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Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.
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The first women’s rights convention, known as the Seneca Falls Convention, is organized by women and held in New York with 300 attendees.
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Sojourner Truth delivers her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
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Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden.
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The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel.
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Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton found the National Woman Suffrage Association.
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The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain.
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The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution.
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US Congress creates the National Park Service.
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The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, declaring “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
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The FDA approves the first commercially produced birth control pill in the world.
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Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring.
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The Equal Pay Act is signed into law, prohibiting sex-based wage discrimination between men and women performing the same job in the same workplace.
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The Civil Rights Act is signed into law, banning employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or sex.
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The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise is taken.
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Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. The US Environmental Protection Agency is also established.
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In the Roe v. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that the Constitution protects a woman’s legal right to an abortion.
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The Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer is entered into force.
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The Violence Against Women Act as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act is signed, providing funding for programs that help victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, stalking and other gender-related violence.
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The Kyoto Protocol is negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide.
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The U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol.
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The U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation :(
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The U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation.
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Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first woman and first woman of color vice president of the United States.