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Global Population of 1 billion
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Global Population of 2 billion
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Period: to
Minamata
The Minamata Disaster was the result of petrochemical that was slowly leaking mercury into the Minamata bay. Minamata is a fishing town, so the fish slowly were being loaded with mercury. Then as the town eat the fish they built up a strong mercury. -
Period: to
The Love Canal
In the 40s Hooker Chemical Company started using a canal next to a middle class community as a chemical waste dump. Into the 50s there was estimated to be 21000 tons of toxic chemicals in the canal. Public awareness didnt take place until the early 70s when people in the nearby community started having health problems, a public health investigation was held and found the canal at the root of the problem. Following that President Jimmy Carter declared two states of emergency to evacuate families. -
Hiroshima
Near the end of World War 2 a American plane dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima and the explosion led to immediate 80,000 people dying. Which led to Japan surrendering and ending World War 2. Inevitably led to the death of 210,00 people within months of this and making tens of thousands sick with cancer and other harsh diseases. Because of this the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT). Main goal is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapon technology. -
Postwar Period
Many amendments were passed throughout 1956, 1965, and 1972 to prevent water pollution. The first act was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. This was the start of legislation starting to put in laws for water quality. -
Founding of IUCN
The ICUN or International Union for Conservation of Nature is an organization that works to conserve and protect nature, they also perform research, projects, and analysis. It was the first environmental union and formed in Fontainebleau France in 1948. The ICUN accepts governments and government agencies, organizations, and Indigenous organizations as members. -
Great Smog of London
a severe fog hit London in early December, but nobody knew from what, but then the fog took over the entire city and stayed there for 5 days. It wasn’t till after the fog it was found out that it was so deadly, it led to the death of 12,000 people. In the aftermath of this the British parliament passed the clean air act which began the process of eliminating burning coal in factories and people's homes and it also established smokeless zones. -
Global population of 3 billion
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Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
This was one of the first books that warned people about the effects of pesticides. The book gained popularity rapidly which led to a revolution. The book mainly focused on the insecticide DDT which was a very popular and widely used. The revolution started by the book ended getting DDT banned by the US in 1972. -
Clear Air Act
This act passed and put 95 million dollars towards research for clean air and water. The money went towards technology to help clean the air and water as well as regulate emissions at a variety of pollution sources. This act hoped that investments in technology would remove sulfur from coal and oil. -
Gaia Hypothesis
This hypothesis was introduced in the early 1970’s. James E. Lovelock and Lynn Margulis were the people who came up with this hypothesis. This hypothesis is a new way of looking at global ecology. It shows that the who world is connected. -
First Eearth day
leading up to the first earth day people in the U.S were using large amounts of gas through inefficient automobiles. This was inspired by the anti-war movement and was promoted heavily by college students. At the time it inspired 20 million Americans and eventually got support from democrats and republican and by 1970 it led to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the first environmental law's. -
Chipko Movement
This movement was organized in the Himalayan region of the world. This movement started the term tree hugger as the translation of Chipko to English means “to hug”. Aimed to protect trees from deforestation and slated from government-backing. -
Global population of 4 billion
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Whaling (save the whale)
Greenpeace launched the world's first anti-whaling movement. Anti-whaling is actions to try and stop the killing of whales. Ever since the movement started it created worldwide “Save the Whales” movement. Which has led to the ban of commercial whaling. -
Seveso Disaster
The Industrie Chimiche Meda Societa Azionaria chemical plant in Meda Italy suffered a valve failure which resulted in a cloud of dioxin TCDD to released. This cloud traveled around the North of Italy killing plants and animals wherever it traveled. Over 600 people had to be evacuated and many thousands of people had to be treated for dioxin poisoning. This led to the EU-Seveso directives that aided the prevention of these incidents. -
3 miles island accident
a failure in the reactor set of a series of events which led to a meltdown in the reactor and the water pumps that helped cool the radioactive fuel malfunctioned. The staff didn’t realize what was happening at the time which made it worse, because the fuel began to melt, and the reactor core melting it led to radioactive gases escaping and getting into the community. Because of this it led to the anti-nuclear movement and big protests took place around the U.S.. -
