Important Timeline

By Tylerw21

  • Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.

  • Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden

  • The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel

  • The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain

  • 1900-1909 - The World Begins to Fly

    1900-1909 - The World Begins to Fly

  • The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution

  • 1910-1919 - World War I

    1910-1919 - World War I

  • US Congress created the National Park Service

  • 1920-1929 - Prosperity and Its Demise

    1920-1929 - Prosperity and Its Demise

  • 1930-1939 - The Great Depression

    1930-1939 - The Great Depression

  • 1940-1949 - World War II

    1940-1949 - World War II

  • 1950-1959 - Two Cars in Every Garage

    1950-1959 - Two Cars in Every Garage

  • 1960-1969 - Civil Rights and Turmoil

    1960-1969 - Civil Rights and Turmoil

  • Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring

  • The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise

  • 1970-1979 - The Nation in Flux

  • First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established

  • 1980-1989 - The Reagan Revolution

  • Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force

  • 1990-1999 - Prosperity as the World Turns

  • The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide

  • U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol

  • U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation

  • U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation