-
Population: 1,000,000,000 Billion
-
Dust Bowl
Stretched from a section of the Great Plains to northeastern New Mexico. It began in the 1920’s when millions of acres were planted with wheat. Due to poor management and overcultivation, the land received less than 20 inches of rain per year. During the 1930’s the U.S. suffered a major drought and heavy winds and dust storms started to brew. Thousands of families were forced to leave the Dust Bowl area. -
Population: 2,000,000,000 Billion
-
Equador's Amazon Degradation
From 1946-1990, more than four hundred million barrels of toxic oil were released into the Amazon Rainforest over thirty years by a company called Chevron. The indigenous communities sued for the damages, and eventually Chevron had to pay 8.6 billion dollars in damages. -
Founding of IUCN
First established on October 5, 1948, Fontainebleau, France. The main goal of the IUCN was to encourage cooperation and protect the environment and guide scientific knowledge towards conservation acts. It focuses on examining the impact of humans on the environment. -
The Great Smog
The weather during the wintertime was extremely cold in London and to keep warm, many citizens burned coal which uplifted into the atmosphere. The conditions were met for radiation fog and began to take over the city. It ended up killing 4,000 people and many people suffered from breathing problems. -
Minamata Disease
The disease was first discovered in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1956. The Minamata disease occurred when humans ate fish that was contaminated from a chemical plant. People who digested the contaminated fish developed severe symptoms that were sometimes fatal. Of the 2,2252 patients that had the disease, 1,043 people have died. -
Population: 3,034,949,154 Billion
-
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Published on June 30, 1962, by Rachel Carson. Based on a true story that shows examples of how pesticides impact the environment and wildlife. She argued that we needed to change the federal government to improve our ecosystems. -
The Gaia Hypothesis
A theory that was created by James Lovelock states that all organisms on the planet interact with each other to form a self-regulation system. The hypothesis focuses on how the evolution of earth contributes to the foundation of the ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems, and other life forms. -
Population: 4,003,794,437 Billion
-
Save The Whales
Save the whale was founded in 1977 when Maris Sidenstecker was 14 years old. The goal of Save the Whales is to educate young adolescence about the fragile marine life and ocean environment. They believe that educating children on marine life is important to saving the ocean environment. -
Seveso Dioxin Cloud
On July 10, 1976, an explosion at a northern Italian chemical plant released a thick, white cloud of dioxin that began to devour the town of Seveso. First the animals began to die, then it started affecting humans. Many people began to feel nausea and had blurred vision. Hundreds of animals were slaughtered because of this disaster. -
The Love Canal Disaster
During the 1920’s Love Canal was meant to be a wonderful community until it was turned into a chemical dumpsite. The Hooker Canal Company hid the chemical waste with earth and sold it to the city for a buck. In 1978, it began to explode repeatedly. It contaminated the water and kids started getting birth defects. -
Bhopal Disaster
Occurred on the night of December 2, 1984, in the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. More than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant and immediately killed 3,800 people and caused abnormalities to thousands more. The company tried to shift away from legal actions, but ended up paying 480 millions dollars' worth of damage. This was the largest industrial disaster in history. -
Chernobyl Disaster
On April 25 and 26, a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union power station exploded and burned. Technicians tried to attempt a poor design which resulted in the core going out of control. The reactor core released a large amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere and was carried throughout the area from air currents. 30,000 people living in the area were forced to evacuate. -
Population: 5,052,522,147 Billion
-
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
On March 24, 1989, an Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound, off the Alaskan coast, pouring into a reef. The spill polluted 1,300 miles of coastline and killed thousands of birds and marine life. This later introduced the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. -
The Kuwait Oil Fires
Saddam Hussein was surrounded by enemies; he would not give up. He decided to strike Kuwait’s ecology and oil production infrastructure, something that would take years to recover from. His men set 700 oil wells on fire causing a devastating fire. It continued to burn for 10 months, causing environmental devastation to the land. Many animals near the vicinity began to die from the suffocating smoke. -
The Kyoto Protocol
An international agreement that imposes carbon emissions and other gases that scientist believe for the rising world’s temperatures. The Kyoto aims to have its emissions below 12.5% by 1990. The agreement needed at least 55% of the world’s emissions to join. The US has decided not to join the agreement because it would impact the economy negatively. -
Population: 6,0674,239,055 Billion
-
Documentary Film an Inconvenient Truth
An American documentary film that focuses on the science behind global warming and the effects it has on the earth. He uses graphs and images to describe greenhouse gas and changes in carbon cycles. The documentary also shows misconceptions surrounding global warming and the projected effects of it. -
Ivory Coast's Toxic Waste Dumping
On August 19, 2006, the cargo ship Probo Koala dumped 500 tuns of toxic waste in Abidjan. They were also dumped throughout the city and contaminated many places. 15 people died and more than 100,000 people sought medical treatment. After the incident, experts say that they do not know what was in the waste and are not sure if it went into the soil. -
Deepwater Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers. This was the largest oil spill in U.S. history. This disaster lasted 3 months and caused 17.2 billion dollars’ worth of damage. -
Population: 7,041,194,301 Billion
-
The Slurry Spill
On March 23, the Admiral Processing Plant in Boone County leaked 5,400 gallons of coal slurry into Crooked Run River. The spill resulted from a broken pipe in the facility. It affected many marine lives and took days to clean up.