Bhopal
A Union Carbide India pesticide plant in Bhopal India leaked out at least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate. This methyl isocyanate spread across the city of Bhopal and was Indias first major industrial disaster. It ended up killing over 15,000 people and effected over 600,000 people. After this incident methyl isocyanate slowly stopped being produced and now is no longer produced today. -
Founding of IUCN
The ICUN or International Union for Conservation of Nature is an organization that works to conserve and protect nature, they also perform research, projects, and analysis. It was the first environmental union and formed in Fontainebleau France in 1948. The ICUN accepts governments and government agencies, organizations, and Indigenous organizations as members. -
Chernobyl
The accident which occurred in 1986 in Chernobyl Ukraine was caused due to a flawed reactor. Then resulted in an explosion and a small percentage of the reactor into the environment and 135,000 people were forced to evacuate. Following this a significant number of radioisotopes were released and 200,000 km of Europe was contaminated. Many agencies and groups worked to study and help prevent future occurrences such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). -
Global Population of 5 billion
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Period: to
The European BSE crisis
In the late 80s and early 90s a few cows started dying unexpectedly on ranches in England. When vets examined the cows, they found holes in their brain. It soon became a big issue that soon spread to a few humans. The rest of Europe soon banned British beef. The origin was soon speculated to come from bad cattle feed. The fallout of this caused the law the made it able to trace to what farm the beef in a grocery store came from. -
Exxon Valdes oil spill
a brutal disaster due to mankind when 11 million gallons of oil spilled into Alaska's prince Williams sound. It is regarded as one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history due to the fact it covered 1300 miles of coastline. It also killed hundreds of thousands of sea and land animals. As a result of this congress signed in the oil pollution act of 1990 which increased the penalties of oil company's responsible for oil spills and also required every oil tanker to have a double hall. -
Kyoto
the Kyoto protocol utilizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by having countries and economies limit greenhouse gas emissions. It itself only asks the countries to adopt policies to meet the policies of the treaty. It only really affects developed countries and has them recognize the fact they are responsible for the high level of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. They established a strict monitoring and have to keep a record. -
Global Population of 6 billion
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Baia Mare cyanide spill
A dam located in North West Romania had burster and released 100,000 cubic meters of water. The dam contained cyanide from a gold mine. The cyanide water reached a major river that goes threw Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria. The cyanide killed the fish in the river, killed animals on farms near the river and also affect small towns that relied on the river for drinking water. This spill led to a ban on mining in areas of special environmental interests and near populated areas. -
Documentary film An Inconvenient Truth released
This Movie makes a very compelling truth that global warming is real, man-made, and that its effects could possibly be catastrophic if we don’t act on it. Director Davis Guggenheim brought awareness with making this movie. He also used Al Gore a former vice president with his personal history with trying to revise global climate. -
Deepwater Horizon oil spill (BP oil spill)
One day on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig a structural failure caused natural gasses to ignite and explode the oil rig which caused it to collapse in the Gulf of Mexico. The collapse led to an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil being spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of birds, dolphins, whales and turtles were covered in oil and found dead washed ashore. Still to this day 100% of the oil hasn’t been recovered. -
Global Population of 7 billion
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Piney Point leak
Been leaking since 2011, With piney point it leaks millions of gallons of toxic waste into the bay of Sarasota and Tampa. The site was used for mining, but the owners went bankrupt and left all the toxic waste behind. This waste is still being stored at piney point. There are leaks in the plant that feed red tide and make it worse. -
Senate Bill 976
The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, this act is to help support the efforts of conserving Florida's exotic wildlife. 300 million dollars goes towards the protection of The Florida Wildlife Corridor. The legislation points the FLDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) to promote investments to the conservation of Florida's wildlife. -
Global Population of 8 billion