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Henry David Thoreau dies
Henry David Thoreau, one of the best and first environmentalist who was a prominent author in the environmental movement, died. -
Yellowstone National Park
President Ulysses S. Grant establishes Yellowstone National Park -
John Muir founds Sierra Club
John Muir founds Sierra Club in order to help preserve more of the environment. He was a large supporter of preservation and helped preserve Yosemite Valley. -
Theodore Roosevelt creates Bureau of Forestry
Theodore Roosevelt created the Bureau of Forestry in order to help protect the environment by putting it under federal government control. -
Dustbowl in the Midwest
1930's - Due to droughts, wind storms would occur across the prairie land of the United states causing major ecological damage to the once arable land -
Cuyahoga River Burns
As early as 1936 to as late as 1969 the Cuyahoga river would catch fire due to floating debris and oil in the river which was due to water pollution. -
Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac Published
Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac about a philosophical view of preserving nature was published due to Leopold's belief of the involvement that people need to have in preserving the environment -
Rachel Carson writes Silent Spring
Rachel Carson writes Silent Spring, a novel which led to the banning of DDT pesticides which caused a great deal of harm to the environment. -
Paul R. Ehrlich writes Population Bomb
Paul R. Ehrlich wrote Population Bomb which was a controversial novel predicting the fall of society due to overpopulation. -
Garrett Hardin writes Tragedy of the Commons
The paper is one of the most influential writings on the environment and he thought that using common resources can be a contributor to the ultimate depletion of these resources. -
Clean Air Acts
A number of laws passed by the government to help ensure air quality standards and reduce air pollution. -
National Environmental Policy Act
Establishment of U.S. policy%u2019s to help promote the enhancement of the environment and established the requirement for environmental impact statements (EIS) for U.S. government actions. -
Clean Water Acts
During the 1970's and 80's congress passed laws to help ensure water quality and reduce water pollution. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act was created to protect critically endangered species from extinction due to economic growth. -
Love Canal, New York
(1977-1979) A neighborhood in Niagara was found to be built on 21,000 tons of toxic waste which caused a large disturbance in the neighborhood as well as a national uproar about the health and safety of industrial neighborhoods. -
Three Mile Island
The greatest nuclear power plant meltdown in American history. Happened in Pennsylvania -
Superfund Created
Superfund aka Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, was created in response to the Love Canal to protect people in case of such disasters in the future. -
Accident in Bhopal, India
A subsidiary plant released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) which caused over 3,000 immediate and later on a total of 8,000 deaths due to diseases caused by the spill. -
Accident at Cherynobl
Nuclear reactor broke down causing massive pollution in the Soviet Union, killing hundreds of thousands of people. -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol is written to prevent the production of ozone depleting substances to help the recovery of the ozone. -
Kyoto Protocol Goes into Effect
Kyoto Protocol put into effect in order to reduce the production of greenhouse gases to try to prevent climate change.
