EScience Environment By Xavier Jones 1769 Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution Jul 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence 1787 Constitution of the United States of America 1803 Louisiana Purchase 1814 Battle of New Orleans 1854 Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden 1866 The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel 1872 The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain 1905 The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution 1916 US Congress created the National Park Service 1929 1929 1962 Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring 1968 The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise 1968 Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 1970 First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established 1981 PATCO Strike 1989 Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force 1997 The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide 1998 The Monica Lewinsky Affair 2001 U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol 2001 9/11 Attack 2017 U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation 2021 U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
