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200
200 BC
200 BC – Greek physician Galen observes copper miners and notes the danger of acid mists.
80 A.D. • The Roman Senate passes a law to protect water stored during dry periods so it can be released for street and sewer cleaning.
100 AD – Hero of Alexandria experiments with solar powered pumps.
100 AD - 400 AD – Decline of Roman Empire may have been partly due to lead poisoning, according to modern historian and toxicologist Jerome Nriagu. Romans used lead acetate -
535
535 AD
Legal code (Institutes) of Roman emperor Justinian issued. In the section on the Law of Things, the first entry is:"By the law of nature these things are common to mankind---the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea." -
570
Ancient Civilizations B.C - 570 A.D...
60,000 before preset-Fire was actually used to clear forests in the Kalambo Falls site in Tanzania.
2700 B.C -Some of the first laws were made about saving remaining forest.
580 B.C. -- Birth of Pythagoras, Greek scientist and philosopher, who taught vegetarianism and the equality of women as part of a theory of reincarnation.
500BC -- As Rome grows, a networks of cloacae (sewers) and aquaducts are built.500 BC - forward -- Greek coastal cities become landlocked after deforestation.occupation -
May 7, 1150
Middle agaes. 1150
Sri Lankan King Nissanka Malla carved into a stone a decree stating that, "It is ordered, by beat of the drum, that no animals should be killed within a radius of seven gau from the city" of Anuradhapura, his capitol. The decree combined consideration for animal welfare with concerns about public health and sanitation, and about the emotional effect on children of witnessing slaughter. -
May 7, 1300
1300
The British are already beginning to use the black rocks, calling them "sea coals" because they are brought by barge or boat to London from Newcastle and other parts of northeastern England.
1306 -- Edward I forbids coal burning in London when Parliament is in session. Like many attempts to regulate coal burning, it has little effect. -
May 7, 1366
1366
City of Paris forces butchers to dispose of animal wastes outside the city (Ponting); similar laws would be disputed in Philadelphia and New York nearly 400 years later.
1388 -- Parliament passes an act forbidding the throwing of filth and garbage into ditches, rivers and waters. City of Cambridge also passes the first urban sanitary laws in England. -
May 7, 1533
1533-1546
Life of Michel de Montaigne, a French attorney whose 1588 essay Of Cruelties denounced abuse of animals as "the extremist of all vices."
1546 -- Italian physican Girolamo Fracastoro outlines theory of contagious disease. He reasoned that infectious diseases could be passed on in 3 ways: simple contact, indirect contact (e.g., bedclothes) and minute bodies over distance through the air. -
May 7, 1560
Water closet
Rapid industrialization in England leads to heavy deforestation and increasing substitution of coal for wood.
1589 -- Water closet invented by Sir John Harrington in England but indifference to filth and lack of sewage meant that the invention was ignored until 1778, when Joseph Bramah began marketing a patented closet. -
Coal
James I succeeds Elizabeth I and orders coal burned in his London household, but rather than smokey bituminous coal from Lancashire, Durham and Cornwall, he orders importation of hard, cleaner-burning anthracite from Scotland. -
Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin and neighbors petition Pennsylvania Assembly to stop waste dumping and remove tanneries from Philadelphia's commercial district. Foul smell, lower property values, disease and interference with fire fighting are cited. The industries complain that their rights are being violated, but Franklin argues for "public rights." Franklin and the environmentalists win a symbolic battle but the dumping goes on. -
founding hospital
Foundling Hospital of London established. Other children's hospitals in Germany and France built, showing concern for infant mortality. By 1800, infant mortality in one London hospital dropped from 66 per thousand to 13 per thousand.
1760 -- First experiments on use of coal-gas for lighting by coal mine owner George Dixon in Newcastle, England. -
George Dixon
First experiments on use of coal-gas for lighting by coal mine owner George Dixon in Newcastle, England.
1762 --1769 -- Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution. -
Devonshire Colic
Devonshire Colic -- From Sept. 1762 to July 1767 almost 300 cases of what was called Devonshire Colic were taken to Exeter hospitals. English physician George Baker (with help from Benjamin Franklin) noticed the symptoms were similar to those shown by painters who suffered from lead poisoning. With this clue, Baker examined Devonshire cider and found it contained lead. He also examined the cider presses and found that, unlike cider presses in other regions, the Devonshire presses were lined with -
Johann Frank
Johann Peter Frank (1745-1821), writes A Complete System of Medical Policy in Germany advocating governmental responsibility for clean water, sewage systems, garbage disposal, food inspection and other health measures under an authoritative "medical police." This idea was well received and influenced policy in Germany, Italy and other nearby nations. The authoritarian approach did not sit well with the French, British or Americans, where direct government controls developed only in areas. -
Williamm
William Murdock (chief engineer with Boulton & Watt) first uses coal gas to light a, small room in Redruth, Cornwall; He improved the gas by passing it through water. This experiment is usually noted as the beginning of the manufactured gas industry, which created vast pools of toxic coal tar in thousands of European and American towns and cities. Although the industry took off in the 1830s, its environmental legacy is only beginning to be understood. -
1800
4 January, Edwin Chadwick born. Chadwick was the author of the 1842 Report on Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain and a tireless advocate for public health reform in the UK.
