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Aug 15, 1492
Shelter
When Columbus and his people came to the New World they used the environment as shelter, for exaple the trees were used for making houses/log houses. -
Renaissance
The end of the Renaissance era, started to change in to the Romantic, Enlightement, and Modern eras. This changed the view of the enviorment and how people saw it and also changed them and how they acted. -
Merwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis, an explorer was born in Virginia. He was best known as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. -
Percival Pott
Percival Pott came up with the idea/ concept that chimney sweeps delelop cancer as a result of their contacr with soot, this was the first recognition of environmental factors on cancer. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was born in England, his birth is important to the United States enviroment because he is who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural world. -
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell leads first party to navigate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. -
Yellowstone
World's first national park, opens in Wyoming, named Yellowstone. This gives an oppertuinty for people to be more exposed to nature and the environment. -
Theodore Roosevelt
The nation's first wildlife refuge is formed when President Theodore Roosevelt protects Pelican Island, FL, from hunters decimating the island's bird population. -
Bald Eagle
Congress passed the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. This protected these animals and then later on became added on to the Endagered Species Act. -
Deadly Smog
Air inversion traps emissions from steel mills and a zinc smelter in the air of the vally town of Donora, PA. Killing ober 20 people within three days and over polluting the environment. -
WorldWide
Worldwide levels of carbon dioxide will climb above 300 parts per million. -
Silent Spring
The Publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" stirs public concern about the effect of pesticides on the environment. This was a big sock to a lot of people that read the book, and lots of people started to view things differemtly. -
First Earth Day
First Earth Day in history, over 20 million Americans demonstrate on the first Earth Day. This was a mile stone that affected the United States a lot Americans saw this as an opportunity to better the plant and help the environment. -
Great Basin
Great Basin National Park established in Nevada. -
Birds
The Exxon Valdez tanker spills 11 million gallons of oil, killing more than 250,000 birds and covering over 1,300 square miles of ocean with oil. The accident is the largest oil spill in the history of the U.S. -
FIsh and Wildlife Service
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the northern spotted owl as a threatened species. -
Automobiles
New emissions standards are set for automobiles, requiring them to become 77% to 95% cleaner. For the first time sport utility vehicles and trucks are ordered to meet the same standards as cars. -
Sea Ice
Arctic sea ice hit an extremly low level, measuring 1.93 million square miles. Due to global warming, it's dropped 27% since the previously recorded low of 2.05 million square miles in 2005. -
Offshore Drilling Plan
Obama administration proposed to open expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, most of it for the first time. -
NEW
New Clean air standards for industiral boilers, incinerators and cement kilns. The standards will slash toxic air pollution, including mercury and particle pollution, avoding up to 8,100 premature deaths.