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500 BCE
Agricultural Revolution
This was a period of technological improvement and increased productivity that occurred during the 18th and 19th century -
Industrial Revolution
A transition period to new manufacturing processes. -
John Muir
He was the most famous American for being an influential naturalist along with being a conservationist. -
Walden: by Henry David Thoreau
The text is about reflecting on simple living in natural surroundings. The book is part of a social experiment and a voyage of spiritual discovery. -
Homestead Act
This encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. Homesteaders had to pay a small fee and had to have five years of continual residence before they could be owners of the land. -
Yellowstone National Park founded
Yellowstone is now a national park that attracts a lot of people. It is mainly in the state of Wyoming but also goes into Montana and Idaho. -
American Forestry Association Founded
It is a nonprofit conservation organization. The headquarters are currently in Washington, DC. -
Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park founded
The State of California retained control of Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove. Muir also helped persuade local officials to virtually eliminate grazing from the Yosemite high country. -
General Revision Act
This was a federal legislation that was signed in 1891 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. -
Sierra Club founded
Environmental organization within the United States. This was founded by John Muir. -
Lacey Act
This act bans trafficking that is in illegal wildlife. This legislation marked the worlds first ban in illegally sourced wood products. -
Golden Age of Conservation
Conservation increasingly became one of Roosevelt's main concerns. Once he became president, Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the USFS and established 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks, along with 18 national monuments by enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act. This went on from 1901-1909 -
First National Wildlife Refuge Established
Established by president Roosevelt on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island was the first national wildlife refuge in the United States. It was created to protect egrets and other birds from extinction through plume hunting. -
US Forest Service founded
This was established within the Department of Agriculture. The agency had been given a unique mission. -
Gifford Pinchot
He was the first chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until he got fired in 1910. -
Aldo Leopold
He wrote a book called, ¨A sand county almanac.¨ He was an ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. -
Audubon Society Founded
Guy Bradley was hired as first Audubon game warden in 1902. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt created the first National Wildlife Refuge, on Florida's Pelican Island. In 1905,The National Association of Audubon Societies is incorporated in New York State. -
Antiquities Act
This was the first law that established archeological sites on public lands which are important public resources. -
Roosevelt: 1907 banned further withdrawals
This was the Tillman Act of 1907. Roosevelt repeated his call in the report to Congress for 1906, saying "I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already passed one House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly." -
US National Park Service Founded
On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act that created the National Park Service. This was a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments. -
Dust Bowl
This was a period of severe dust storms that caused a large amount of damage to the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. -
Soil Conservation Service Founded
Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers. -
Civilian Conservation Corps Founded
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
as this March 16, 1934, authority is commonly called, this required each waterfowl hunter 16 years or older to possess a valid federal hunting stamp. -
Taylor Grazing Act
This act is a United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands (but does not include Alaska)) to improve rangeland conditions and helped regulate their use. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service Founded
This agency is dedicated to helping with the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. -
FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide control act)
This law is a federal law that sets up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation in order to protect applicators, consumers, and the environment -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
This is a book that was published on September 27th, 1962 and is about the detrimental effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticide. -
Wilderness Act
The Wilderness Act, which got signed in 1964, created the National Wilderness Preservation System. -
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
This was created to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition. -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire
This river is located in Northeast Ohio and feeds into Lake Erie. The river is famous for being so polluted that it "caught fire" in 1969. This event helped spur the environmental movement in the US. -
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
This is a United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment. It also established the President's Council on Environmental Quality. This law was enacted on January 1, 1970. -
First Earth Day
A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. -
Environmental Protection Agency Established
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Clean Air Act
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Endangered Species Act
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OPEC oil embargo
The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. By the end of the embargo in March 1974 the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally; US prices were significantly higher. -
Roland and Molina (UCI) announce that CFCs are depleting the ozone layer
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RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)
The RCRA gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste. This includes the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. -
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is a U.S. federal law that regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation's surface waters, including lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and coastal areas. It was passed in 1972 and amended in 1977. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. -
Love Canal, NY
Love Canal is a neighborhood within Niagara Falls, New York. It is the site of a Superfund disaster that extensively affected the health of hundreds of its residents. -
3 Mile Island Nuclear accident
This accident was a partial nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, and also the United States. -
CERCLA
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Alaskan Lands Act
This act provided comprehensive management guidance for all public lands in Alaska. This included provisions that regarded wilderness, subsistence, transportation and utility corridors, oil and gas leasing, mining, public access, hunting, trapping and fishing, and implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. -
Bhopal, India
This disaster was a gas leak incident in India, and it was considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Chernobyl
The disaster that is also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986. -
Montreal Protocol
This is an international treaty that is designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. -
Exxon Valdez
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on Good Friday, March 24, 1989. Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef at 12:04 am which caused a spill of 11 to 38 million US gallons of crude oil over the next few days. -
Energy Policy Act of 1992
This is a United States government act. It was passed by Congress and it set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use. It also improved overall energy efficiency in the United States. -
Desert Protection Act
The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is a federal law which was signed by President Bill Clinton, and passed by the United States Congress on October 8, 1994, established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert. -
World Population hits 6 billion
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Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. This was from 1997 through 2005. -
BP Oil Spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. -
COP21
The Sustainable Innovation Forum was the largest business focused event held during the annual Conference of Parties last year on 7- 8 December at COP21 at Stade de France in Paris.
