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It is estimated that the population of the world reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It would be more than 100 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960. -
Love Canal quickly came to symbolize the looming environmental disaster represented by untold numbers of toxic waste disposal sites scattered throughout America. -
Congress established the Forest Service in 1905 to provide quality water and timber for the Nation's benefit. Over the years, the public has expanded the list of what they want from national forests and grasslands. ... National forests are America's great outdoors. -
In 1940, Congress passed a law to protect our national symbol, the Bald Eagle. This act, called the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, made it illegal to possess, sell, hunt, or even offer to sell, hunt or possess bald eagles. This includes not only living eagles, but also their feathers, nests, eggs, or body parts. -
ublic Health Act (Cap. 295). An Act to provide for the prevention and suppression of diseases and generally to regulate all matters connected with public health in Zambia. -
Everglades National Park is a 1.5-million-acre wetlands preserve on the southern tip of the U.S. state of Florida. Often compared to a grassy, slow-moving river, the Everglades is made up of coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes and pine flatwoods that are home to hundreds of animal species. Among the Everglades' abundant wildlife are the endangered leatherback turtle, Florida panther and West Indian manatee. -
The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. -
Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. ... It spurred a reversal in the United States' national pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, and helped to inspire an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. -
The Wilderness Act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation System, a national network of more than 800 federally-designated wilderness areas. These wilderness areas are managed by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Forest Service. -
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).These reports state the potential environmental effects of proposed Federal agency actions. -
The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970.
The polluted river caught fire on several occasions between 1936 and 1969, when debris and oil had concentrated on the water's surface and ignited. A blaze in 1969 came at a time of increasing environmental awareness and symbolized years of environmental neglect. -
The Clean Air Act is the United States' primary federal air quality law, intended to reduce and control air pollution nationwide. Initially enacted in 1963 and amended many times since, it is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws -
The United Nations Environment Programme is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. -
World Environment Day is celebrated annually on 5 June and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment -
Some countries outside the United States still use DDT to control of mosquitoes that spread malaria. DDT and its related chemicals persist for a long time in the environment and in animal tissues. -
the UN Scientific Conference, also known as the First Earth Summit, adopted a declaration that set out principles for the preservation and enhancement of the human environment, and an action plan containing recommendations for international environmental action. -
Water Quality Act of 1965 required states to issue water quality standards for interstate waters, and authorized the newly created Federal Water Pollution Control Administration to set standards where states failed to do so. -
Through federal action and by encouraging the establishment of state programs, the 1973 Endangered Species Act provided for the conservation of ecosystems upon which threatened and endangered species of fish, wildlife, and plants depend. -
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species. -
The OPEC oil embargo was an event where the 12 countries that made up OPEC stopped selling oil to the United States. The embargo sent gas prices through the roof. Between 1973-1974, prices more than quadrupled.In response to the oil crisis, the United States took steps to become increasingly energy independent. -
(1976) The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from cradle to grave. This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous solid wastes. -
The Act makes it a federal crime to “take” birds or bird parts, including feathers, or to kill birds without special permission from the Secretary of the Interior. The MBTA also prohibits any person from using bait to take migratory birds, or for someone to hunt in areas they know or reasonably should know are baited. -
Alternative Energy Institute (also known as AEI) was West Texas A&M University's alternative energy research branch. Formed in 1977, the program was nationally and internationally recognized, and along with research provides education and outreach around the U.S. and the globe. -
The Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public. -
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is considered among the world's worst industrial disasters. -
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is the worst nuclear disaster in history both in cost and casualties. -
The Montreal Protocol, finalized in 1987, is a global agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS). -
The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a man made disaster that occurred when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by the Exxon Shipping Company, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 -
The Lacey Act of 1900, or simply the Lacey Act is a conservation law in the United States that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold. -
Starting in January of 1991, large quantities of oil began to spill into the Persian Gulf. ... The goal of this spill was to impede US troops from attempting beach landings, but in the end the spill simply resulted in over 240 million gallons of crude oil being dumped into the Persian Gulf. -
The Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to collect pesticide residue data on commodities most frequently consumed by infants and children. ... Since FQPA was passed, PDP has focused its residue data collection activities on foods highly consumed by infants and children. -
Against this background, the World Food Summit took place from 13 to 17 November 1996. ... The objective of the Summit was to renew global commitment at the highest political level to eliminate hunger and malnutrition, and to achieve sustainable food security for all people. -
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and that human-made CO₂ emissions are driving it. -
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. -
The Day of Seven Billion, October 31, 2011, is the day that has been officially designated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as the approximate day on which the world's population reached seven billion people.