Environmental Timeline

By 15harperr

  • Panama Canal

    Panama Canal
    1. High disease rate appeared so French had to stop working on it,
    2. Officially opened in 1914 because the US took it over.

  • The Three Gorges Dam

    The Three Gorges Dam
    1. Planned on ever since 1919.
    2. Still undergoing construction.

  • The Great Smog of 52

    The Great Smog of 52
    1. Lasted for 5 days.
    2. About 12,000 deaths occurred.

  • The Love Canal

    The Love Canal
    1. The site was used to bury 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals.
    2. The site was discovered in 1976.

  • Castle Bravo

    Castle Bravo
    1. Castle Bravo was the codename for the first thermonuclear hydrogen bomb test.
    2. Led to many cases of radiation sickness.

  • Minamata Disease

    Minamata Disease
    1. Caused by murcury poisoning.
    2. Chemical factory caused it for 36 years.

  • The Shrinking of the Aral Sea

    The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
    1. The rivers that flowed into the Aral Sea were taken away by Soviet irrigation.
    2. Causes the local climate to change.

  • Ecocide in Vietnam

    Ecocide in Vietnam
    1. Kennedy administration started bombing Vietnam's crops.
    2. Vietnam used to be one of the top sellers for rice and is now one of the lowest.

  • Silent Spring

    Silent Spring
    1. Book written by Rachel Carson.
    2. Helped launch the environmental movement.

  • The Palomares Incident

    The Palomares Incident
    1. Caused by B-52G bomber colliding with a KC-135 tanker during refueling.
    2. All the crew members on the KC-135 died as a result of the collision igniting their fuel.

  • 1st Earth Day

    1st Earth Day
    1. Worldwide event to support environmental protection.
    2. Celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.

  • Environmental Protection Agency

    Environmental Protection Agency
    1. Created to nsure environmental protection.
    2. There is an EPA in every state.

  • Door to Hell

    Door to Hell
    1. A natural gas field lit by Soviet scientists.
    2. It's still burning.

  • The Seveso Disaster

    The Seveso Disaster
    1. Highest known exposure to TCDD in residential populations.
    2. Named the Seveso disaster because Seveso was the community most affected by it.

  • Amoco Cadiz

    Amoco Cadiz
    1. The Amoco Cadiz was a large oil carrier that sank.
    2. Largest oil spill of its kind to that date.

  • The Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion

    The Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion
    1. One of the two nuclear reactors on the island had a melt down.
    2. Clean-up ended in December 1993.

  • The Bhopal DIsaster

    The Bhopal DIsaster
    1. This is a gas leak in India.
    2. The death toll was 2,259.

  • Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone

    Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
    1. Largest dead zone in the United States.
    2. The BP oil spill may have worsened the dead zone.

  • The Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion

    The Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion
    1. Explosion released a large amount of radioactive particles in the atmosphere.
    2. Worse nuclear power plant accident in history.

  • The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

    The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
    1. Happened in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
    2. Covered 12,300 miles of land and ocean.

  • The Kuwait Oil Fires

    The Kuwait Oil Fires
    1. Iraqi military set fire to to more than 600 oil wells.
    2. The fires burned from January 1991 to November 1991.

  • Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch

    Pacific Gyre Garbage Patch
    1. Discovered by Charles J. Moore.
    2. In 1988 the garbage patch was predicted by a group

  • Libby, Montana Asbestos Contamination

    Libby, Montana Asbestos Contamination
    1. Libby residents started getting mesothelioma.
    2. The town mines for vermiculite which caused the contamination.

  • Baia Mare Cyanide Spill

    Baia Mare Cyanide Spill
    1. Caused by the gold mining company Aurul.
    2. The polluted water killed large amounts of fish.

  • The Al-mishraq Fire

    The Al-mishraq Fire
    1. A fire broke out at the sulfur plant said to be purposely.
    2. Most vegetation was killed.

  • E-waste in Guiyu, China

    E-waste in Guiyu, China
    1. The pollution has made it to where Guiyu can no longer grow crops.
    2. Guiyu is nicknamed the "electronic graveyard".

  • Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions

    Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions
    1. It created an 80 km long toxic slick in the Songhua river.
    2. Over 10,000 people were evacuated from the area.

  • Sidoarjo Mud Flow

    Sidoarjo Mud Flow
    1. This is the result an erupting mud volcano.
    2. It was contained by levees in November 2008.

  • "An Inconvenient Truth"

    "An Inconvenient Truth"
    1. Documentary about Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming.
    2. Gore took a course in college about global warming and climate change.

  • TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Slurry Spill

    TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Coal Fly Ash Slurry Spill
    1. 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash fly released.
    2. The slurry covered up to 300 acres of the surrounding land.

  • Deep water horizon BP oil spill

    Deep water horizon BP oil spill
    1. 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the ocean.
    2. The oil flowed for 87 days.

  • Fukushima Daiichi

    Fukushima Daiichi
    1. Caused by an earthquake and a tsunami.
    2. This was a nuclear accident.

  • Tragedy of the Commons

    Tragedy of the Commons
    1. Depletion of shared resources.
    2. Many books are written about the topic.