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William Penn recognized the value of the Pennsylvania forests and in 1681 issued his Charter of Rights, ordering colonists to leave one acre of trees for every five acres of land cleared.
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Congress passed the Yellowstone Act, making Yellowstone the first national park "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "for the preservation, from injury or spoliation, of all timber
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In his annual message to Congress, President Roosevelt suggested, “provisions should be made for preservation of the bison,” calling it a “real misfortune” should the species become extinct. The American bison population, once 70 million, had dwindled to
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Georgia v. Tennessee Copper Company and Ducktown Sulphur:Air pollution lawsuit begins in Supreme Court. In various decisions through 1915, the Court will decide to limit the amount of sulfur and other noxious fumes that can emerge from the Tennessee Coppe
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Congress established the National Park Service. Today there are approximately 400 national parks across America, comprising approximately 4% of the entire U.S., or 84.6 billion acres of preserved land.
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As part of his New Deal plan during the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to pass the Emergency Conservation Work Act. Under the Act, thousands of unemployed young men were recruited into a “peacetime army” called the Civilian
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Congress passed the Bald Eagle Preservation Act to prevent the extinction of the national symbol. The Act provides criminal penalties for persons who "take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, a
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Heavy smog conditions forced city officials to close schools in Los Angeles for most of the month of October.
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Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which warned about the dangers of pesticides, especially DDT, to water supplies and wildlife.The book was widely read—especially after its selection by the Book-of-the-Month Cluband the New York Times best-seller lis
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Congress passed the first Clean Air Act, which regulated air pollution and emissions.
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President Johnson signed the Water Quality Act to strengthen federal water pollution laws and outline water quality guidelines for states
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NASA released the “Blue Marble” photo of earth from space, giving Americans a first ‘outside’ look at their planet. The photo helped raise awareness of environmental issues.
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The National Environmental Policy Act was one of the first laws to establish the broad national framework for protecting the environment. The Act demanded that all branches of government give proper consideration to the environment prior to building airpo
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The first Earth Day was celebrated by 20 million people across the country. Earth Day was first organized by Gaylord Nelson, a former Wisconsin senator, and Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student. Today, Earth Day is celebrated annually around the world.
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The Environmental Protection Agency was established to “create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony.”
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Congress passed the Endangered Species Act to protect what are now known as Endangered Species from possible extinction.
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Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act to be administered by the EPA, protecting Americans from contaminated drinking water. The EPA still regulates public drinking water as a result of the act.
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The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) was established to provide funds for cleaning of uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites, along with accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutant
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The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty, was first signed to eliminate ozone-depletinghydrocarbons from the environment. It was adopted by so many countries that it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international cooperation. Since the M
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NASA warned Congress of the effects of global warming.
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The Exxon Valdez oil spill dumped 11 million gallons of oil, devastating Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska, and images of oil-soaked ocean life flood American homes. Spill results in Exxon v. Baker.
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Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife: The Defenders of Wildlife sued the Department of the Interior to modify the Endangered Species Act to apply to U.S. actions taken in foreign nations, rather than actions only in the U.S. or at sea. Based on the Court’s earl
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David Chain was killed by a tree felled by foresters while protesting in a forest to protect the destruction of old-growth redwood trees.
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Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth, and the following year, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to raise awareness about global warming.
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The EPA Issued New Air Quality Standards to control daily “small” or “fine” particulate matter—soot, dust, and particles too small to see. Fine particulate matter, which pollutes the air, comes from things like car exhaust, smokestacks, and coal-fired pow
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Massachusetts v. EPA: Massachusetts files suit against the EPA for not establishing greenhouse gas requirements in the state. The EPA argued that it, as a federal agency, could not regulate individual state issues. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of
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San Francisco Oil Spill: On November 7, a South Korea bound container ship struck a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge spilling 58,000 gallons of oil in the San Francisco Bay. Dozens of dead and injured seabirds were immediately found f
