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1st Billion
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Establishment of the First National Park
The first national park in the United States is still one of the most popular. Yellowstone National Park in Montana was established in 1872 and spans almost 3 500 miles of protected reserve. The initiative to protect unique American wildlife and environmental features became more pressing as we moved further west, the most fitting reserve to protect was of course beautiful Yellowstone. -
2nd Billion
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Hiroshima Disaster
As World War II neared an end, America was still ruling from the blow of the countless lives lost at Pearl Harbor. Even though the war was won, Japan still needed to pay for the death of 2,403 American lives taken on December 7, 1941. In the years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many residents suffered leukemia and other health problems resulting from exposure to the fallout. -
The Clean Water Act
The basis of the Clean Water Act was 1948 but truly branched out and took effect in 1972. There have been many implemented pollution control programs. It made it so no material could be polluted in any way unless there was a permit obtained. -
Founding the IUCN
It was the first global environmental union which set a goal in association with governments and civil society organizations which was to protect nature. In the beginning of this organization, its primary focus was on the human behavioral impact on nature, and is now one of the world's most diverse and largest environmental networks. -
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Great Smog of London
Overuse of coal for heat and electricity had left London, England blanketed in thick hazardous smog. The smog made day and night black making it extremely dangerous for pedestrians with the rising number of auto accidents due to the low visibility. City dwellers also fell victim to health issues such as black lung as a result of breathing the contaminated city air. -
Minamata
In the mid 1950's, a doctor in Japan reported the official discovery of Minamata disease, which is methylmercury poisoning that occurred in humans who ingested fish and shellfish contaminated by methylmercury discharged in wastewater from a chemical plant. “The marine products in Minamata Bay displayed high levels of Hg contamination.” -
Nuclear Disarmament
Since the formation of the United Nations, there has been great concern for the disarmament of nuclear weapons, which could be catastrophic to human life around the world. Since 1959, the UN has taken steps to demand countries surrender their nuclear weapons in order to protect human life and the environment we depend on. -
3rd Billion
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Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Published
This work by Rachel Carson discussed the damage that man-made pesticides inflict on the environment. This story became commonly known as the start to the environmental movement. -
The Club of Rome
The Club of Rome has a goal to put an end to the problems facing humanity and the environment. They had their first major meeting in 1970. The Club of Rome has five main key focus areas such as youth leadership, reframing and reclaiming economics, emerging new civilizations, climate-planetary emergency, and rethinking finance. -
Gaia Hypothesis
The Gaia Hypothesis was proposed by men named James E. Lovelock and Lynn Margulis. It posed that Earth and all its biological systems behave as one huge entity. This new way of looking at global ecology differs heavy from the classical picture of ecology. -
Stockholm Conference
The Stockholm Conference was known to be the UN’s firs major that involved and mainly focused on international environmental issues. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5-16, 1972. It is known to have truly changed the development of international environmental politics. -
Save the Polar Bears
Global warming did not have an immediate effect on human life, but it became progressively more harmful to the polar bear and its natural habitat. To protect these animals, Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and the former USSR agreed to join in a conservation effort through the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat. -
4th Billion
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Whaling
On April 27, 1975, there became an international ban on commercial whaling. The people supporting this movement would go out on the water and protect these whales that were known to be hunted. There were beliefs of the government trying to overturn this international ban which just angered everyone. -
Phopal
At the Union Carbide in Bhopal, India; there were 30 tons of highly toxic gas released. This gas caused around 600,000 to be exposed and this led to victims' throats and eyes to burn, inducing nausea, and many deaths. -
Chernobyl
This Soviet nuclear plant was poorly constructed to reduce costs and its personnel were not trained to the standards required in most western nuclear plants. The meltdown released almost 5% of the reactor core, which ravaged the environment. Within months of the disaster, thirty lives were lost. Many more suffered injuries, some causing death, in the years following the disaster -
5th Billion
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Kyoto
The Kyoto Protocol Act finally was enforced on February 16, 2005 and now has 192 parties participating. This act commits industrialized countries and economies to limit greenhouse gases emissions with agreed individual targets. -
6th Billion
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Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development
This event brought together tens of thousands of people from the dates of August 26- September 4, 2002. They had a goal to improve human life and manage to conserve environmental resources, especially in a world that is growing drastically in population. -
Documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" released
This film undisputedly raised significant amounts of public awareness towards climate change. This became a major hot topic in the U.S. as Al gore was in a huge majority of all climate change stories. Thus causing many arguments and disputes over climate change. -
7th Billion
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Flint Water Crisis
In accordance with a citywide initiative in 2014, water from the Flint river was used for drinking to reduce costs. Soon after it was dispersed, many residents complained that the water was causing health problems such as rash and hair loss.