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Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.
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Henry David Thoreau published Walden
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The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
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The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain
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The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution
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US Congress created the National Park Service
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First artificial Earth satellite
Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite -
first animal launched into space
A dog named Laika was the first animal launched into space, aboard Sputnik 2 -
first spacecraft to hard-land on the moon
The Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to hard-land on the moon -
first pictures of the far side of the Moon
The Luna 3 was the first spacecraft to take a picture of the far side of the moon -
first applications satellite launched
The TIROS 1 was the first applications satellite launched -
first recovery of a payload from Earth orbit
The Discoverer 13 was the first recovery of a payload from Earth orbit -
first human to orbit Earth
Yury Gagarin was the first human to orbit Earth -
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring
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first data returned from another planet
The Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to bring data back from another planet -
first woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. -
first space walk
Aleksey Leonov was the first person to do a space walk -
first death during a space mission
Vladimir Komarov was the first death during a space mission -
The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise
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first human to walk on the Moon
Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the Moon -
First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established
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Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force
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The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide
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U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol
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U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
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U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
