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Jan 1, 1200
Agricultural Revolution 10,00 years ago
People lived in societies where they foraged for wild plants and hunted animals. The agricultual revolution allowed humans to plant crops for food. -
Industrial Revolution
Changed the manufacturing process from hand production to machines. Steam engines were the most important invention of the era. The factory system rose to power where there was major use of coal to fuel machinery. -
John Muir
Discovered the Yosemite National Park and he was also important for founding the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club is an enviromental organizationin the U.S. -
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Thoreua's book on a mans escape from civilization. His reflection on life surrounded by nature. -
Homestead Act
Allowed people to own land with little to no cost. Signed into law by Lincoln -
Yelowstone National Park Founded
First national Park in the world. Located in Idaho,Montanna, and Wyoming -
American Forestry Association founded
Established to protect the ecosystems in the forest. Preevents depletion of natural resources. -
Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park founded
John Muir realized land surrounding the Yosmite Valley were bein overrun by grazing sheep. -
General Revision Act
Gave congress the power to reserve land and forests to protect them from being privatized. The act made sure the land would stay under government ownership. -
Sierra Club FOunded
Environmental Club founded by John Muir. The club advocats for green politics and sustainibility. -
The Lacey Act
System of Criminal and civil penalties in addition to penalties for violating foreign, federal, and state laws. The act makes trading fish, plants, and wildlife illegal. -
Golden Age of Conservation
Roosevelt established the United States Forest Services which included national parks, forests, and monuments. This age helped people to see the negative ramifications big game hunting had on the population of species. -
First Wildlife Refuge Established
Pelican Island, Florida was set aside by Presient Roosevelt for wildlife. This protected these species from going extinct and from hunters/poachers. Pelican Island has the most diverse bird population in North America. -
U.S Forest Service Founded
The Forestry division was added to the department of Agriculture. The interior division was in charge of protecting forest reserves. -
Aldo Leopold
Leopold created many things. Among them were; the first wildness preserve and the Land Ethic.
The Land Ethic was the principle that since all things like soil, animals, and plants are part of a community, they should be given the same respect as human. -
Audobon Society Founded
Protected many water birds, that were high on the conservation list, from poachers who kill these birds for their plumes. -
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot was named Chief of Forestry by President Roosevelt.He made he idea of conservation popular by creating and organizing naional forests.He created 150 national forests at the end of his time as chief. -
Antiquities
First law that gave general protection for any kind of cultural or natural resource. It also established the first national historic preservation policy in the United States. -
Congress became upset becuase Roosevelt was waving so much forest land so they banned further withdrawals
Congress passed a bill which called for conservation of land in Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. -
U.S National Park Service Founded
President WIlson created National Park Sevices. The Service aims to provide enjoyment for people while conserving the scenery and the wildlife that lives in it. -
Dust Bowl
When drought hit the Great Plains, they were given the nickname 'Dust Bowl'. The end of the drought brought a great storm of soil and dirt that was named the Black Blizzard. The Dust bowl wreaked havoc on the lives of farmers, forcing them to move to states that werent affected by the 'blizzard' -
Civilian Conservation Corps Founded
Helped young (18-26) men find jobs by paying them 30 dollars a month for doing postitive environmental jobs like planting trees and fighting fires. This helped to improve the quality of air. -
Soil Coservation Service Founded
This service was founded to bring awareness to the issue of Soil erosion. -
Taylor Grazing Act
The main goal of this Act was to stop harm to the public grazing lands by preventing soil deteroration and overgrazing while allowing proper usage of the farming lands -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
This act made all waterfowl hunters who wer 16 and older, buy afederal duckstamp every year. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service Founded
Founded to conserve, enhance, and protect fish ,wildlife, and plants. And their habitats. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
