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Thomas Mathus
Thomas Mathus predicted that exponential population growth would outplace linear food production, leading to starvation. -
John Muir's date of birth
A Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and most importantly, early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. He founded the Sierra Club, which is now one of the most important conservation organizations in America. His writings about nature have been read by millions, aspiring many. -
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walden by Henry David Thoreau is an American novel that tells the story of how Henry lived next to Walden Lake for over two years and expressed the idea of simple living and immersing himself into nature. -
Homestead Act
A law signed by President Abraham Lincoln, and sought to populate the American West with farmers, by offering vast amounts of land for a small filing fee and a small investment of time and effort. The Law failed mainly due to exploitation by railroads and other major interests for profit. -
Yellowstone National Park Founded
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American Forestry Association founded
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Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks founded
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General Revision Act
General Revision Act was signed, which authorized the President, under the Forest Reserve Act, to create forest preserves that are completely or partly covered with timber or undergrowth, whether worth commercial value or not. -
Sierra Club founded
Sierra Club Founded by John Muir. The Sierra Club’s mission is, “to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.” The Sierra club has hundreds of thousands of members spread across the United States -
Lacey Act
Protects both plants and wildlife by establishing penalties for a wide variety of violations. It prohibits trade of wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold. -
Golden Age of Conservation (Theodore Roosevelt) to 1909
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First National wildlife refuge established
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U.S. forest Service founded
U.S. Forest Service founded, which is an agency that administers/watches over the nation’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. -
Gifford Pinchot
An American forester and politician that was known for improving the management and development of forests in the United States and for supporting the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal. -
Aldo Leopold
An American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He is best known for his very successful book, A Sand County Almanac. He valued biodiversity and his ethics of nature had a big impact on the environmental movement. -
Audubon Society founded
Audubon Society founded, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. It is one of the oldest organizations of this type. -
Antiquities Act
Gives the President the authority to restrict the use of public land owned by the federal government -
Congress became upset at Roosevelt
Congress became upset because Roosevelt was waving so much forest land so they banned further withdrawals. -
U.S. National Park service founded
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Energy Policy Act
The Energy Policy Act is a United States government act. It was passed by Congress and addressed energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy management, and more issues. -
Dust Bowl (1930's)
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Soil Conservation Service founded
Soil Conservation Service founded, currently known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They are an agency that provides technical assistance to farmers and other landowners -
Civilian Conservation Corps founded
Civilian Conservation Corps founded, which was a service program designed for young men where they could receive a small wage, food, shelter, and clothing for conserving and developing natural resources in rural lands. This was implemented to help relieve families who had trouble finding jobs in the Great Depression. -
Taylor Grazing Act
Signed by President Roosevelt, had the purpose of stopping injury to public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration, and to stabilize the livestock industry. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
Under the Act, any person who hunts ducks, geese, swans or brant and is 16 years of age or older must carry a current Duck stamp on which he has written his signature in ink. This qualifies the hunter as a legal wildfowl, provided he has a state-hunting license. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service founded
A federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. -
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She is also the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and has worked a lot on conservation and animal welfare issues. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
The book is widely credited with helping launch the contemporary American environmental movement. The book took record of detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. -
Wilderness Act
It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected over nine million-acres of federal land. -
Garret Hardin introduced the Tragedy of Commons
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Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by Congress in 1968 to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values for the enjoyment of present and future generations. -
Richard Nixon (1969-74)
In his 1970 Environmental Message to Congress, President Richard Nixon emphasized the importance of environmental literacy, "It is also vital that our entire society develop a new understanding and a new awareness of man's relation to his environment ." -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire
The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire helped spur a lot of water pollution control activities, resulting in the Clean Water Act, and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. -
National Environmental Policy Act
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States law that established a national policy promoting the enhancement of the environment. -
Environmental Protection Agency established and Clean Air Act
The EPA is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. -
First Earth Day
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FIFRA - Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Control Act
FIFRA was essentially rewritten in 1972 when it was amended by the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act (FEPCA). The law has been amended a number of times since 1972. In its current form, FIFRA mandates that EPA makes sure that the use of pesticides is safe for human health and the environment -
Endangered Species Act
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OPEC oil embargo
On October 1973, OPEC declared an oil embargo in response to the United States' and Western Europe's support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The result was a spike in oil prices overnight. -
Sherwood Roland and Molina Announce that CFC's are depleting the ozone layer
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RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), is the main law in the United States watching over the disposal of solid and hazardous waste. -
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. The act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, or SMCRA is the primary federal law that watches over the environmental effects of coal mining. -
Love Canal, NY and Lois Gibbs
Lois Gibbs is an American environmental activist who found out that her child's school and her entire neighborhood, Love Canal, in New York, was built on a toxic waste dump. She led her community in a battle against the government, and after years of struggle, 833 families were evacuated and the cleanup began. -
Three Mile Island Nuclear accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown which occurred in one of the two Three Mile Island nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The partial accident resulted in the release of small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment. -
Alaskan Lands Act
The Act provided for 43,585,000 acres of new national parklands in Alaska; the addition of 53,720,000 acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System; twenty-five wild and scenic rivers, and much more. -
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. It is a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan's famous quote, "Seen one redwood, seen 'em all" is a misquote. As governor of California, he set aside almost 150,000 acres of land for the state park system. Reagan also established the Air Resources Board to battle California's worst-in-the-nation smog problem, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to address Lake Tahoe's environmental difficulties. -
Chemical toxic cloud kills 2,000 people in Bhopal, India
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Chernobyl Disaster
The Chernobyl Disaster was a nuclear accident caused by an explosion, and released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe. -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. -
World Population reaches 5 billion
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Exxon Valdez
The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, struck Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels over the next few days. -
Desert Protection Act
A federal law signed by President Bill Clinton, and passed by the United States Congress that established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert. -
Julia Butterfly Hill sits in tree for 700+ days to protest deforestation
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Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protoco is an international treaty that sets obligations on industrialised countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. -
World population reaches 6 billion
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World population reaches 7 billion
