-
7094 BCE
Agricultural Revolution
The agricultural revolution occurred 10,000 years ago. It was a time period in which people switched from the hunting/gathering method to farming. This switch included people staying in one spot and growing their food instead of running after the packs of animals they want to kill and consume. -
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution occurred 275 years ago. The Industrial Revolution was an event in history in which there was a large increase in machines and other advances in technology. Some of these advances include the cotton gin, plow, telegraph, etc. This event was very important because it is the largest jump of technology in history. -
John Muir (April, 21, 1838)
John Muir was born on April 21,1838. He is also known as "John of the Mountains" he acquired this name by being a very early advocate of preservation of wilderness. He was one of the first men to preserve wildlife for people to see and not be affected by human interference. -
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walden is a book that was published by Henry David Thoreau. Walden consists facts about the living natural surroundings that are in our lives every day and most of the time we do not even acknowledge them. -
Homestead Act*
The Homestead Act was an act put in play by Abraham Lincoln to encourage people to move west by giving them 160 acres of land. These people only had to pay a small filing fee and could only officially claim this land after they completed five years of continuous residence. -
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is located in Wyoming and it was established into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. It was established into law on March 1, 1872 -
American Forestry Association Founded
The American Forestry Association was founded in September of 1875. This association was created to protect and restore healthy forest ecosystems around the world. Currently, the headquarters are in Washington, D.C. -
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold is a man that many people consider the "father of wildlife ecology". The idea that he is most famous for is "land ethic". He was very interested in the natural world even when he was young. In 1922 he was a key part in developing the proposal to manage the Gila National Forest as a wilderness area. This National Forest later became the first wilderness area. -
Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park founded
Yosemite and Sequoia National Park was founded on October 1st of 1890. At first the park was rather small when Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant in 1864. Then a couple of years later John Muir led a successful movement to enlarge the park to where the park contained not just the valley but also the mountains and forests that surrounded it. -
General Revision Act
The General Revision Act was an act signed by President Benjamin Harrison which reversed previous policy initiatives that gave the ability to reserve land to mine vast minerals and timber. This act gave the ability to preserve land so that it could not be affected by human usage. -
Sierra Club founded
The Sierra Club was founded by John Muir to promote the usage of the things that we have today but in a more conservative and sustainable way. -
Lacey Act
The Lacey Act is an act put in place to ban trafficking of illegal wildlife. This ban includes all types of materials made from illegal sources such as paper and timber. -
Golden-Age of Conservation
The Golden-Age of Conservation was between the years of 1901-1909 when President Theodore Roosevelt was elected president and he started his many conservation efforts. Roosevelt Established things like public lands, national parks, and national monuments. These things that he created to conserve wildlife made the time of his reign as president the Golden-Age of Conservation. -
First National Wildlife Refuge Established
The first national wildlife refuge was issued by Theodore Roosevelt and was located on Pelican Island. This refuge was created to protects birds from the lots of plume hunting that occurred. -
U.S. Forest Service Founded
The U.S. Forest Service was founded within the Department of Agriculture to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests for present and future generations to have. -
Gifford Pinchot
Pinchot was an extremely important forester and politician. He was chosen as the fourth chief of the division of forestry from 1898 to 1905. Later on in his life he was chosen the first chief of the United States Forest Service in 1905 until getting fired in 1910. He greatly changed the preservation and renewal of the nation's reserves earning him the name "father of American conservation" -
Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act was an act that enabled the ability to establish archeological sites on public lands. This act requires federal agencies to protect and conserve the archeology on these sites for present and future generations. -
Congress became upset because Roosevelt was waving so much forest land so they banned further withdraws.
