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Appalachian Mountain Club founded
Founded by Edward Pickering and 33 other activists in Boston, MA. This club was founded to explore and preserve the Appalachian Mountains. -
Audubon Society founded
Founded in New York City by George Bird Grinnell in memory of John James Audubon who was an artist that had a passion for studying birds and created a collection of paintings of different types of birds that are still highly respected today. This activist group was formed to protect birds, and today protects animals and their habitats. -
Sierra Club founded
Founded by John Muir in San Francisco, CA. This environmental club was the first large-scale preservation organizations in the world. It's motto is to "explore, enjoy and protect the environment". Today, this organization has shifted towards green politics and bright green environmentalism. -
Svante Arrhenius publishes first calculation of global warming
In 1896, Arrhenius was the first to use basic principles of physical chemistry to calculate estimates of the extent to which increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) will increase Earth's surface temperature through the greenhouse effect. His estimates led him to conclude that human-caused CO2 emissions, from fossil-fuel burning and other combustion processes, are large enough to cause global warming. -
Lakeview Gusher Number One
Lakeview Gusher Number One was an eruption of hydrocarbons from a pressurized oil well in the Midway-Sunset oil field in Kern County, CA. This was the largest accidental oil spill in history, which lasted 18 months and released 9 million barrels of crude oil. -
British Engineer: Guy Callendar - Shows temperature rise
Using 147 weather station records from around the world, British engineer Guy Callendar shows temperature rise over the previous century. He also shows CO2 concentration increased over the same period. At this time he suggests this caused the temperature increase. This "Callendar effect" is dismissed widely by meteorologists of the time. -
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is formed
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) formed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to prepare, based on available scientific information, assessments on all aspects of climate change and its impacts - with views of forming realistic response strategies. -
World Trade Organization (WTO) Protest - Seattle, WA
This “Battle of Seattle” brought over 40,000 activists, the largest protest against a world event held on U.S. soil (The Annual WTO Ministerial Conference) in history at the time. Climate and environmental change due to effects of globalization were its' main purpose. -
Kyoto Protocol Inaction Demonstration - Washington, D.C.
Four major environmental organizations: Greenpeace, Oil Change International, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the U.S. Climate Emergency Council, staged climate change protests against the Bush Administration's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol - an international treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Demonstrators gathered outside the State Department where ironically, Bush was holding an international climate change meeting. -
Mountaintop Removal Mining Protest - Raleigh County, WV
One of the first of many small(er) group protests whose goals were to spread awareness of how mountaintop removal due to explosive blasting for coal mining purposes, was aiding climate change through devastation of land, forests, contamination of watersheds. This particular protest at the Massey Energy owned Goals Coal plant included at least 30 demonstrators, including actress Darryl Hannah and James Hansen, who was then head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. -
Climate Change Rally - Copenhagen, Denmark
More than 30,000 demonstrators gathered at the U.N. Climate Change Summit; demanding climate change agreements that would lower and limit greenhouse gas emission. Over 900 were arrested in this rally. -
Keystone XL Pipeline Protest - Washington D.C.
Over 10,000 people came to the White House to demonstrate opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline project, designed to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands fields in Canada to refineries in Texas.
This protest highlighted awareness to climate change, in that the pipeline could devastate ecosystems, pollute water sources, and jeopardize public health. -
Keystone XL Pipeline March - Washington D.C.
50,000 demonstrators gathered at the Washington Monument; marching at the White House demanding that President Obama block the Keystone XL Pipeline and take action against climate change.
Phase IV of this pipeline route crosses Nebraska's Ogallala Aquifer - which supports billions of dollars in agriculture, but provides drinking water for two million people. If the aquifer were to be contaminated by pipeline effects, outcomes would be catastrophic to our climate and environment. -
Greenpeace Protests Arctic Drilling - Spa-Francorchamp, Belgium
Greenpeace activists protest Arctic oil drilling my Shell at their sponsored Shell Spa F1 race; coinciding with Greenpeace's stance on how drilling for oil and its' use lends toward climate change due to increased CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases lending to warming/increased global temperatures. -
People's Climate March - New York City, NY
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated for action on climate change, with tens of thousands around the U.S. and the world joining in solidarity. Scores of major constituencies were represented - including famous people, US Senators, communities of color, trade unions, multi-faith religious groups, tens of thousands of youth and many more. The next day, thousands took nonviolent direct action as part of Flood Wall Street.
