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Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was an influential book which made a case against chemical pollution by documenting the harmful effects of pesticides. This book also led many to become a concern about pesticides and pollution. -
Stockholm Conference
The Stockholm Conference was the first meeting of the international community to consider the global environment and development needs. Furthermore, it also examined how human activity was affecting the environment. -
James Lovelock's Gaia
James Lovelock's Gaia was a book which proposed the hypothesis that the Earth is a living organism with self-regulatory mechanisms that maintain the climate and biological conditions. He also noted that the actions of humanity were upsetting this balance. -
Bhopal
Bhopal was the name given to the release of 42 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in the Indian City of Bhopal. In total, there was an estimate of 25,000 deaths from this. -
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
The Rainbow Warrior was sunk to prevent the ship from interfering with a nuclear test in the Polynesian Island of Moruo. This event promoted environmental campaigns against nuclear testing. -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl occurred when reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine exploded and highly radioactive dust went into the atmosphere. Around 3336,000 people were evacuated and there was an increasing number of cancer incidents. -
Our Common Future
Our Common Future was a report by the UN WCED and it placed environmental issues on a political agenda. The report also linked environmental concerns to development and sought to promote sustainable development through international collaboration. -
UN Earth (Rio) Summit
The UN Earth (Rio) Summit encouraged people to think of the indirect values of ecosystems apart from economic ones. The Summit also gave people a different perspective on sustainability on a global scale and economic growth. -
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development
The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development looked mainly at social issues and targets were set to reduce poverty and increase people’s access to safe drinking water and sanitation. -
Kyoto Climate Change Protocol
In the Kyoto Climate Change Protocol countries were allocated amounts of carbon dioxide they were allowed to emit. However, nations were allowed to sell carbon emissions not used to other nations, which then created the carbon market.