1800 -- Beginnings of first modern municipal sewers in London, but water supply is still frequently contaminated. -
Louisiana
Louisiana Purchase finalized April 30. France sold 828,000 square miles stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Idaho.
1804 -- May 14 -- Lewis and Clark expedition begins the journey up the Missouri River to explore the geography, flora and fauna of the interior of North America -
Life of Joseph Smith
Life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, better known as the Mormons. Smith wrote in his History of the Church that he "exhorted the brethren not to kill a serpent, bird, or an animal of any kind unless it became necessary in order to preserve ourselves from hunger." -
life of Charles.
Life of Charles Darwin, whose 1859 book The Origin of Species both established the theory of evolution as a scientific verity and established human kinship with animals. Darwin himself was an outspoken opponent of cruelty to animals, especially trapping, and had strong anti-vivisectionist leanings, criticizing exercises undertaken "for mere damnable and detestable curiosity," but never fully broke ranks with fellow scientists to clearly denounce experiments which in his view had some redeeming -
corn laws
Corn laws passed, placing high protective tariffs on grain (corn) imports into Britain. These raised the price of grain and shored up the fading economic power of the landed gentry. The laws were an example of mercantilism and their repeal is said to be a victory for free trade. However, the 1846 repeal of the corn laws was forced by the Irish Potato Famine. The repeal came too late, and over a million Irish men, women and children died despite a general abundance of food in Europe at the time. -
Us
U.S. Secretary of Navy authorized to reserve timber lands producing hardwoods for naval stores.
1818 -- Massachusetts bans the hunting of robins and horned larks, both popular foods, as a conservation measure.
1819 -- British Parliamentary committee expresses concern that steam engines and furnaces "could work in a manner less prejudicial to public health." -
Reformer
Reformer and Parliamentarian Jeremy Bentham writes The Constitutional Code, including proposals for reforming London medical assistance system and water, sewer and public works districts. Many find his proposals for social engineering distastefully autocratic. -
Friedrick Engels
Friedrick Engels writes The Condition of the Working Class in England
"If anyone wishes to see in how little space a human being can move, how little air -- and such air -- he can breathe, how little of civilization he may share and yet live, it is only necessary to travel [to Manchester, England]... The cottages are old, dirty and of the smallest sort, the streets uneven, fallen into ruts and in part without drains or pavement; masses of refuse, offal and sickening filth lie among standing pool -
Baltimore
Baltimore inventor Clarence Kemp ("the father of solar energy in the U.S.") patents first commercial Climax Solar Water Heater. By 1910, the Climax had competition, especially from the Night and Day solar hot water company, which used a secondary loop from the collector to a water tank. By 1920, over 5,000 Night and Day heaters had been sold in California At the same time, a boom in solar hot water heaters started in Florida, where electricity was a very expensive competitor. About 15,000 units -
Shadows.
Shadows from the Walls of Death, or Arsenical Wall-papers" is published in Michigan. Putting arsenic in wallpaper made a vivid green color, but it also was poisonous. The Michigan board of health, as part of its investigation, published a book of wallpaper samples and distributed it to libraries. Unfortunately, the book of samples itself caused poisoning when patrons simply thumbed through their copies. Although laws against dangerous colorants were common in Europe, industries in America claime -
Waring
A reform-oriented New York City administration appoints Col. George E. Waring Jr. to head the Dept. of Street Cleaning. Before Waring, the corrupt department had not coped with the accumulation of dirt, ashes, garbage, snow and the 2.5 million pounds of manure left by the city's 60,000 horses every day. Waring's concern for public health leads to enormous improvements in general sanitation around the city. Heaps of rubbish and manure on every street are swept up by a cleaning force that, itself, -
US Mineral
US Mineral Leasing Act opens up rich deposits on federal lands for token rental fees.
US Water Power Act authorizes federal hydroelectric projects. -
US Supreme Court
The grave problem of sewage disposal presented by the large and growing populations living on the shores of New York Bay is one more likely to be wisely solved by cooperative study and by conference and mutual concession on the part of representatives of the States so vitaly interested in it than by proceedings in any court however constituted. (Barros, 1974) -
Mohandas
At request of Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharal Nehru writes into the constitution of India as Article 51-A[g] that "It shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the Natural Environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for all living creatures." This was reinforced by the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. -
Period: to
Air & Water Timeline
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100 AD 400 AD
High levels of lead have been found in the bones of aristocratic Romans. Far more than simply using lead pipes or lead utensils, the direct consumption of lead-sweetened wine and foods created serious and widespread lead poisoning among upper-class Romans.
341 AD -- Sri Lankan King Buddhad-stra found a higher calling as a veterinarian. -
100 AD - 400 AD
old wine and turn grape pulp into a sweet condiment. Usually the acidic wine or pulp was simply left in a vat with sheets of lead. An aristocrat with a sweet tooth might have eaten as much as a gram of lead a day. Widespread use of this sweetener would have caused gout, sterility, insanity and many of the symptoms which were, in fact, present among the aristocrats. High levels of lead have been found in the bones of aristocratic Romans.
