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Minamata
The Chisso Minamata disease is a neurological disorder which includes the numbness of fingers and feet, loss of peripheral vision and damage to both hearing and speech. this disease first developed on the 21st April 1956 when a five year-old girl was diagnosed by doctors in Japan, when the doctors could simply not figure out what she was suffering from. The Chisso Corporation, a Japanese chemical company, would dump their chemical waste on the Minamata bay, which caused many deaths in the area. -
James Lovelocks' Gaia
James Lovelocks is a British scientist and environmentalist and is most notably known for his Gaia hypothesis. In the 1960s Gaia proposed a new scientific law which was that "living and non-living parts of the Earth form a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism". -
The Silent Spring
'The Silent Spring' is a book written by American marine biologist Rachel Carson regarding environmental science. The book explains the consequences of the use of pesticides in our environment as well also blaming the worlds biggest chemical corporations for providing false information to the public. The book had a massive influence on the public, when the U.S. Environmental Agency was established just after the book had been. -
The Club of Rome
The Club of Rome is a global think tank which established in 1968 by Italian scholar Aurelio Peccei and British scientist Alexander King. The club describes itself as "a group of world citizens, sharing a common concern for the future of humanity." The group consists of many UN bureaucrats, scientists, economists etc. The headquarters are located in Winterthur, Switzerland. -
Stockholm Conference
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment took place for 11 days spanning form the 5th of June 1972 till the 16th of June 1972 in the capital of Sweden. As the meeting took place, all representatives had to agree upon the 26 laws laid forward by the UN. Many people agree that post to the conference, the environmental stability of Europe began to improve. -
Bhopal
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy occurred on the night of the 2nd of December 1984. The Union Cardibe India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh encountered a dangerous event when over half a million people were exposed to dangerous chemicals such as Methyl Isocyanate which eventually had made its way through the numerous shantytowns in the area. it had a devastating effect on the locals as the official death toll that night reached exactly 2,259 with over 30,000 partially injured. -
Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior
On July 10 1985, the Greenpeace fleet had docked off in Auckland, New Zealand on its way to France when two operatives in the ship managed to sink the 'Rainbow Warrior'. The task was dubbed 'Opération Satanic' and was caused against France's nuclear testing in Muroroa, New Zealand. -
Chernobyl
On the 26th of July 1986 a small city on the border of Ukraine and Belarus had encountered the most dangerous Nuclear accident in human history. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a horrible explosion at reactor no. 4 and the city was successfuly evacuated completely in 30 hours time. Now Chernobyl is considered as a ghost town with just very few people living. -
Our Common Future
Our Common Future is a report released in 1987 by the World Comission on Environment and Development which made to recapture the spirit of the Stockholm Conference in 1972. The report highlights how we as a world should unite and develop together all as one. -
UN Earth (Rio) Summit
The United Nations had organized their Conference of Environment and Development in the one of the world's reknowned city's, Rio de Janeiro. The conferece had lasted for 11 days spanning from June 3 to June 14. 172 governments,2,400 NGO representatives (to name a few) had taken part in this conference to renewable energy, feasible annual achievements and poverty along with other major topics. -
Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is an action plan implemented by the UN as a result of the UN Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. The action plan was released on the 23rd of April 1993, almost a year after the Summit in Rio. The action plan comes in 7 different languages and is baded around all the different ways that we can improve our environment to achieve a better a future for the world. -
Kyoto Climate Change Protocol
On the 11th of December 1997, the United Nations held a conference regarding the impact of climate change on our planet. Over 192 global parties attended the meeting which was intended to leave a dent for the better of our environment and for us to live a more conservative life to help make a better future. -
Johannesburg World Summit
10 years after the United Nations had held the World Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the next one was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference was no different to the one which was a decade ago with numerous parties discussing important matters regarding environmental sustainability, renewable energy etc. -
An Inconvenient Truth
'An Inconvenient Truth' was film/documentart directed by Davis Guggenheim in 2006. The film was based on former American vice president Al Gore's campaign to educate young American citizens about global warming and what effects it could have on our environment in the future. -
Copenhagen (COP-15)
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (or more commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit) began on the 7th of December 2009 and lasted exactly 11 days. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties (hence the name) as well as the 5th Meeting of the Parties.