Rainforest Action NetworkRainforest Action NetworkRainforest Action Network is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, USA. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, with the financial help of Fund for Wild Nature....
founded.
- 1985 — Rainforest Action Network
- — Chemical leak in Institute, West VirginiaInstitute, West VirginiaInstitute is an unincorporated community on the Kanawha River in Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA. The community lies off of Interstate 64 and West Virginia Route 25, and has grown to intermingle with nearby Dunbar...
- — Sinking of the Rainbow WarriorSinking of the Rainbow WarriorThe sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure , carried out on July 10, 1985...
- — AntarcticAntarcticThe Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
ozone hole discovered. - — FDA approved bovine somatotropinBovine somatotropinBovine somatotropin , or BGH, is a chain of amino acids produced by the cow's pituitary gland. Like other hormones, it is produced in small quantities and is used in regulating metabolic processes...
- 1986 — ChernobylChernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, world's worst nuclear power accident occurs at a plant in Ukraine.
- 1986 — Chernobyl
- — Emergency Wetlands Resources ActEmergency Wetlands Resources ActEmergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986, approved November 10, 1986, by the United States government, authorized the purchase of wetlands using Land and Water Conservation Fund monies, removing a prior prohibition on such acquisitions...
. - — Tetra-ethyl leadTetra-ethyl leadTetraethyllead , abbreviated TEL, is an organolead compound with the formula 4Pb. An inexpensive additive, its addition to gasoline from the 1920's allowed octane ratings and thus engine compression to be boosted significantly, increasing power and fuel economy...
phase-out was completed in the US. - — Northern Rivers Rerouting ProjectNorthern river reversalThe Northern river reversal or Siberian river reversal was an ambitious project to divert the flow of the Northern rivers in the Soviet Union, which "uselessly" drain into the Arctic Ocean, southwards towards the populated agricultural areas of Central Asia, which lack water.Research and planning...
abandoned by the USSR government.- 1987 — World human population reached 5 billion.
- — The Report of the Brundtland CommissionBrundtland CommissionThe Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development , known by the name of its Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was convened by the United Nations in 1983...
, Our Common FutureOur Common FutureOur Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development was published in 1987....
on sustainable developmentSustainable developmentSustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
, is published. - — Conservation InternationalConservation InternationalConservation International is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, which seeks to ensure the health of humanity by protecting Earth's ecosystems and biodiversity. CI’s work focuses on six key initiatives that affect human well-being: climate, food security, freshwater...
founded. - — First Debt-for-Nature Swap
- — First meeting of the U.S. GreensGreens/Green Party USAIn the United States, people speak generally of the "Green Party," but there is actually more than one national-level Green political organization in the United States.- History :...
- — Montreal ProtocolMontreal ProtocolThe Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion...
opened for signature. - — National Appliance Energy Conservation ActNational Appliance Energy Conservation ActThe National Appliance Energy Conservation Act is a 1975 piece of legislation by the United States Congress which regulates energy consumption of specific household appliances in the United States. Though minimum Energy Efficiency Standards were first established by the United States Congress in...
- 1988 — Ocean Dumping Ban Act.
- — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
(IPCC) was established by two United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
organizations, the World Meteorological OrganizationWorld Meteorological OrganizationThe World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
(WMO) and the United Nations Environment ProgrammeUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeThe United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
(UNEP) to assess the "risk of human-induced climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
". - — Student Environmental Action CoalitionStudent Environmental Action CoalitionThe Student Environmental Action Coalition or SEAC is a student and youth run national network of progressive organizations and individuals based in the United States....
founded. - — Lawsuit brought by Environmental Defense Fund results in McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
agreeing to use biodegradable containers. - — Alternative Motor Fuels Act
- 1989 — Exxon ValdezExxon ValdezOriental Nicety, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean is an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska...
creates largest oil spill in US history.
- 1989 — Exxon Valdez
- — Montreal ProtocolMontreal ProtocolThe Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion...
on substances that deplete the ozone layerOzone layerThe ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
entered into force on January 1. Since then, it has undergone five revisions, in 1990 (London), 1992 (Copenhagen), 1995 (Vienna), 1997 (Montreal), and 1999 (Beijing). - — influenced by protests by KirishiKirishiKirishi is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: -History:...
residents, the USSR Supreme SovietSupreme SovietThe Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...
decides to close down the country's eight paraffinParaffinIn chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
-fed single-cell protein plants.
