History of the Environmental Movement

By AvaMcClimon

  • 1 billion people

  • 2 billion people

  • Clean Water Act (FWPCA)

    o Legislation passed by Congress to lay down a federal regulation of water quality

  • Founding of IUCN

    An authority that provides “public, private and non-governmental organizations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress ,economic development and nature conservation to take place together.”

  • Minamata disease

    -Disease located in Japan
    -Caused by consumption of seafood infected with mercury
    - Resulted in in hand and feet numbness, general muscle weakness, and damage to sight, hearing and speech.

  • 3 billion people

  • Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Published

    Rachel Carson wrote about pesticides and how harmful they are to the environment, animals, and humans. Also, suggested a change for how democracies and liberal societies operated. Became a best-seller and led to a widespread concern about pesticides and pollution of the environment.

  • Clean Air Act

    o 1st passed in 1963 by Congress
    o Ended the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater or in space

  • Wilderness Act

    o Set aside 9.1 million acres of land to be preserved in perpetuity
    o Resulted in additional national parks

  • The first Earth Day

    o 1st Earth day made to promote awareness of human activities on the planet.

  • 4 billion people

  • East Wilderness Act

    o Protects 207,000 acres of forests recovering from logging

  • Gaia hypothesis published

    • -Theory by James Lovelock, a British scientist and inventor that states living matter on the Earth collectively defines and regulates the material conditions necessary for the continuance of life.
    • -Developed in the late 1960s but published later

  • Bhopal

    30 tons of methyl isocyanate was released by the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal. 600,000 people were exposed in one night, about 15,000 people were killed over the years. Even 30 years later, toxic remains are causing birth defects.

  • Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

    • -The ship was a Greenpeace flagship, preparing to go on a protest voyage to protest a French nuclear test site.
    • -This promoted environmental campaigns against nuclear testing.

  • Whaling (Save The Whale)

    • Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products.
      • The movement started in 1986 when the IWC voted for a ban on commercial whaling • - Purpose of the movement was to protect whales from being endangered and help the species that are vulnerable.

  • Chernobyl

    Chernobyl plant in Ukraine exploded
    o Radioactive fallout affected hundreds of thousands of people (Cancer, evacuation, ect)
    o Raised concerns about the safety of Soviet nuclear power stations and nuclear power as a whole

  • 5 billion people

  • “Our Common Future” published

    -Also known as the Brundtland report
    • -About the ideas of Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
    • -Warned about poverty and the need for sustainability

  • Agenda 21

    o A plan to monitor and improve environmental conditions on the local, national and global level

  • 6 billion people

  • Kyoto Protocol

    o The first agreement between nations to mandatorily cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and set targets.
    o Recognizes developed countries are most responsible for the extent of the urrent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

  • Documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth” released

    -Directed by Davis Guggenheim about Al Gore’s campaign about global warming.
    • -This film raised awareness for global warming and the effects that humans have on the environment

  • Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    BP pipe exploded in the Gulf of Mexico
    Worst oil spill in U.S history
    The explosion killed 11 people
    Capped 87 days later
    Animals are still recovering 5 years later

  • Fukushima

    o Tsunami lead to the melt down and explosion of the power plant, resulting in 573 deaths.

  • 7 billion people