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2nd billion people
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Dust Bowl in North America
This was a period in the 30s and 40s when extreme dust storms occurred. The dust storms damaged the ecology and agriculture of the United States at this time in history. The dust storms were caused by a mix of natural factors. For example, one being severe drought. As well as some man-made factors caused this, such as failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion. It was said that sometimes the sky's would become black from dust. This completely changed environmentalists views -
Founding of IUCN
This was an extremely significant event in history. The IUCN was the first global environmental union and is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. Therefore, it promoted environmental success. -
Great Smog of London
The Great Smog of London was a severe air pollution event that affected London in December of 1952. There were unusually cold weather and windless conditions at this time which allowed for the collection of airborne pollutants, which came from the use of coal. This resulted in covering the city in a thick layer of Smog for 4 days straight. This event led to 4,000 people passing away due to the smog and over 100,000 people were made ill due to the smog. -
Minamata
This was extremely significant in history. This event consisted of methylmercury poisoning that was caused by fish and sea fish being intoxicated with toxic chemicals. This impacted history as it greatly impacted the health of citzens. -
3rd billion people
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Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
This was very significant historically. This was because it documented the environmental harm caused by the massive use of pesticides. Also, it Publicized the danger of pesticides on the environment. People weren't aware of the dangers, especially in this time period. -
Clean Air Act
Congress passes this act to make sure that the limited nuclear test ban treaty would be passed. This stopped testing for nuclear weapons which stopped the exposure to different elements going into the air. A big reason why this act was passed was to reduce and limit the amount of air pollution worldwide. This was the first and most influential. -
Oil ring in Santa Barbara
An oil ring in Santa Barbara blew out on January 28, 1969 and caused there to be an oil spill over 800 square miles (about half the area of Rhode Island). This causes 10,000 birds to die. The oil got into Lake Erie, and this led to massive fish kills. The oil ring blowing out caused the Cuyahoga River to catch on fire. The owner of this operation, David Brower, was forced to resign as this event caused much harm to the animals. -
The First Earth Day
The first earth day was April 22nd, 1970. It was started by Senator Gaylor Nelson in the spring of 1970. He established this day to grow public demand for cleaner air, water, land, and a cleaner ocean. Earth day led the way to new acts being put into place by legislation. Today there are over 1 billion people who celebrate earth day! -
James Locelock’s Hypothesis
Also known as the Gaia Hypothesis, this hypothesis suggests that organisms on a planet interact with their inorganic environment to form synergy and self-regulation
This article helped people better understand that plants and animals use the world around them to survive. -
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Bhopal Disaster
This was a tragic gas leak that led to over 500,000 people in neighboring small towns becoming affected. This tragic event also led to the death of over 16,000 people as estimated. This affected the environment by polluting the air to hundreds of thousands of people in the area, which have killed, disabled, and made ill lots of people. -
Whaling (save the whale)
This has greatly impacted history as a whole. Whaling has impacted the environment by eliminating one of the top predators in the ocean ecosystem. This in return leads to the prey having a dramatic increase in population. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling due to the dramatic decrease in the Whale population. -
Chernobyl
This event was a nuclear disaster that occurred on April 26th, 1986. It happened at nuclear power plant number 4. This accident occurred during a safety test. During the test there was a huge loss of external power and a major coolant leak. It was said to be the worst civil nuclear incident ever. -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol is a treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by cutting out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion
This treaty was a monumental step in the preservation of Earth, as it protects the planet from many harmful chemicals and substances. -
Kuwaiti Oil fires
Oily smoke plumes shot high up into the sky, darkening the sun and making breathing difficult for those who ventured outside. One U.S. environmentalist compared it to “standing behind the exhaust pipes of hundreds of malfunctioning diesel trucks.” This made the environment take a turn for the worst. -
Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto Protocol operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change working to industrialize countries and economies to transition to limit and reduce Greenhouse gases emissions. The countries must report periodically and to measure mitigation. This protocol is based principles and provisions of the convention and follows its annex-based structure. This completely shifted environmentalists views today. -
The documentary film An Inconvenient Truth released
The documentary was about Al Gores views on Global Warming, the documentary won 2 awards and was known for changing the way people looked at global warming. Some say that the photos and videos shown in this documentary helped spark modern environmentalism. -
Deepwater Horizon oil Spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. This is also known to be the largest marine oil spill in history. This oil spill led to thousands of birds, mammals, and sea turtles becoming stained with oil. This led to a huge increase in deaths of marine life animals in the area. About 1,400 whales and dolphins were found to be stranded and affected by the oil spill. -
Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
This was a severe disaster that occurred inn northeastern Japan. On one of their main islands. The earthquake struck at 2:46pm with a magnitude of 9.0. The earthquake happened. Due to the earthquake a tsunami took place. The waves from the tsunami were about 30 feet high. This caused tsunamis warnings in other places in the world from Hawaii to Antarctic. Mostly places in the pacific basin. This became to be known as the deadliest natural disaster in Japanese history.