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Carson publishes her first book
In 1941, Rachel Carson publishes her first book: "Under the Sea Wind" regarding the marine biology. It was published Simon and Schuster and was essentially written to spread awareness regarding the environment. At the time, not many people knew about the impacts humankind had on its environment, which is why Rachel Carson wished to write the book in the first place. -
DDT named greatest discovery of WW2
In 1944, time magazine named the new DDT as one of the greatest discoveries of World War II. It had saved millions of lives against typhus and malaria. Rachel Carson proposed a new angle which was immediately rejected because people didn’t want to know about it. Although Carson warned DDT was environmentally bad and would create permanent bioaccumulation and biomagnification, people did not care about the environmental impact since it was saving their lives or their family's or close ones. -
Use of DDT in WW2
The DDT was first used to protect humans from insect related diseases when it was transferred to the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Insect related diseases included typhus that was spread by lice, and if left untreated would lead to death. In Sicily, many spray stations were spraying thousands of people a day. When malaria came, it was substantially eradicated with DDT; it was considered to be a miracle substance that saved thousands of people’s lives. -
Story of Minamata Bay
The Chisso factory is a factory that makes petro-chemical substances from fertilizers to plastics, it is located in Japan. Waste water containing methylmercury from this was released in the Minamata Bay. This chemical was absorbed by many living organisms such as fish and shrimp. Due to the food chain system, these chemicals were passed on and some even to humans in restaurants. It took the factory 30 years to understand the consequences of this. The process stopped in 1968. -
Japan's GDP 2nd in the world
In 1968, Japan's government announced that the country's GDP was second in the world, right after the United States. The same year, the government stated that the mercury being dumped in the bay was the cause of these neurological diseases and methyl mercury was the reason why cats, birds, fish, and humans were so strongly affected. Chisso factory then stopped dumping mercury in the Minamata Bay. -
EIA
An Environmental Impact Development is a way to prevent any environmental catastrophes before a development happens. EIAs can be used for many different developments such as road works, airport and ports, power stations, etc. EIAs date from 1969, when the US government passed the National Environmental Policy Act. EIAs require identifying impacts, predicting scales, and limiting the effect of impacts to acceptable limits. -
DDT and malarial mosquitoes
The WHO banned the use of an insecticide (called DDT) made to kill malarial mosquitoes. Malaria kills an average of 2.7 million people a year and affects many more; it is therefore extremely important to have an antidote such as the DDT to this. Nevertheless, some mosquitoes resist to it and, when reproducing, create a whole generation of mosquitoes that are immune to the DDT. These past years, the number of deaths has increased, but many believe the issue does not receive enough funding. -
Montreal Protocol
Montreal Protocol organized by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Over 30 countries agree to cut CFC emissions by half by 2000. -
Polar bears and the new DDT
In the 1990s, a chemical called polybrominated diphenyl was released in the US and was used as a flame retardant to coat electrical appliances, sofas, car seats, etc. In contrast to what it was thought, the product lasted much more than just a lifetime, and the sofas, carpets, etc ended up being thrown away, which polluted a lot. In the Arctic, polar bears were strongly affected due to their diet. As a result, many were found dead and high amounts of the product was found in their body tissue. -
MDGs was established at the UN Summit in NY
MDGs was established in 2005 at the UN Summit in NY. A document with three chapters was published: Freedom from Want (this was the chapter that had the 8 MDGs), Freedom from Fear, Freedom to Live in Dignity (based on the four freedom’s identified by former US President Franklin Roosevelt) -
UN Summit redesigned the MDGs into the 17 SDGs
UN Summit redesigned the MDGs into the 17 SDGs, document published is called Agenda for Sustainable Development, target 2030. -
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement Pledge was an agreement made by with the United Nations framework convention in November 2015. The agreement regarded climate change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance, which will start in 2020. It was essentially pledged to keep temperatures between 1.5C and 2C to avoid degrading the environment more than we already have. -
GSP and NSP
Gross Secondary Productivity is the total energy per biomass assimilated by consumers and is calculated by subtracting the mass of the fecal loss from the mass of the food taken. Net Secondary Productivity is the total gain in energy or biomass per unit area per unit time by consumers after losses and respiration. -
GPP and NPP
Gross Primary Production is the rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy into chemical energy. On the other hand, Net Primary Productivity is the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to store energy subtracted by the rate at which they use some of this stored energy through aerobic respiration. -
Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification
Bioaccumulation is when a chemical is released in the environment and does not break down easily, which may cause an animal or plant to accidentally consume it. If they do not excrete or egest it quickly, it will create and accumulation which will build up concentration, that can lead to death in some cases. In contrast, biomagnification affects animals that are higher up in the food chain. Herbivores consuming big quantities of grass and carnivores consuming herbivores will be affected.