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1769 — Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution. -
1854 — Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden -
1866 — The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel -
1872 — The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain -
1905 — The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution -
1916 — US Congress created the National Park Service -
1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, ensuring the right of women to vote. -
1962 — Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring -
1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs an executive order prohibiting sex discrimination by government contractors and requiring affirmative action plans for hiring women. -
1968 — The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise -
1970 — Earth Day – April 22., millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day organized by Gaylord Nelson, former senator of Wisconsin, and Denis Hayes, Harvard graduate student. US Environmental Protection Agency established -
1973 – Landmark Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade makes abortion legal. The Supreme Court in a separate ruling bans sex-segregated "help wanted" advertising -
1978 – The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans employment discrimination against pregnant women. -
1981 – Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. -
1989 — Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force -
1994- Violence against women act was put in place to protect gender related crimes. -
1997 — The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gasses -
2001 — U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol -
2007 – Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the House. -
2008 – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin becomes the first woman to run for vice president on the Republican ticket. Hillary Clinton runs for president. -
2013 – The ban against women in military combat positions is removed, overturning a 1994 Pentagon decision restricting women from combat roles -
2017 — U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation -
2021 — U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation -
2021- Kamala Harris becomes the first female Vice President to be sworn into office