Important events in US history By 101628 1768 Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution. 1776 Signing of the Declaration of Independence 1854 Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Gettysburg Address 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 1903 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 Ratification of the 19th Amendment 1929 Stock Market Crash 1940 Attack on Pearl Harbor 1962 Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring 1964 Civil Rights Act 1968 The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise 1969 Apollo 11 Moon Landing 1970 First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established 1989 Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force 1997 The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide 1999 U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol 2001 September 11 Attacks 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