This was the banning of any more land roosevelt could withdraw. -
U.S. National Park founded
-
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period where severe drought and strong wind and dust storms damaged the agriculture and ecology of U.S. prairies. During this time the drought that was in effect dried out all of the soil in the United States. Along with the drought the strong winds that came through because of the lack of plants blew the dust into the air causing huge dust storms hense the name "Dust Bowl". -
Civilian Conservation Corps founded
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a large part of the "new deal" during the great depression. It ran from 1933 to 1942 and helped unemployed or unmarried men from relief families. -
Soil Conservation Corps founded
The Soil Conservation Corps is a corporation that is a permanent agency in the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This agency is dedicated to improving efforts of conservation by working with landowners and state governments and other federal agencies to maintain very healthy productive working landscapes. -
Taylor Grazing Act
The Taylor Grazing Act was an act signed by president Roosevelt. This act was created to prevent any further injury of public grazing lands. It does this by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration. Also it works to stabilize the livestock industry that is dependant upon the public range. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
The Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act took place to force every one 16 or older to possess a valid Federal Hunting stamp. Also the receipts from these purchases are put in a treasury called the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. Each year there is a contest each year to select the design for the stamp. -
Fish Plus Wildlife Service founded
The Fish and Wildlife Service has a main objective to conserve, protect, and enhance fish and wildlife habitats for present and future generations. This organization is doing this to make sure these resources continue to benefit us for a long time period. Also this is the only organization that has this goal. -
FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Control Act)
-
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
Silent Springs is a book published by Rachel Carson. Silent Springs is about the effects of pesticides and how people use the pesticides irresponsibly. These things that people do have an extremely harmful effect on the natural productivity of the environment. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
Silent Springs is a book published by Rachel Carson. Silent Springs is about the effects of pesticides and how people use the pesticides irresponsibly. These things that people do have an extremely harmful effect on the natural productivity of the environment. -
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act was put into play to protect the most abundant wilderness areas for present and future generations. -
Clear Air Act
-
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was an act put in place to protect only the rivers with the most nutrients, cultural importance, and recreational values for present and future generations to use. -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, Caught fire
The Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969 due to the decades of industrial waste that filled the river. This fire caused over $100,00 worth of damage to two railroad bridges. -
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
The NEPA is a U.S. law that promotes the improvement of the environment. It also established the President's Council on Environmental Quality. -
First Earth Day
-
Environmental Protection Agency established
-
Endangered Species Act
-
OPEC oil embargo
The OPEC oil embargo was an act of Arab members of the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). The OPEC implied an embargo against the United States to counteract the United States decision to resupply the Israeli military. They did this to gain an advantage on post-war negotiations. -
Roland and Molina (UCI) announce that CFCs are depleting the ozone layer
-
RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
The RCRA gave the EPA the ability to analyze and control the hazardous waste. This act was put into play because of the increased amounts of hazardous waste in our country. -
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act was an act established to regulate pollutant discharges into the waterways in the United States. This act gave the EPA the ability to make pollution control programs to control the pollutant discharges. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act is the primary law that controls the amounts of coal mining in the United States. There is also another program that reclaimed abandon coal mines. -
Love Canal, NY (toxic waste leaks into residential houses)
The Love Canal Tragedy occurred when toxic waste started getting into the houses of the people who lived there. This caused the deaths of lots of people and even more birth defects occurred during this horrible tragedy. -
3 Mile Island Nuclear accident
The 3 Mile Island Nuclear Accident occurred due to a nuclear meltdown. This accident is the most significant accident in United States history. -
Alaskan Lands Act
The Alaskan Lands Act was an act that provided special protection to areas including national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, wild and scenic rivers, recreational areas, national forests, and conservation areas. -
CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability ACt a.k.a Super-fund
-
Bhopal, Indian (chemical toxic cloud kills over 2,000)
This disaster occurred in Bhopal because many people were exposed to a gas called methyl isocyanate. This gas leaked from the plant and into the towns surrounding it killing many people. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl Disaster occurred because of a poorly made design and inadequately trained personnel. This caused the death of every worker that was on the plant and the time and some around them. Also in years after it caused many cases of thyroid cancer. Chernobyl is now a tourist attraction. -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol is a treaty signed to reduce production of man of the substances that cause ozone depletion. -
Exxon Valdez
The Exxon Valdez oil spill happened in Alaska and was an event where massive amounts of crude oil spilt into the waters of the Prince William Sound. This oil spill was the largest in Alaska's history. The spill almost immediately killed many wildlife in the area. -
Energy Policy act of 1992
The Energy Policy act was passed to increase clean energy use and improve energy efficiency in the United States. -
Desert Protection Act
The Desert Protection Act was an act that established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert -
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol started in 1997 and went to 2005 and was created simply for all nations to fully commit themselves to reduce the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. -
World Population Hits 6 Billion
-
BP Oil Spill
The BP oil spill occurred when the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank which killed 11 people. This explosion released 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This spill took 87 days to finally cap. It was also the largest oil spill in the history of marine oil drilling operations. -
COP21
The COP21 was an historic agreement to manage climate change and take whatever actions were needed to reduce amounts of carbon to create a sustainable future for the next generations.
