History of the environmental movement

By n373505

  • population increase: 1 billion

  • Sierra club

    The Sierra club is an environmental organization made to enjoy and explore nature as well as to promote how to properly use the worlds resources in a healthy way.

  • population increase: 2 billion

  • Wilderness society

    The Wilderness society is a non-profit American organization to take care of natural landscapes and public land areas. They also spread awareness to inform others on the dangers of not protecting the environment.

  • Founding of IUCN

    The IUCN is short for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is a French union established in the city of Fontainablaeu on October 5th, 1948. The goal was to first examine the impact humans have on the environment, then find a way to recover the damage found to avoid global extinction.

  • Minamata

    Minamata is a disease which is caused by poisoned mercury exposure. It spread through contaminated fish who were infected through wastewater from chemical plants.

  • population increases: 3 billion

  • Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

    This was a book published with the intention of informing readers of the effects of pesticide use, and how the environment has suffered from it.

  • Clean air act

    The Clean Air Act of 1963 reducing the level of air pollution by encouraging the use of power plants and steel mills. It is known as one of the first, and one of the most influential movements on the United States.

  • Clean water act

    The clean water act is a federal law which monitors and restricts the pollution levels in lakes, rivers, and streams to restore biological integrity.

  • Stockholm UN conference

    UN Conference held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972. It was the first UN conference on environmental issues and marked the beginning of future UN environmental initiatives.

  • population increase: 4 billion

  • Getting the lead out of gas

    The EPA began to get out the lead from gasoline in the U.S. It was completed in 1975. More than 5,000 Americans died from heart disease from the lead.

  • Global agreement on endangered species

    Countries agree to ban or restrict trade in endangered species and their body parts.

  • Gaia Hypothesis

    Hypothesis that all organisms and their surroundings on Earth work together to form a single, complex system and that the system maintains the conditions for life on Earth.

  • Bhopal

    There was a pesticide plant accident in India which released 30 tons of a poisonous gas called methyl isocyanate which was estimated to kill about 16,000 just from exposure to the toxic fumes.

  • Whaling (save the whales):

    A ban making commercial whaling illegal all over the world. Some countries continue to ignore the rule and kill thousands of whales and selling their meat illegally.

  • Chernobyl

    Chernobyl was a nuclear power plant in Ukraine and exploded due to a flawed design and lack of safety regulations. The disaster caused 30 deaths and polluted the area, causing it to be uninhabitable for the next few decades.

  • population increase: 5 billion

  • Plugging the ozone holes

    In 1987, a large environmental issue was the deterioration of the ozone layer and many different groups and countries attempted to resolve this problem. This issue lead to the Montreal Protocol, a global agreement to stop the use of ozone-depleting substances in order to protect the ozone layer.

  • UN earth summit in Rio

    UN conference in Brazil that discussed environmental problems and solutions. The conference resulted in the enactment of Agenda 21, a plan of action between the participating countries in regards to sustainable development.

  • population increase: 6 billion

  • Kyoto

    The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement between countries that sets internationally binding emission reduction targets. Set up by the UNFCCC.

  • Documentary film An Inconvenient Truth released

    Documentary about the causes of global warming and its potential effects on the climate. The film sparked discussion and raised awareness for the need to reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants to prevent global warming

  • population increase: 7 billion

  • Fukushima power plant

    The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was disabled due to a tsunami in Japan in 2011. This caused the core reactors to melt and the area was evacuated due to fear of radiation sickness.