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World Wildlife Fund founded by Sir Peter Scott along with Prince Philip of Britain, Prince Bernhardt of The Netherlands, Aristotle Onassis, and then-National Rifle Association president C.R. "Pink" Gutermuth. Simultaneously, Russell Train founds the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, now called just the African Wildlife Foundation.
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US President John. F. Kennedy tells the United Nations: "Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable .. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us."
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Amendments to the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act say that drugs need to be effective as well as safe. The U.S. largely avoided the thalidomide birth defects disaster (in Europe) because the FDA did not approve the anti-nausea drug for sale to pregnant women in the U.S.
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General Motors and Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon) abandon Ethyl Corp., selling it to Albemarle Paper Co. in $200 million leveraged buyout which the corporations themselves finance. Ethyl is the main manufacturer of leaded gasoline (or, more precisely, tetra-ethyl lead and similar additives). Eight years later, GM will abandon leaded gasoline. There has been speculation about GM's rationale for dumping Ethyl, but until Ethyl's private documents become public, few will know whether GM was moti
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Senate Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution created. US Congress passes Clean Air Act with $95 million for study and cleanup efforts at local, state and federal level. See former Sen. Edmund S. Muskie's article, "The Clean Air Act: A Commitment to Public Health."
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Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between U.S. and U.S.S.R. (Russia) stops above ground tests of nuclear weapons.
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Congress creates National Wilderness Preservation System "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness." The system initially contained 9.1 million acres of wild lands, but by 2001 there were about 90 million acres of wilderness preserved in the United States. Text of the Act is available from Wilderness System web page. A history is also available from the Wilderness Society.
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Hazel Henderson organizes Citizens for Clean Air in New York.
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In a “Special Message to Congress on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty" US president Lyndon Johnson warns of buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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Congress passes Water Quality Act, Noise Control Act and Solid Waste Disposal Act.
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Federal court rejects a license for Consolidated Edison electric utility to build a pumped storage facility at Storm King Mountain north of the city due to environmental impacts. Some consider the case “the birth of environmental law.”
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Sierra Club publishes appeals in the New York Times and Washington Post to stop building a dam that would flood the Grand Canyon. The following day (perhaps coincidentally?), the IRS notifies the Sierra Club that it has suspended its tax-exempt status. The ad said simply, "This time it's the Grand Canyon they want to flood. The Grand Canyon."
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Fermi No. 1 fast metal breeder nuclear reactor in Detroit, Michigan loses coolant and partially melts down.
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Outer Space Treaty is signed to prohibit placement of nuclear weapons in orbit around Earth
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Congress passes Air Quality Act / Clean Air Act which authorizes planning grants to state air pollution control agencies.
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Redwood National Park established in California.
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Congress passes Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and National Trails System Act.
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Cuyahoga river bursts into flames 5 stories high from oil and chemical pollution, illuminating the extent of pollution and simultaneously igniting controversy over how much cleanup will be needed. The river fire becomes a defining moment for the new environmental movement.
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Five hundred attend UNESCO conference "Man and his Environment: A View Towards Survival" in San Francisco. Stanford University professor Paul Ehrlich said he thought that it would be imposossible to increase the food supply for the six to seven billion people expected by the 21st century. The idea that the food supply can be increased by harvesting the oceans "is a gigantic hoax," Erlich said. Stirling Bunnell warned that neither form of nuclear power -- fission or fusion -- would be a safe subs
