History of Environmental Movement

  • Founding of IUCN

    The International Union for Conservation of Nature was established in the French town of Fontainebleau. It was made to protect nature.
  • Minamata

    Minamata is significant to the modern environmental movement because it was the first disease that was caused by the industrial pollution of seawater. In 2020, the Minamata Convention on Mercury came into effect, requiring many people to stop using mercury products.
  • Silent Spring

    The is book raised awareness to the fact that nature is venerable to human intervention and the author is credited with awakening concern for the environment.
  • Gaia Hypothesis

    A theory that states all living things are interconnected.
  • Antarctic Ozone Hole

    Researchers discover a 7.3 million–square-mile hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Within two years the United States and more than 100 other countries pledge to phase out the use of ozone-depleting compounds
  • Chernobyl

    A nuclear reactor in Ukraine exploded. The only Pripyat river was radioactive and not safe.
  • Kyoto Protocol

    The first treaty to set legally binding targets for industrialized countries and the European Union to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
  • An Inconvenient Truth

    This movie brings attention and educates people about global warming and climate change. It changed the way people thought and made people more aware to the effects.
  • The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Mapped

    30 research vessels map a garbage patch three times the size of France. “The Ocean Cleanup” corporation is working to remove plastic from the patch.