History of Environmentalism By lacrossecg 1864 Yosemite grant 1872 Yellowstone National Park founded 1879 US Geological Survey founded 1891 Forest Reserve Act 1892 Sierra Club founded in California 1894 National Park Protective Act 1916 National Park Service founded 1936 National Wildlife Federation founded 1939 DDT discovered 1951 Nature Conservancy founded 1954 First nuclear power plant 1955 Air Pollution Control Act 1958 Delaney Clause of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 1962 "Silent Spring" published by Rachel Carlson 1963 Clean Air Act 1970 EPA Founded Apr 22, 1970 First Earth Day 1972 Clean Water Act 1973 Endangered Species Act 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act 1975 CITIES Act 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 1980 CERCLA Act 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster 1987 Montreal Protocol 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill 1997 Kyoto Protocol 2006 Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"