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Agricultural Revolution
10,000 years ago -
Industrial Revolution
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Thomas Mathus
Predicted that exponential population growth would outpace linear food production, leading to starvation. -
John Muir
He was the creator of the Sierra Club and inspired many people to start caring about the environment more. -
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
This book was published in 1854 by Henry David Thoreau. He talks about how he lived in a wood cabin by Walden lake for over 2 years. -
Homestead Act
This provided settlers 160 acres of land from the government. After 6 months on the, you could buy the land from the government for $1.25 or live on it for 5 years and get it free. -
Yellowstone National Park founded
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American Forestry Association founded
The American Forestry Association, as said on their website, "are people who care about - and for - forests." They've planted over 40 million trees since their creation. -
Yosemite and Squoia National Parks founded
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General Revision Act
This act repealed the Timber Culteure and Preemption Act whil also letting the President to reserver forest land. -
Sierra Club founded
What the Sierra Club does is summed up in their mission statement: "to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out those objectives." -
Lacey Act
This Act was made to help protect a wider variety of plants and plant products. It later made it illegal to import certain plants or plant products after 2008 without permission from the government. -
Golden Age of Conservation
Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909 -
First national wildlife refuge established
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U.S. forest Service founded
This organization was formed to help regulate and protect national forests in the US. -
Gifford Pinchot
He was the leader of the US Forest service for 5 years until he was fired in 1910. -
Aldo Leopold
He wrote a book called A Sand County Almanac, describing the land in Wisconsin and supporting responsible relationships between humans and ecosystems. -
Audubon Society founded
This society's mission is "To conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity".
(This is their mission statement) -
Antiquities Act
Theodore Roosevelt signed this into law, which states that the President can limit the use of public land that the government owns. -
Congress became upset because Roosevelt was waving so much forest land so they banned further withdrawals
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U.S. National Park service founded
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Dust Bowl
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Civilian Conservation Corps founded
This was a public program that ran until 1942 to help unemployed workers find unskilled jobs that helped the environment. -
Soil Conservation Service founded
This organization was originally created to protect good soil, but was renamed the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to protect all natural resources in the nation. -
Taylor Grazing Act
This act was signed by President Roosevelt to help prevent overgrazing and soil degradation and improve grazing processes for animals. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
This originally made it so duck hunters over 16 had to pay a dollar for a stamp so they were authorized to hunt, granted that they already had a state hunting license. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service founded
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's mission is, working with others, to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."
(mission statement on their website) -
Jane Goodall
She studied chimpanzees in Tanzania for over 45 years, learning about how they interact and their similarity to humans. She is known as an expert on chimpanzees. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
This book is know for starting the environmental movement. It influenced people to do many things; from banning DDT, to making new environmental policies. -
Wilderness Act
This was written by the leader of The Wilerness Society, Howard Zahniser, and signed by Lyndon B. Johnson. This act helped protect almost 10 million acres of land. -
Garret Hardin introduced the Tragedy of the Commons
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Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
This gave Congress power to preserve various rivers around the country based on their value recreationally, environmentally, etc. -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire
This river was once the most polluted river in the US. It caught fire 13 times and was so polluted in some places that no fish lived in it. -
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
This required all federal agencies to consider possible environmental risks that could occur from their proposed actions. -
Ricard Nixon
1969-1974
He was a pro-evironmentalist, passing things such as the Clean Air Act and National Environmental Policy Act. -
First Earth Day
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Environmental Protection Agency established Clean Air Act
There was a lot of smog in many cities around the US, so during the environmental movement, Congress passed this act to improve the air quality around the US. -
FIFRA
This helped the government control the use, sale, and distribution of many pesticides. -
Endangered Species Act
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OPEC oil embargo
Multiple countries in the Middle East attacked Israel, so we tried to assist Israel. Because we tried to help them, the Middle Eastern countries responsible retaliated with an oil embargo. -
Sherwood Roland and Molina Announce that CFC's are depleting the ozone layer
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RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
This act helps the governement regulate the disposal of solid and hazarduos waste. -
Clean Water Act
This act helped reduce the amount of pullution being dumped into water and made standards for water quality. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
SMCRA regulated coal mining to help reduce and prevent some effect on the environment. -
Love Canal, NY & Lois Gibbs (toxic waste leaks into residential houses)
A company buried its waste in an area and later sold it to a local school board for only a dollar, but after building a school and the students getting sick, they realized the waste was leaking from the ground. Lois Gibbs was a mother that influenced many parents to rally against the company, but according to the contract they signed with the school board, they were not liable for any thing that happened. -
3 Mile Island Nuclear accident
Small amounts of radioactive gas were released when the cooling system in one of the nuclear plants failed and caused a partial meltdown. -
Alaskan Lands Act
President Jimmy Carter signed this into law, protecting over 100 million acres of land in Alaska. -
Eomprehensive Environmental Response, compensation, and Liability Act
This put a tax on various chemical and petroleum companies. The money collected from the tax was used to clean abandoned waste sites. -
Ronald Regan
1981-1989
Regan was pro-industry and as soon as he got into office, started de-regulating the EPA, making many workers resign. -
Bhopal, Indian (chemical toxic cloud kills 2,000 people)
A gas leak of methyl isocyanate exposed over 500,000 to the harmful chemical, killing over 20,000. -
Chernobyl
Known as the worst nuclear accident in history, reactor 3 in the plant exploded, spreading radioactive particles all over what would have been western USSR. -
Montreal Protocol
This was an international treaty designed to help protect the ozone layer so it could recover by 2050. -
World Population reaches 5 billion
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Exxon Valdez
This was an oil tanker that spilt hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the ocen after it ran aground. -
Energy Policy Act of 1992
This act addressed multiple concerns about energy effeciency, management, and conservation related to natural resorces and renewable resources. -
Desert Protection Act
The Death Valley and Joshu Tree National parks were created when this was approaved by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton. -
Julia Butterfly Hill sat in tree "Luna" for 700+ days to protest deforestation
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Kyoto Protocol
1997-2005
This was an international agreement to reduce harmful emmisions into the environment in response to increased temperatures. -
World population reaches 6 billion
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World population reaches 7 billion