- — Earth First!
1990s
- 1990 — National Environmental Education ActNational Environmental Education ActThe National Environmental Education Act of 1990 is an act of Congress of the United States of America to promote environmental education.In this act, Congress found that "threats to human health and environmental quality are increasingly complex, involving a wide range of conventional and toxic...
.
-
- — European Environment AgencyEuropean Environment AgencyEuropean Environment Agency is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public...
was established by EEC Regulation 1210/1990 and became operational in 1994. It is headquartered in CopenhagenCopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark. - — The IPCC first assessment report was completed, and served as the basis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
(UNFCCC). - — Clean Air Act - major amendment
- — Redwood SummerRedwood SummerOrganized in 1990, Redwood Summer was a movement of environmental activism aimed at protecting old-growth Redwood trees from logging by northern California timber companies...
- — Dolphin safe labelDolphin safe labelThere are various dolphin safe labels used for canned tuna to imply that the fish has been caught without harming or killing dolphins. However, because there are various labels used, there are also various restrictions imposed on the capture of tuna in order for it to deserve the related dolphin...
introduced.- 1991 — The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic TreatyProtocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic TreatyThe Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, also known as the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, or the Madrid Protocol, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System...
was signed 4 October. The agreement provides for the protection of the Antarctic environment through five specific annexes on marine pollution, fauna, and flora, environmental impact assessments, waste management, and protected areas. It prohibits all activities relating to mineral resources except scientific.
- 1991 — The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
- — World's worst oil spillOil spillAn oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is mostly used to describe marine oil spills, where oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters...
occurs in KuwaitKuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
during war with IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. - — Kuwaiti oil firesKuwaiti oil firesThe Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi military forces setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after invading the country but being driven out by Coalition military forces...
- — Global Environment FacilityGlobal Environment FacilityThe Global Environment Facility unites 182 member governments — in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector — to address global environmental issues....
(GEF) was established by donor governments.- 1992 — The Earth SummitEarth SummitThe United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, Earth Summit was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.-Overview:...
, held in Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
from June 3 to June 14, was unprecedented for a United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
conference, in terms of both its size and the scope of its concerns.
- 1992 — The Earth Summit
- — United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
opened for signature on 9 May ahead of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. - — The international Convention on Biological DiversityConvention on Biological DiversityThe Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
opened for signature on 5 June in connection with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. - — World Ocean DayWorld Ocean DayWorld Oceans Day, which had been unofficially celebrated every June 8 since its original proposal in 1992 by Canada at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2008...
began on 8 June at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. - — The Canadian government closes all eastern seaboard fishing grounds due to insufficient recovery of the stock.
- — Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency established.
- — The metaphor Ecological footprintEcological footprintThe ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...
is coined by William Rees.- 1993 — The Great Flood of 1993Great Flood of 1993The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages...
was one of the most destructive floods in United States history involving the MissouriMissouri RiverThe Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and Mississippi riverMississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
valleys. - 1994 — United Nations Convention to Combat DesertificationUnited Nations Convention to Combat DesertificationThe United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies...
.
- 1993 — The Great Flood of 1993
- — The first genetically modified food cropGenetically modified foodGenetically modified foods are foods derived from genetically modified organisms . Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques...
released to the market. It remains a strongly controversial environmental issue.- 1995 — Scotland's Environmental Protection Agency is established.
- 1996 — Western ShieldWestern ShieldWestern Shield, managed by Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, is a nature conservation program, safeguarding Western Australia's native animals and rescuing them from extinction...
, a wildlife conservation project is started in Western Australia, and through successful work has taken several species off of the state, national, and international (IUCN) Endangered Species Lists.. - 1997 — July, U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, which stated that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations.
- — The Kyoto ProtocolKyoto ProtocolThe Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. It is actually an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate ChangeThe United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development , informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992...
(UNFCCC). Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxideCarbon dioxideCarbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
and five other greenhouse gasGreenhouse gasA greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
es.- 1999 — World human population reached 6 billion.
- — European Environment Agency
21st century
- 2001 — U.S. rejects the Kyoto ProtocolKyoto ProtocolThe Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
.
-
- — The IPCCIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
release the IPCC Third Assessment ReportIPCC Third Assessment ReportThe IPCC Third Assessment Report, Climate Change 2001, is an assessment of available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change by the IPCC. The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN's World Meteorological Organization ".....
.- 2002 — Earth SummitEarth Summit 2002The World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and non-governmental...
