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1 billion
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In 1902 the bureau of reclamation, a federal agency that works with the U.S. department of the manages water in the western united states.
https://www.usbr.gov/ -
In 1902 the bureau of reclamation, a federal agency that works with the U.S. department of the manages water in the western united states.
https://www.usbr.gov/ -
2 billion
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A neurological disease discovered in 1956 that would disturbingly affect the central nervous system with a wide range of symptoms and side effects. It was caused by consuming fish and shellfish which had been contaminated by methylmercury compound, also discharged from a chemical plant.
https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/hs/minamata2002/summary.html -
3 billion
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A landmark during the development of the modern environmental movement. It not only created work of substantial dept and credibility that sparked widespread debate within the scientific community, But helped create policies that helped our air, water and most importantly, our health and safety.
https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/rachel-carson-silent-spring.html -
in 1964 the wilderness act was created which created a system of national wilderness preservation which keeps an area safe from human disturbance.
https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/wilderness-act -
It was a “citizen coalition” that sued the FPC (Federal Power Commision). It was a significant case. The FPC approved plans for Consolidated Edison to build a power plant on Storm King Moutain (mountain on the west bank of the Hudson River). The Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference decided against this act seeing as it was somewhat unnecessary and will most likely become more dangerous for the environment. It wasn’t seen as beneficial.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/407/926/ -
A river fire that happened in Cleveland Ohio on June 22nd, 1969. This fire is very important because it is a significant symbol of water pollution and environmental movement. The fire officially started when steel debris became trapped in the river causing the oil on the river to add to the burnability and later on starting a spark from a passing train that ignited the debris.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/story-of-the-fire.htm -
In January of 1969, an oil well on union Oil’s platform blew out which in turn spilt millions of gallons of oil into the Santa Barbara Channel, this killed thousands of seabirds and marine life.
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/a-fierce-green-fire-timeline-of-environmental-movement/2988/ -
Once a project branching off the Niagara River, just four files from the Niagara Falls that had been used as a chemical waste dump, now just an aborted canal project. It caused countless illnesses and abnormally high rates of birth defects due to the 21,000 toxic chemicals lurking through the canal.
https://www.geneseo.edu/history/love_canal_history -
the creation of this act was because of a surge in public concern about environmental issues specifically concerning air and other environmental issues.
http://pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/a-fierce-green-fire-timeline-of-environmental-movement/2988/ -
The NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) was signed into law on January 1, 1970. NEPA is, obviously, very important and is treated as such. It has a variety of actions that are broad and wide, such actions are “making decisions on permit applications, adopting federal land management actions, and constructing highways and other publicly owned facilities.”
http://epa.gov/nepa/what-national-environmental-policy-act -
In the 1970s the clean air act was enacted where the law regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources as well as authorizing EPA to establish quality standards.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-acthttps://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-air-act -
A 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm Sweden. This was the first global conference to address environmental issues. The specific issues addressed were of modern development, unsustainable environmental degradation, and compromising the natural systems.
https://www.sei.org/perspectives/one-earth-one-security-space/ -
A canal that exploded in Niagra Falls New York in 1978 due to excessive rain fall triggering old rotting chemical barrels buried underground. Shortly after the rain fall the chemicals began to soak through the earth and burst open into peoples back yards that turned trees and gardens black and eventually killed them.
https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/love-canal-tragedy.html -
It provided a program dedicated to the conversation of both plants and animals that had been endangered. It also spoke upon the habitat of the two subjects.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered-species-act -
The SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) was passed by Congress in 1974 to “protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply.” It was revised in 1986 and 1996. There were many actions taken when making these laws and regulations. Nowadays, there are more protective measures that are being taken when it comes to our drinking water (I can’t say the same for those radioactive shrimp though).
https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/overview-safe-drinking-water-act -
4 billion
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NFMA (National Forest Management Act) was made to counter damage to ecosystems on public lands. There were many debates over the legality of “clear-cutting” (the removal of all or most trees in a designated vicinity of any forests) forests. The U.S. Forest Service was tasked to “develop regulations” that limited the size of clearcuts and protect the forests overall.
https://www.sierraforestlegacy.org/FC_LawsPolicyRegulations/FPP_NFMA.php -
IWC (aka the International Whaling Commission) was initiated in 1946 but went into effect in 1986. It was made to be the “global body responsible for management of whaling and conservation of whales.” Nowadays the IWC has grown in members (it was said to now have 88 member countries) and they also include things such as bycatch and entanglement, ship strikes, ocean noise, pollution and debris, and sustainable whale watching.
https://iwc.int/en/ -
The Bhopal disaster was a chemical leak that occurred in Bhopal India in 1984 that spilled 45 tons of gas methyl. 15,000 to 20,000 people died because of the spill which resulted in several executives convicted of negligence.
https://www.britannica.com/list/the-perils-of-industry-10-notable-accidents-and-catastrophes -
An event that took place on December 3rd of 1984, which consisted of 40 tons of methyl isocyanate leaking from a pesticide plant from Bhopal. It resulted in the lives of at least 3,800 being taken and causing premature death to many more.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1142333/ -
A flawed reactor design that blew up in 1986 because it was operated by poorly trained personnel. In the result of the explosion the fires let out at least 5% of radioactive waste into the environment that then latter lead to 30 total people dying. Two of those people were plant workers and the other twenty-eight people died within weeks of the accident.
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident -
5 billion
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A protocol that was signed by 197 countries to be the first treaty in the history of the united Nations to achieve universal ratification. This means every country agrees to become legally bound by a treaty agreement. This is the highest level of global commitment to an international standard.
https://www.unep.org/ozonaction/who-we-are/about-montreal-protocol -
A protocol that was adoped on December 11th 1997 that became known as the first international treaty to set leaglly binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Kyoto Japan. This Protocol entered into force in 2005 and was approved by 192 parties.
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/marking-kyoto-protocol%E2%80%99s-25th-anniversary -
6 billion
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A catastrophic cyclone that struck southeastern states of the US during late August of 2005. Around 1,400 people had their lives taken either during the disaster or battling aftereffects and lingering effects of the event is stll influencing the economy and culture of the Gulf Coast.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Hurricane-Katrina -
A 2006 documentary that represents a former vice president and Environmental activist AI Gore. This movement was to raise awareness of climate change and the dangers that go with it. The documentary transformed how people everywhere saw the world around them.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/conservationists/inconvenient-truth-sequel-al-gore.htm#:~:text=The%202006%20documentary%20%22An%20Inconvenient,a%20wide%20release%20in%20July -
7 billion
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8 billion
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Hurricane Helene was a category 4 hurricane that caused many tragedies. There were thousands of downed trees, local areas were up to 30 inches of rain, wind speeds were up to 60 mph, and the rain and wind resulted in major damage to bridges, houses, roads, and facilities. Helene was responsible for at least 250 deaths (176 direct deaths) which makes it the deadliest hurricane that we have encountered so far.
https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-impacts-and-recovery.htm