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20 people die and over 600 go to the hospital after sulfur dioxide emissions from a nearby steel and wire plant descend in the form of smog, made worse by a temperature inversion that trapped the sulfuric poison in the valley of the town. The incident will lead to the first U.S. conference on air pollution in 1950, sponsored by the Public Health Service.
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Heavy smog in New York City exacerbates asthma and other lung conditions, killing 170-260 people. More New Yorkers will die again in 1962 and 1966 with more “smog episodes.”
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Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide will climb above 300 parts per million.
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Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is published. Acclaimed as the catalyst of the modern environmental movement, Silent Spring condemns the overuse of pesticides. Between 1950-1962 the amount of DDT found in human tissue had tripled.
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the start of earth day to help raise awareness of what's happening to the earth.a nationwide protest against environmental ignorance
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created to monitor and improve the conditions of the oceans
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An Act to provide protection of the earth so no one can officially harm the planet
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Nuclear melt down at three mile island caused people to be aware of nuclear energy and it's negative effects
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President Reagan signs the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988, a law that prohibits all waste dumping in the ocean starting in 1992.
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The Exxon Valdez tanker spills 11 million gallons of oil, killing more than 250,000 birds and covering over 1,300 square miles of ocean with oil. The accident is the largest oil spill in the history of the U.S.
