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1st Billion People
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2nd Billion People
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Dust Bowl Occurs
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that hurt American and Canadian ecology and agriculture. This lead to the government taking more action in land management and soil conservation issues. -
FOUNDING OF IUCN
On October 5th, 1948, the IUCN was created. The purpose of its founding was to conserve all of nature as a whole, with a focus on endangered species. The founder was a British biologist by the name of Julian Huxley. Huxley’s organization was the first of its kind and since its founding it has inspired the creation of many other environmental awareness organizations. -
Minamata Disaster
The Minamata disaster was an outbreak of Minamata disease which was a new disease caused by severe mercury poisoning in local waters. This was due to the release of methylmercury into the water from a chemical factory that poisoned the surrounding fish. The disaster provoked the government into having to start helping with environmental issues and to start taking action against them. -
3rd Billion People
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America's use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam war, Guerrilla-style warfare was all too common. America's solution to this type of warfare was to destroy the forest that the Guerrillas were hiding in. The herbicide they used to get rid of the forest was called Agent Orange. When it was sprayed, both US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians were told the herbicide was harmless. It turned out later that this chemical causes cancer in people and animals. This sparked a public backlash against herbicide warfare. -
Silent Spring is Published
The Book Silent Spring was published by scientist Rachel Carson in 1962. After the second World War, the US government began developing synthetic pesticides. These pesticides rang alarm bells throughout the scientific community and Carson took it upon herself to investigate the effects of the chemicals. It turned out that they were pretty damn bad for the environment. The release of the book created a backlash against the pesticides and many of them were later highly regulated or banned. -
Cuyahoga River Fire
The Cuyahoga River fire was a river fire that resulted from industrial oil pollution in an American waterway set ablaze. This helped to shift public attitudes, raise environmental awareness, and create an environment that was more open to laws such as National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. -
4th Billion People
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Gaia Hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis states that Earth and its biological systems behave as a single, large entity. The Gaia Hypothesis essentially “claims the power of biology to control the nonliving environment.” according to sciencedirect.com. -
Seveso Dioxin Cloud
A dioxin cloud from an accident at a chemical plant near Seveso made thousands sick and required the slaughter of thousands more animals so that way the poison wouldn’t enter the food chain. This led to Europe adopting the Seveso Directive. -
Bhopal Disaster
The Bhopal disaster was an incident in which 45 tons of methyl isocyanate was released from an insecticide plant into surrounding neighborhoods, killing thousands instantly. Because of the incident, environmental awareness in India has skyrocketed and the Environment Protection Act was passed, which created the Ministry of Environment and Forests. -
Chernobyl Disaster
On April 26, 1986, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a malfunction occurred at a Nuclear Power Plant. After the malfunction, the entire reactor began to melt down. Everyone in the nearby towns were evacuated immediately and many died attempting to put out the fire. Eventually, the Soviet Government “solved” the problem by building a metal sarcophagus around the reactor. Nuclear effects were felt all throughout Europe after this disaster. -
Whaling (Save the Whale)
Whaling is the activity of killing whales, and although it may seem like a thing of the past, Whaling continues to this day in various countries including the United States. In 1986, a group of countries came together and formed the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and banned whaling in all member states. -
5th Billion People
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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
In 1989, an oil supertanker owned by Exxon got struck and spilled 10.8 million gallons of oil into the ocean. In response, the United States Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. -
Kyoto Protocol Signed
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that requires states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the idea of global warming being caused by the carbon dioxide released by humans. It’s sole purpose is to slow down and possibly eliminate greenhouse gas emissions to slow down global warming. -
6th Billion People
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2000 Baia Mare Oil Spill
The Baia Mare gold mine in Romania spilt more than 34 million gallons of cyanide into multiple different rivers. This led to a ban on 85 percent of the mine responsible for it, and increased European awareness on the environment. -
An Inconvenient Truth is Released
In 2006, Director Davis Guggenheim released a film that would be remembered as a cultural milestone in America and the Western World. That film was the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. The film starred former Vice President and 2000 Democratic Presidential Candidate, Al Gore. After it’s release, the film won best documentary at the 2007 Academy Awards and put the threat of global warming back into the public consciousness. -
Presidential Climate Action Plan
While running for office in 2007, future president of the United States, Barack Obama listed his plan to reduce fossil fuels in the United States and stop climate change. The plan was implemented in 2009 and evolved throughout the course of Obama’s presidency. -
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
An oil spill of over 210 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This led to many acts against the British and more oceanic environmental awareness. -
7th Billion People
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Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
On March 11th, 2011, the extremely powerful Tohoku Earthquake hit the east coast of Japan. The earthquake triggered an even deadlier tsunami which destroyed one of the Nuclear Reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant. This caused a chain reaction in which several other reactors melted down and released an unheard of amount of radiation into the environment. -
Paris Climate Accords
In late 2015, Climate Experts working for the French government drafted a set of fossil fuel guidelines for countries to follow in the coming years. It was signed by nearly every country in the world by Earth Day 2016. Since it’s inception certain countries have drastically reduced their fossil fuel emissions.