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7984 BCE
Agricultural Revolution
A significant change in agriculture that occurs when there are discoveries, inventions, or new technologies that change production.
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Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban.
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John Muir was born
John Muir was perhaps this country's most famous and influential naturalist. If it weren't for John Muir and his writings, we probably would not have Yosemite National Park as we know it today. He was also involved in the creation of the Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Mt. Rainier National Parks.
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Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walden is a book by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings.
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Homestead Act
A special act of Congress that made public lands in the West available to settlers without payment, usually in lots of 160 acres, to be used as farms.
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Yellowstone National Park founded
Yellowstone, the first National Park in the U.S. and widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park.
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American Forestry Association founded
The mission of American Forests is to "protect and restore forests, helping to preserve the health of our planet for the benefit of its inhabitants.
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Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park founded
An act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature lovers, along with countless “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs.
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Sierra Club founded
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who became its first president.
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Exxon Valdez Disaster
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on Good Friday, March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef at 12:04 am local time and spilled 11 to 38 million US gallons of crude oil.
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Lacey Act
The Lacey Act is a 1900 United States law that bans trafficking in illegal wildlife.
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Golden Age of Conservation (Theodore Roosevelt)
1901-09 Roosevelt used his power to protect wildlife in the US. -
First National Wildlife Refuge established
Established by an executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island was the first national wildlife refuge in the United States. It was created to protect egrets and other birds from extinction through plume hunting.
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Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot was an American forester and politician. Pinchot served as the first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910
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US Forest Service founded
Congress passed the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorizing the President to designate public lands in the West into what were then called “forest reserves.” Responsibility for these reserves fell under the Department of the Interior until 1905 when President Theodore Roosevelt transferred their care to the Department of Agriculture’s new U.S. Forest Service. Gifford Pinchot led this new agency as its first Chief, charged with caring for the newly renamed national forests. -
Aldo Leopold
He was an American author, philosopher, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949), which has sold more than two million copies.
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Audubon Society founded
Conservation of birds, other wildlife and healthy ecosystems. The National Audubon Society (Audubon) is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation.
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Antiquities Act
The Antiquities Act is the first law to establish that archaeological sites on public lands are important public resources.
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US National Park Service founded
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established.
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Civilian Conservation Corps founded
Formed in March 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, was one of the first New Deal programs. It was a public works project intended to promote environmental conservation and to build good citizens through vigorous, disciplined outdoor labor.
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Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (or Duck Stamp Act), and an increasingly concerned nation took firm action to stop the destruction of wetlands vital to the survival of the migrating birds.
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Taylor Grazing Act
he Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 is a United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands to improve range land conditions and regulate their use.
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Fish plus Wildlife Service founded
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) or (FWS) is an agency of federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior which is dedicated to the protection of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats.
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Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, is a book that is meant to draw awareness towards the crumbling state of the environment.
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Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act, signed into law in 1964, created the National Wilderness Preservation System and recognized wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
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Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by Congress in 1968 to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
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Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire
This wasn't the first fire in Ohio, but it is the fire that showed people the dangers of river pollution.
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First Earth Day
On 22 April, 1970, 20 million people gathered to celebrate the earth and help protect it.
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Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. -
Environmental Protection Agency founded
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. -
FIFRA: Federal, Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Control Act
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) provides for federal regulation of pesticide distribution, sale, and use. All pesticides distributed or sold in the United States must be registered (licensed) by EPA. -
OPEC and Oil Embargo
Arab oil producers declared an embargo that drastically limited the shipment of oil to the United States. These producers, members of a cartel known as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), enforced the embargo in response to the Yom Kippur War between Egypt and Israel. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was signed on December 28, 1973, and provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend. -
Roland and Molina announce that CFC’s are depleting the Ozone Layer
Roland and Molina warned that CFCs were depleting the ozone, and soon after, scientists backed up the claims and then CFCs were banned from being used in air freshners. -
RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) protects communities and resource conservation. -
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. -
Love Canal, NY
In New York, Love Canal started oozing poison. -
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. -
Bhopal Island
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl accident or simply Chernobyl, was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. -
CERCLA (Superfund)
Superfund is a United States federal government program designed to fund the cleanup of sites contaminated with hazardous substances and pollutants. It was established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). -
Montreal Protocol
The 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 that are responsible for ozone depletion. -
Energy Policy Act
The Energy Policy Act is a United States government act. It was passed by Congress and set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use and improve overall energy efficiency in the United States. -
Desert Protection Act
he California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is a federal law signed by President Bill Clinton, and passed by the United States Congress on October 8, 1994, that established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert. -
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Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) human-made CO2 emissions have caused it. -
World Population hits 6 Billion people
The world’s population topped the 6 billion mark Tuesday, with the birth of a baby in Sarajevo. -
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IPCC Report on Climate Change
Earth has warmed, sea levels have begun to rise at an accelerated rate, and Northern Hemisphere snow cover has decreased substantially over the past 150 years . These facts are not controversial. -
BP oil spill in the Gulf
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.
