PBA #1: Environmental Change Timeline

  • Jan 1, 1000

    Hunters-Gatherers 8000 BC (End of Last Ice Age)

    Hunters-Gatherers 8000 BC (End of Last Ice Age)
    Happening around 8,000 BC, the last Ice Age finally ended when the ice sheets finally withdrew itself from Scandinavia and the glaciers in Scotland disappeared. It can also be referred to as the "last glacial period". People, animals and plants began migrating and invading the land after the ice had disappeared. There are still parts of the North Sea that are dry.
  • Jan 2, 1000

    Hunters-Gatherers 8000 BC (New Tools Emerge)

    Hunters-Gatherers 8000 BC (New Tools Emerge)
    Humans had a wider range of tools to use throughout this era. Along with fire, humans used stone, wood, antlers, flint, and bone as weapons and implements. Animal skin began being used for clothing and bow-and-arrows, harpoons, and spears were used as weapons.
  • Jan 3, 1000

    Hunters-Gatherers 6000 BC - 2500 BC (Holocene Climate Optimum)

    Hunters-Gatherers 6000 BC -  2500 BC (Holocene Climate Optimum)
    A time in which sea level reached a slightly higher level than today's, coinciding with the warmest period of the past 10,000 years with temperatures about 2 degrees celsius higher than today. Scientists have done further research and have predicted high rates of future sea levels.
  • Feb 1, 1000

    Agricultural Revolution 4500 BC (Invention of the Plow)

    Agricultural Revolution 4500 BC (Invention of the Plow)
    The plow or plough is one of the most important tools for farming and is typically used to turn and break up soil, to help control weeds, and to bury crop residues. Several modern versions of the plow have been invented since then.
  • Feb 2, 1000

    Agricultural Revolution 3500 BC (Irrigation)

    Agricultural Revolution 3500 BC (Irrigation)
    The process of irrigation, which was supplying dry land with water using ditches, began in many countries, but irrigation was taken very seriously in Mesopotamia. Irrigation is used to accomodate in the growing of various crops, revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of insufficient rainfall, and preservation of landscapes. Along with Egypt and the Abassids, irrigation in Mesopotamia began very early.
  • Feb 3, 1000

    Agricultural Revolution 7000 BC (First domestication of goats)

    Agricultural Revolution 7000 BC (First domestication of goats)
    Neolithic farmers began keeping small herds of goats for their milk and meat, and for their dung for fuel, as well as for materials for clothing and building: hair, bone, skin and sinew. Turkey and Iran are two prominent places for domestication. Syria, Israel, and Jordan are also included.
  • Industrial Revolution (Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone)

    Industrial Revolution (Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone)
    While racing with Elisha Gray on the invention of the telephone, which would later lead to a historic legal war between the two, Bell wrote his name into the history books by using his invention to talk to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson. His first words were, "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you." The success of the telephone later put an end to the telegraph.
  • Industrial Revolution (Thomas Edison invents the phonograph)

    Industrial Revolution (Thomas Edison invents the phonograph)
    Edison was trying to improve the telegraph transmitter when he noticed that the movement of the paper tape through the machine produced a noise that resembled actual words when played at a high speed. He later spoke into the machine while using a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder.
  • Industrial Revolution (Wright Brothers make first powered flight)

    Industrial Revolution (Wright Brothers make first powered flight)
    Following some repairs after Wilbur's first flight (lasted 3 seconds), the Wright Brothers made two flights; Orville's flight lasted for 12 seconds while Wilbur's is still unknown. Together, they covered 375 feet. Only five people witnessed the flight, but the knowledge of the whole incident would be revealed in a press conference in January.
  • 21st Century (Bali bombings in Indonesia)

    21st Century (Bali bombings in Indonesia)
    The attack was the deadliest act of terrorism in the history of Indonesia, killing 202 people;152 of whom were foreigners (including 88 Australians), and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 240 people were injured in the process.
  • 21st Century (Pluto reclassified as a dwarf planet)

    21st Century (Pluto reclassified as a dwarf planet)
    In 2005, Mike Brown and his team discovered an object further out Pluto's orbit & was later known as "Eris". Eris was discovered to carry more mass than Pluto. Debates on whether or not Eris & Pluto were planets erupted & it would later be decided at the XXVIth General Assembly of the IAU. The requirements made by the IAU:
    - It needs to be in orbit around the Sun.
    - It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape.
    - It needs to have "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit
  • 21st Century (Japan gets struck with 9.0 earthquake & tsunami)

    21st Century (Japan gets struck with 9.0 earthquake & tsunami)
    The earthquake started at 2:46 PM and was later followed by tsunami waves less than an hour after the incident. More than 18,000 people were killed in this travesty, likely by drowning. The tsunami caused a cooling system failure which resulted in a level 7 nuclear meltdown and release of radioactive materials.