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A Growing Public Awareness
The Silent World by Jacques Cousteau introduces the world to underwater adventure, and ushers in a new global interest in oceanic life. In 1956, Cousteau’s documentary film of the same title will win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. -
Minamata
Minamata was a new disease found inMinamata, Japan and was linked to the release of methyl mercury into the waste-water produced by the Chisso Coorporation’s chemical factory. This disease caused neurological damages in people. -
Silent Spring sends shock waves
Author and marine biologist Rachel Carson sounds the alarm on the ill effects of DDT and other pesticides in this best-selling book, which kick-starts the modern environmental movement. -
Santa Barbara Channel Oil Spill
An oil rig in the Santa Barbara Channel blows out, creating a slick of 800 square miles and killing 10,000 birds. Pollution leads to massive fish kills on Lake Erie. Then the Cuyahoga River catches on fire. Pollution enters the national consciousness just as man landing on the Moon makes clear how small and precious is Earth. David Brower is forced to resign as leader of the Sierra Club, and re-emerges as Friends of the Earth. -
First Earth Day attracts millions
Twenty million Americans take part in the first Earth Day. A large-scale demonstration of environmental activism, the observance leads to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and legislation including the Clean Air Act -
The Club of Rome
The Club of Rome is an environmental movement that made the best selling environmental book in history: The Limits to Growth. This book examined the consequences of rapidly growing world population on finite natural resources. -
A Wave of Legislation
The Clean Water Act (CWA) becomes the primary legislation governing water pollution in the country. The goal of the CWA is to eliminate toxic substances in water and to uphold surface water to a national standard of cleanliness. The act, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, bestows enforcement authority on the EPA and restructures previous water quality regulations. -
Clamshell Alliance Protestors
Over 2,000 Clamshell Alliance protestors occupy the construction site of a nuclear reactor at Seabrook, New Hampshire; 1,414 are arrested and detained. Only one of two reactors planned ultimately comes on line; and the owner is bankrupted by the project. The Abalone Alliance also begins protests against Diablo Canyon in California. The Green Belt Movement is founded by Wangari Maathai in Kenya. -
Smithsonian Institution
In June the Supreme Court upholds the Endangered Species Act in a case involving the snail darter. Trying to overturn the ruling, Congress creates a “God Squad” to judge what species are worth saving. However it votes in favor of the snail darter. Congress then exempts the project and the dam is built. Sherry Rowland lobbies against CFC’s and the EPA bans their use as propellants in aerosol cans. Amoco Cadiz wrecks off the coast of France, spilling oil over 110 miles of coastline. -
Recycling goes curbside
Although not a new concept, especially to those who lived through World War II, recycling takes on a new life in 1980, when Woodbury, New Jersey, becomes the first town to make its curbside-pickup program mandatory for residents. -
Antarctic ozone hole discovered
Researchers discover a 7.3 million–square-mile hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Within two years the United States and more than 100 other countries pledge to phase out the use of ozone-depleting compounds known as chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl occurred when reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine exploded and highly radioactive dust went into the atmosphere. Around 3336,000 people were evacuated and there were an increase number of cancer incidents. -
The Anniversary
More than 140 countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, calling attention to environmental issues for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Clean Air Act is amended for tighter restrictions on air pollution emissions, and the Pollution Prevention Act provides incentives to corporations to reduce pollutants. In a 1989 Gallup poll, 76% of Americans call themselves “environmentalists." -
Hybrid cars gain ground
Toyota introduces the Prius in Japan, making a hybrid gas-electric vehicle widely available to consumers for the first time. Hybrid models, now available from many automakers, emit about half as much carbon dioxide as gasoline-powered vehicles -
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development
The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development looked mainly at social issues and targets were set to reduce poverty and increase people’s access to safe drinking water and sanitation. -
An Inconvenient Truth sheds light on climate change
Opening to packed theaters around the country, the Oscar-winning documentary highlights former Vice President Al Gore's efforts to educate people about global warming and spurs widespread awareness of human contributions to climate change -
Bald eagle comes back from the brink
Following decades of conservation, the American bald eagle is removed from the endangered species list, after more than 10,000 nesting pairs (up from approximately 400 in 1963) are observed in the lower 48 states -
Copenhagen (COP-15)
Copenhagen (COP-15) was a political intent to constrain carbon and respond to climate change in both short and long terms. The conference also discussed how to help the poorest nations cope with climate change. Furthermore,115 world leaders attended the conference. -
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is mapped
In August 2015 around 30 vessels cross the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for the largest ever ocean research expedition. Located between California and Hawaii, the patch is three times the size of France and contains 80 million kilograms of floating plastic debris -
The Paris Agreement goes into effect
As part of the Paris Agreement, a landmark international accord to combat climate change, signatory countries agree to limit global temperature rise in the 21st century to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels -
Greta Thunberg ushers in a new generation of activism
Sixteen-year old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is named Time's 2019 “Person of the Year” for her climate change activism, including urging fellow students to rally for the environment and speaking forcefully at the United Nations Climate Action Summit