This book described the dangers of pesticides and their effect on nature. Created a debate on the well being of the earth and essetially started the environmental revolution. -
Wilderness Act
President Johnson protected all existing wild areas and designated almost 10 million acres to these areas. These protected Areas made up the National Preservaton System. -
Willd and Scenic RIvers Act
Stated that certain rivers in the U.S that are aesthetically pleasing have recreational, geologic, historical, or cultural value. These rivers had to be kept "free flowing" which meant they had to maintain an acceptable water quality. -
Cuyahoga River, Cleveland Ohio (caught fire0
The river had been polluted with industrial waste for years when an oil slick caught fire. The fire prompted the city to deindustrializeand caught national attention which made them clean up the river. The clean up brought better water quality and new economic revenue was an effect of the deindustrialization -
NEPA
Made the framework for protecting the environment. Makes all branches of the governement assess all the environmental ramificatons before taking governemnt action. -
First Earth Day
started the modern Environmental Movement. Emerging consciousness of environmental concerns. -
EPA established
Enforced the Environmental Protection Standards. Also gathers info and fight and controls pollution. -
Clear Air Act
Controls Air quality in the U.S by making the EPA place a minimum standard of rules and regulations for pollution. -
FIRFA
Set standards for the distribution, sale, and use of insecticides. All insecticides/pesticides have to be licensed and registered by the EPA. -
Endangered Species Act
Conserves and protecs endangered species and their ecosytems -
OPEC Oil Embargo
To get back at the U.S for supplyng the Israeli military with weaons, the Arab members of OPEC placed an embargo on them. This banned petroleum exports and sopped the production of oil. Oil prices and inflation rose to an extreme because of this. -
Roland and Molina announce that CFC's are depleting the ozone layer
The two scientists Rowland and Molina discovered that CFC's were traveling into the stratosphere and creating a chain reaction where the ozone layer was being depleted in turn. The U.S placed a ban on CFC's. -
RCRA
The RCRA seeks to fix environmental issues that come from improper storage of hazarodus waste. -
Clean Water Act
This act prevents water pollution and enhances the handlig of wastewater. Fixes unclean and unsafe water that may become a danger to the health of humans and other organisms. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
Regulaates the environmental effects of coal mining in the U.S. They also reclaim abandone coal mines -
Love Canal
Aborted canal project that was used as a chemical waste dump. The chemical company thenproceeded to cap the waste site and sell it to the Niagra Falls School Board. Eventually the chemicals seeped into the homes of the residens and caused life threatening illnesses, miscarriages, and birth defects -
3 Mile Island Nuclear Accident
The second core reactor on 3 mile island had a cooling malfunction and partial meltdown. Radioactive gas was released, but it did not reach the ground level. -
Alaskan Land Conservation Act
Act signed over by Presient Carter which protected millions of acres of alaskan land -
CERCLA
Placed a tax on chemical and oil companies and gave the federal governement the power to respond directly to the release of hazardous substances into the environment -
Bhopal India Chemical Spill
A pesticide plant released 30 tons of hazordous gas which left 600,000 people exposed to the toxins. -
Chernobyl
The Ukranian nucear reaction plant meltdown. This caused radiation and made the residents evacuate and leave the land abandoned -
Montreal Protocol
An internatonal treaty whose main goal was to end the use of compunds that destroyed the ozone layer. -
Exxon Valdez Spill
Alaskan Oil Tank crashed causing a massve oil spill -
Energy Policy Act
Adressed the U.S need for energy with an energy efficient title and several energy efficient provisions. -
Desert Protection Act
This Act provides government protection to U.S deserts such as; Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks -
Kyoto Protocol
The UN made agreemen that binds nations to reduce their greenhouse emissions -
World Population Hits 6 Billion
World Population Hits 6 Billion -
BP oil spill
Oil seeped out of a small hole in a broken pipe. The spill went undetcted for 5 days abd eventualy there was 267,000 gallons of oil in the oceans surrounding Alaska -
Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Fukushima had a extreme nuclear disaster tha was followed by an earthquake and then a tsunami. -
VW admits to emission fraud in diesel engines
VW admits to putting 'defeat devices' in teir cars which are able to recognize when emissions tests were being run on the car. This allowed the car to let out less emissions than it would on a regular basis.
