-
1 Billion people in the world
-
2 billion people in the world
-
Founding of IUCN
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, was established on 5 October 1948 in the French town of Fontainebleau. Originally, IUCN’s primary focus was to examine the impact of human activities on nature. It has also helped organize other different kinds of international conventions. This group provides tools that are critical for ensuring that human progress, economic development and nature conservation take place together.
https://www.iucn.org/about/iucn-a-brief-history -
Air Pollution Control Act
On July 14th, 1955, the federal government in the United States passed The Air Pollution Control Act. Five million dollars a year for five years was granted for research by the Public Health Service and congress was reserved the right to control the problem. In 1960, research was extended for four more years. https://www.ametsoc.org/sloan/cleanair/cleanairlegisl.html -
Minamata Disease
Minamata is a disease that is linked to the release of methyl mercury into the waste water produced by the Chisso Corporation Chemical Factory. The mercury accumulated in shellfish and fish that was in the water. When eaten by the local population it caused mercury poisoning. This led to neurological delays and issues. The pollution also led to birth defects in new children. From Textbook -
3 billion people in the world
-
Silent Spring is Published
On September 27th, 1962, Carson exposed the dangerous effects of DDT, a hazardous chemical compound used as a pesticide, in her book. She helped to start the environmental movement with her book when she questioned everybody’s trust in modern technology. Carson explained how DDT becomes a part of the food chain and the harmful effects, like cancer and genetic damage, that are caused by it.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/story-silent-spring -
Clean Air Act
he Clean Air Act became effective on December 17th, 1963, and it was the first federal law regarding the control of air pollution. A federal program was launched, and research began to help control and monitor air pollution. In 1970, legislation authorized regulations to limit mobile and industrial emissions on both a state and federal level. Amendments added to the act 1977 were mostly concerned with preventing deterioration of air quality. -
First Endangered Species List Was Released
-
The Cuyahonga River Fire
o One early Sunday morning in June 1969, an oil slick, polluted by decades of industrial waste, caught fire near the Republic Steel Mill
o It caused over $100,000 in damage to 2 railroad bridges
o This event became so famous, many say it was one of the events that developed the modern American http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/10/history.environmental.movement/index.html -
Gaia Hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis explains that all organisms and their surroundings on earth are integrated to form one system that is self regulating and maintains the conditions for all life. Lovelock created this hypothesis and named it Gaia because in Greek Mythology, Gaia was the “ancestral mother of earth”. https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Gaia/Gaia-hypothesis-wikipedia.pdf -
Stockholm Conference
On June 5th, 1972, the first major meeting of countries to decide on global and developmental needs for the world. They looked at how the human population was affecting the planet and what we, as humans, could do to reduce our footprint on the planet. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milestones/humanenvironment -
4 billion people in the world
-
Toxic Substance Control Act
It was first released to control existing and new chemicals that were starting to be used in everyday things. It also gave the EPA the authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements, and restrictions relating to chemical substances and/or mixtures. It was the first act to do so. https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-toxic-substances-control-act -
Bhopal, India
On December 2nd, 1984, 27 tons of deadly gas was leaked at a Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, and it spread across the whole city because all six of the safety systems were not operational. 25,000 of the 500,000 people who were exposed died, while 150,000 of the surivivers are now chronically ill. https://www.bhopal.org/what-happened/ -
The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-sinking-of-the-rainbow-warrior On July 10th, 1985 a ship was sunk off of Moruo so that it would not interfere with the nuclear tests going on on the island. The French were nuclear testing on the island and denied responsibility for the sinking. Only one person was killed in the sinking, Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira. -
Chernobly, Ukraine, Soviet Union
The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design. The steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere. Two Chernobyl workers died, and 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning. -
5 billion people in the world
-
Whaling Made Illegal
-
Kyoto Protocol
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/mar/11/kyoto-protocol Set up by the UNFCCC and was signed by almost all nations in the UN in 1992. It was finalized in 1997 and put into place in 2005. -
Coral Reef Alliance
Coral Reef Alliance
Because of the rise in water temperatures from human pollution and global warming, coral reefs will die and erode, destroying important marine life getting nutrients and living in them, ultimately affecting all marine wildlife. The destruction of coral reefs significantly affects humans as well because we depend on most marine life for survival. -
6 billion people in the world
-
Baia Mare Cyanide
On January 30th 2000, the dam that contains toxic waste material from the Baia Mare Aurul gold mine in North Western Romania burst and released 100,000 cubic meters of waste that was heavily contaminated with cyanide, an extremely deadly chemical to humans and other species in just small doses. More than 2.5 million people suffered from cyanide contaminated drinking water
http://www.softschools.com/facts/manmade_disasters/baia_mare_cyanide_spill_facts/3133/ -
An Inconvenient Truth premiers
-
7 billion people in the world