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Great London Smog
The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air-pollution event that affected the British capital of London in early December 1952. A period of cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday, 5 December to Tuesday, 9 December 1952 and then dispersed quickly when the weather changed. 12,000 people died. -
Minamata Bay
Mercury poising in algae, resulting in bioaccumulation to other species, then poisoning humans as well -
Rachel Carson Silent Spring
Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. The book was published on 27 September 1962 and it documented the adverse effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims unquestioningly -
Montreal Protocol
An agreement to reduce CFC's due to the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer. The target year was 2000. -
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring and it is extremely likely that human-made CO2 emissions have predominantly caused it. -
Gothenburg Protocol
The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone is a multi-pollutant protocol designed to reduce acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone by setting emissions ceilings for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia to be met by 2010. As of August 2014, the Protocol had been ratified by 26 parties, which includes 25 states and the European Union. -
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Millennium Developmental Goals (MDG)
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) -
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Sustainable Developmental Goals
2015 UN Summit in NY redesigned the MDGs into the 17 SDGs, document published is called Agenda for Sustainable Development, target 2030 (document is sometimes referred to Agenda 2030)