, held in JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
a United Nations conference. - 2003 — The world's largest reservoir, the Three Gorges DamThree Gorges DamThe Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, in Hubei province, China...
begins filling 1 June.
- 2002 — Earth Summit
- — European Heat Wave resulting in the premature deaths of at least 35,000 people.
- 2004 — Earthquake2004 Indian Ocean earthquakeThe 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
causes large tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
- 2004 — Earthquake
- — FBI initiates Operation BackfireOperation Backfire (FBI)Operation Backfire is a multi-agency criminal investigation, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation , into destructive acts in the name of animal rights and environmental causes in the United States described as eco-terrorism by the FBI....
- an anti-terrorist law enforcement operation against "Eco-Radicals."- 2005 — Hurricanes KatrinaHurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, RitaHurricane RitaHurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005...
, and WilmaHurricane WilmaHurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm , thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season...
cause widespread destruction and environmental harm to coastal communities in the US Gulf Coast region.
- 2005 — Hurricanes Katrina
- — The Kyoto ProtocolKyoto ProtocolThe Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
came into force on February 16 following ratification by Russia on November 18, 2004.- 2006 — Former U.S. vice president Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
releases An Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
, a documentary that describes global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. The next year, Gore is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) for this and related efforts.
- 2006 — Former U.S. vice president Al Gore
- — The BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's "Climate Chaos" season includes Are We Changing Planet Earth?Are We Changing Planet Earth?Are We Changing Planet Earth? and Can We Save Planet Earth? are two programmes that form a documentary about global warming, presented by David Attenborough...
, a two-part investigation into global warming by David AttenboroughDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
. - — The Stern ReviewStern ReviewThe Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a 700-page report released for the British government on 30 October 2006 by economist Nicholas Stern, chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and also chair of the Centre...
is published. The British Prime Minister, Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, says that it shows that scientific evidence of global warming was "overwhelming" and its consequences "disastrous". - — World human population reached 6.5 billion
- 2007 — The IPCCIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...
release the IPCC Fourth Assessment ReportIPCC Fourth Assessment ReportClimate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change, its potential effects, and options for...
.
- 2007 — The IPCC
- — Power Shift 2007 - the first National Youth Climate Conference, held in College Park, MD and Washington, D.C. November 2–5, 2007. Power Shift 2007: The Energy Action CoalitionEnergy Action CoalitionThe Energy Action Coalition is a North American non-profit organization made up of 50 partner organizations in the U.S. and Canada that runs campaigns to build the youth and student clean energy movement and advocate for tangible changes on local, state, national and international levels in North...
saw over 5,000 youth converge in Washington, D.C. to build their movement, lobby congress, and make a statement about the way youth feel about Global WarmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
.- 2009 - Power Shift 2009 - The Energy Action CoalitionEnergy Action CoalitionThe Energy Action Coalition is a North American non-profit organization made up of 50 partner organizations in the U.S. and Canada that runs campaigns to build the youth and student clean energy movement and advocate for tangible changes on local, state, national and international levels in North...
hosted the second national youth climate conference to be held at the Washington Convention Center from February 27 to March 2, 2009. The conference aims to attract more than 10,000 students and young people and will include a Lobby Day.
- 2009 - Power Shift 2009 - The Energy Action Coalition
- — The IPCC
See also
- Carbon capture and storage (timeline)Carbon capture and storage (timeline)The milestones for carbon capture and storage show the lack of commercial scale development and implementation of CCS over the years since the first carbon tax was imposed.The time line of carbon capture and storage announcements and developments follows:...
- Environmental issueEnvironmental issueEnvironmental issues are negative aspects of human activity on the biophysical environment. Environmentalism, a social and environmental movement that started in the 1960s, addresses environmental issues through advocacy, education and activism.-Types:...
- List of environmental issues
- Timeline of environmental history of New ZealandTimeline of environmental history of New ZealandThis is a timeline of environmental history of New Zealand. These events relate to the more notable events affecting the natural environment of New Zealand as a result of human activity.-Pre 1800s:...
Further reading
- Environmental History Timeline
- Firstgov.gov - various United States government sites
- The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, (1850–1920)' — The Library of Congress
- The Global Environmental Movement, John McCormick (London: John Wiley, 1995).
- American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, Bill McKibbenBill McKibbenWilliam Ernest "Bill" McKibben is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College...
, ed; Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, fwd., (New York: Library of America, 2008).