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John Muir
Was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. -
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
An American book written by noted transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. -
Homestead Act
United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. -
Yellowstone National Park founded
National park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. -
American Forestry Association founded
Non-profit conservation organization, established in 1875, and dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. -
Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park founded
The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, covers an area of 747,956 acres. -
Sierra Club founded
An agency of the United States federal government that manages all U.S. national parks, many American national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. -
Lacey Act founded
Is a conservation law in the United States that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold. -
Golden Age of conservation
Roosevelt used his power to protect wildlife in the US. He moved the Forest Reserves from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture. He also extended the reserves. -
First National Wild life Refuge established
Designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants. -
US Forest Service founded
Is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. -
Gifford Pinchot
Was an American forester and politician. Pinchot served as the first Chief of theUnited States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910. -
Aldo Leopold
Was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac. -
Audubon Society founded
Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission. -
Antiquities Act
This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by executive order, restrict the use of particular public land owned by the federal government. -
US National Park Service founded
An agency of the United States federal government that manages all U.S. national parks, many American national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. -
Civilian Conservation Corps founded
Was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25 as part of the New Deal. -
Taylor Grazing Act
Signed by President Roosevelt, was intended to stop injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
Authorized the annual issuance of what is popularly known as the Duck Stamp. In 1976, Congress changed the official name to the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service founded
A federal government agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
He book documented the detrimental effects on the environment particularly on birds of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. -
Wilderness Act
It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres of federal land. The result of a long effort to protect federal wilderness and to create a formal mechanism for designating wilderness. -
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
The commission recommended that the nation protect wild rivers and scenic rivers from development that would substantially change their wild or scenic nature. -
Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire
The river is famous for being "the river that caught fire," helping to spur the environmental movementin the late 1960s. -
National Environmental Policy Act
NEPA's most significant effect was to set up procedural requirements for all federal government agencies to prepare environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs). -
First Earth Day
An annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. -
Environmental Protection Agency established
An agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. -
Clean Air Act established
A United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and enforce regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health. -
Endangered Species Act
Was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction. -
FIFRA –Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Control Act
United States federal law that set up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation to protect applicators, consumers, and the environment. -
OPEC and Oil Embargo
An international organization and economic cartelwhose mission is to coordinate the policies of the oil-producing countries. The goal is to secure a steady income to the member states and to collude in influencing world oil prices through economic means. -
Roland and Molina (UCI) announce that CFC’s are depleting the ozone layer
Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related phenomena observed since the late 1970s. -
RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Are to protect human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal, to conserve energy and natural resources, to reduce the amount of waste generated, and to ensure that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner. -
Clean Water Act
Passed in 1972, the objective of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act (CWA). -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
The primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. -
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident
It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.The incident was rated a five on the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale: Accident With Wider Consequences. -
Bhopal, Island
Was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Chernobyl
Was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. -
CERCLA
The objective of CERCLA is to clean up uncontrolled releases of specified hazardous substances. -
Montreal Protocol
An international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. -
Exxon Valdez
Was an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running a ground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska. -
Energy Policy Act
The act was an attempt to combat growing energy problems, changed US energy policy by providing tax incentives and loan guarantees for energy production of various types. -
Desert Protection Act
That established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert. -
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was drawn up on 11 December 1997 as an implementary measure to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed on 9 May 1992. -
World population hits 6 billion
The world’s population topped the 6 billion on Oct. 12, 1999 , with the birth of a baby in Sarajevo. -
IPCC Report on climate Change
Considers the vulnerability and exposure of human and natural systems, the observed impacts and future risks of climate change, and the potential for and limits to adaptation. -
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. -
Love canal, NY
Love Canal became the subject of national and international attention after it was revealed in the press that the site had formerly been used to bury 21,000 tons of toxic waste by Hooker Chemical Company.