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1 billion
Population is 1 billion -
Establishment of Yellowstone National Park
On March 1, 1872, Congress declared this 3,471 square-mile section Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, as Yellowstone National Park. President Ulysses Grant would sign multiple bills protecting Yellowstone from deforestation and development. This was in response to the United States' rapid development of the West. -
2 billion
Population is 2 billion -
Founding of IUCN
On October 5, 1948, in Fontainebleau, France, the International Union for Conservation of Nature was founded. They went on to create many environmental agreements across nations, including CITES, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Heritage Convention, and the Ramscar Convention on the Wetlands. They do a lot of research, analysis, education, and advocacy in the field. -
Minamata Disaster
A chemical factory owned by The Chisso Corporation released methylmercury and other heavy metals into the sea which contaminated the fish with toxic chemicals that were consumed by many individuals. People became paralyzed, experienced convulsions, and died from eating the fish. The government provided compensation to the victims of the disease. -
3 billion
Population is 3 billion -
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Published
A book about the environmental harm from using pesticides published on June 30, 1962. This book gave publicity to environmental issues which led to a reversal in U.S. pesticide policies, a ban on DDT in the United States and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. -
The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
A dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico caused by heavy rains and melting snow that washes nitrogen and phosphorus from lawns, sewage treatment plants, farmland, etc. It was originally discovered in the early 1970s. It results in an area with low oxygen that kills fish and marine life near the bottom of the sea. The conservancy’s Mississippi River Program, and Gulf of Mexico Initiative are working with partners to reduce the growth of the dead zone. -
Love Canal Disaster
In the late 1970s, 239 families had to evacuate the area near Love Canal. This is because in the 1800s, William T. Love started building a river, later to abandon it. Years later, the site was then turned into a landfill by Hooker Chemical company, where they dumped approximately 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals. Officials later concluded there were 421 toxic chemicals present. -
Creation of Earth Day
On April 22, 1970, the United States first celebrated Earth Day. Earth Day was proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson, who noticed that factory smoke was fusing with rainclouds, causing acid rain. His law both banned these emissions and created Earth Day, which was observed by 20 million Americans its first year. -
4 billion
Population is 4 billion -
Whaling (Save the whale)
Thousands of whales are hunted every year for their meat, oil, blubber, cartilage, and body parts. Greenpeace launched the world's first anti-whaling campaign to ban commercial whaling on April 27, 1975. -
Seveso Disaster
On July 10th, 1976, a chemical plant exploded in Seveso, Italy, resulting in a toxic dioxin cloud. The cloud killed the vegetation and animals it flew over, and 2,000 people were treated for poisoning. 80,000 animals were slaughtered in order to keep dioxin out of the food chain. -
Congressional God Squad
In 1978, Congress established the God Squad, a panel which reviewed nearly 22,000 endangered species to determine which were most 'worthy’ of living; worthy species would receive federal protections while their ‘unworthy’ counterparts would not. Congress hoped the panel would dismantle the Endangered Species Act, but the panel ultimately chose to enforce the Act and protect thousands of species. The panel was dissolved after Congress was displeased with these rulings. -
Three Mile Island accident
A partial meltdown of a reactor caused by the failure of equipment and operator error. Occurred in Pennsylvania, United States on March 28, 1979. To solve this problem, they covered the reactor with concrete and it was permanently closed. -
Bhopal Disaster
On the second to third of December in 1984, there was a fatal gas leak in Bhopal, India. An insecticide plant leaked about 45 tons of methyl isocyanate over the neighboring homes. The final death toll was estimated to be 15-20,000, and near 500,000 people suffered otherwise. The site has still not been cleaned, the soil and groundwater is contaminated, and nearby babies were born with birth defects. -
Chernobyl
On April 26, 1986, a reactor exploded in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in Soviet Ukraine. The cause was flaws in the reactors design and human error. It caused increased cases of leukemia and cataracts due to radiation. They poured thousands of tons of boron, dolomite, sand, clay, and lead on the core of powerplant to attempt to limit the radioactive particles released. -
5 billion
Population is 5 billion -
Oil Pollution Act
The Oil Pollution Act went into effect on August 18, 1990. This act gave more strength to the Environmental Protection Agency for response and prevention of oil spills. It created a fund made up of oil tax for use when spills occur and the responsible party refuses to pay. -
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
First discovered in 1997, a mass of debris in the North Pacific Ocean made up of plastic that is caught in four different ocean currents and flows through a cycle from California to the Kuroshio. The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization helping to reduce pollution in the ocean by developing cleanup systems that collect the floating plastics in the GPGP. -
Kyoto Protocol
An international treaty between 41 countries including the European Union that sets mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions to be 5.2 percent below 1990 levels. The protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997. The protocol was not successful as greenhouse gas output has increased since 1997 but still a good step towards making a change. -
6 billion
Population is 6 billion. -
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
In 2002, section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed. This section limits the number of pesticides that may remain on foods that are being sold. This eventually reduced the harmfulness or number of pesticides that some companies used in their soil and created safer foods for Americans. -
Documentary film An Inconvenient Truth released
On May 24, 2006, the movie An Inconvenient Truth was released. It shed light on the climate crisis, resulting in increased concern about environmental issues, knowledge of and about global warming, and willingness to reduce greenhouse gases in viewers. -
Everglades
Tamiami Trail was built in 1928 through the everglades causing the water from Lake Okeechobee to be blocked from flowing down into the waters of the everglades. There was a loss of peat soil due to the lack of water drying it up which negatively affects the small fish and macroinvertebrates. Congress authorized implementation of bridges to be built to increase water levels in 2009. -
7 billion
Population is 7 billion -
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, the biggest oil spill in history occurred. In the Gulf of Mexico, the oil drilling site exploded. For 87 days, over 4 million barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf before it was finally contained. The company responsible, BP Exploration & Production, was charged $8.8 billion for natural resource damages, along with a penalty of $5.5 billion for the Clean Water Act. It is still polluting the Gulf today. -
Gaia Hypothesis
States that Earth and its biological systems act as a single entity. Organisms interact with their environment on Earth to form a complex system that helps to maintain the conditions for life on the planet. Published September 25, 2013. -
Flint Water Crisis
On April 25, 2015, Flint, Michigan, began getting their drinking water from the Flint River. Unfortunately, this later caused 140,000 residents to be exposed to lead and trihalomethane, and other toxins, because the pipeline the water was coming from was in poor condition. On October 1st, 2015, the city was advised that the water was unsafe to drink, but they did not fix the pipes, which left many people with no choice but to drink the water. -
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement was signed on April 22, 2016. It went into effect on November 4, 2016. It is a legally binding international treaty. It states that global warming should be limited to below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. Recently, it has been brought to light that fossil fuel companies are not sticking to this agreement and will not stay below 2 degrees. -
8 billion
Population is 8 billion -
West Virginia vs. EPA Decision
On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. They held that power plants cannot be regulated by the EPA because they are actively exploring cleaner production alternatives, which satisfies the Clean Air Act. -
9 billion
Population is 9 billion. -
10 billion
Population is 10 billion