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President Benjamin Harrison
President Benjamin Harrison authorized to set aside forest reserves from public domain. Designates 15 reserves containing more than 13 million acres, including the Yellowstone Forest Reserve. -
John Muir
John Muir was elected first President to the Sierra Club which leads effort to defeat a proposed reduction in the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. -
Organic act
The Organic Act was passed with the intention of protecting watersheds and forests while still supplying timber. -
Oil Extraction
Oil extraction and open pit mining starts, and it is estimated that world open-pit mining operations moved twenty billion tons of rock each year, it leaves large scars in the landscape, and is estimated the it is more powerful geological force than natural erosion. -
The Lacey Act
United States Law that bans trafficking in illegal wildlife. -
The Newlands Act
Rep. Francis G. Newlands of Nevada was the moving force to extend federal assistance to farmers and rancher who worked the arid lands to the West. -
President Teddy Roosevelt
President Teddy Roosevelt creates U.S. Forest Service and appoint Gifford Pinchot as chief. -
Forest Reserves
Forest reserves renamed national forests. Roosevelt adds 99 million acres to system. -
First Federal wildlife refuge for waterfowl.
Theodore Roosevelt's established the first Federal wildlife refuge for the protection of waterfowl, Pelican Island in Florida. -
Redwoods
Save the Redwoods League was started to preserve the forest. -
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Agriculture authorizes selling of national forests in exchange for private land of equal value, signaling shift in Forest Service paradigm from conservation of forests to commodity logging. -
Oil Pollution Act
Prohibiting discharge from any vessel within the three-mile limit, except by accident. A stronger act would have prohibited discharges from oil refineries. -
Crash Of US Airship Shenandoah in Ohio
The cause of the crash, according to the British Engineering magazine, was the use of Ethyl leaded gasoline which caused engine failure. -
River and Harbor Act
Corps of Engineers task of surveying and planning navigation system for inland waters. Previously federal money had been spent primarily on harbor improvements. -
Boulder Canyon Project
Authorized to bring irrigation, electric power, and flood control to western US. -
Civilian Conservation Corps
Employs over 2 million Americans in forestry, flood control in an attempt to boost the economy while addressing the needs of the land. -
Wilderness Society
Aldo Leopold, Robert Marshall, and others join to form the society in order to "protect America's wilderness and to develop a nation-wide network of wild lands through public education, scientific analysis and advocacy." -
Paul Muller
He discovered insecticidal properties of DDT. (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) -
The Grazing Service
Both Grazing Service and General Land office are merged to form the Bureau of Land Management. -
Everglades
The Everglade National Park as established in Florida. -
United Nations Scientific Conference
The purpose of exchanging information on techniques in this field, their economic costs and benefits and their interrelations, recommends that the Conference should be held in the United States -
Smokey Bear
The longest running public services campaign. Smokey Bear became associated with fire preventions during World War II. -
Congress passes Water Pollution Control Act
British Parliament passes clean air act -
Earth Day
Earth Day celebration in San Francisco organized by John McConnell. Although not a nationwide celebration, McConnell and supporters claim that theirs was the first grass roots Earth Day Celebration. -
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a New York City based, non -profit international environmental advocacy group -
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental Protection Agency proposed by President Richard Nixon. The new EPA brings together 15 key federal programs including the Health Education and Welfare National Air Pollution Control Administration (NAPCA) and the Department of Interior’s Water Quality Administration (FWQA). An alternative proposal from Walter Hickel was to roll the functions into the Dept. of Interior (which Hickel headed) and rename it the Dept. of the Environment. The new EPA begins operation on December 2, 1970. -
Nationwide ban on the pesticide DDT takes effect
The ban continues to be controversial even decades years later, but right-wing attempts to brand environmentalists as killers for the DDT ban are considered “worse than irresponsible.” -
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) to regulate hazardous waste and garbage -
World Environment Day
World Environment Day is the occasion for the start of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, founded by Waangari Matthai. Seven small saplilngs are planted that day, but by 1992, the Green Belt Movement had planted over 7 million saplings, demonstrating that low-cost grass roots organizations can be as effective as bureaucratic anti – desertification projects. -
National Energy Act
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Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste
Lois Gibbs forms the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste — now named the Center for Health, Environment and Justice -
Plastic Pollution Control Act
Plastic Pollution Control Act forbids ocean dumping of plastic materials -
Rio Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, more commonly known as the "Earth Summit", met in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Bringing together more than 178 governments, the Earth Summit’s main outcome was the adoption of Agenda 21 – an action plan for sustainable development. -
A Inconvenient Truth (Movie)
Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with former Vice President Al Gore’s personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change in the most talked-about documentary of the year. -
Step It Up
1400 iconic places across the nation, we made history and united around a common call to action. -
Step It Up
We came together under one Sky to present our leaders with the climate solutions that science and justice demand. Van Jones speech at Lincoln Memorial. -
Major Loss
The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, announced that he would not bring to a vote a bill meant to address the greatest environmental problem of our time — global warming. The movement had poured years of effort into the bill, which involved a complicated system for limiting carbon emissions. -
People's Climate March
On the 100th day of Trump’s presidency more than 300,000 people in Washington DC and across the country joined together in a powerful demonstration of unity for jobs, justice, and climate action.
