History of the Environmental Movement

  • Population hit 1 billion

  • Population hit 2 billion

  • The Wilderness Society

    Helped permanently protect 111 million acres of wilderness in 44 states. Also, this society protected big wild landscapes and began the start of in-ward looking efforts to build a more diverse conservation community.
  • Founding of IUCN

    The IUCN is considered an important event during the Environmental Movement because it gives out information on the status and identifies which species are being affected by trade. The ICUN also helps bring governments, NGOs, UN agencies, business and industry together to find solutions to problems in the environment for the world.
  • The Minamata Disease

    During 1956, Japan suffered through the industrial mercury poisoning also known as the Minamata disease. As the awareness of this disease spread across the country, the environmental awareness began to grow among the public.
  • Population hit 3 billion

  • Rachel Carson's book the "Silent Spring"

    The book “Silent Spring” helped bring environmental issues to the people that Carson had believed to be caused by synthetic pesticides. In the end, this led to a ban on DDT nationwide for agriculture uses and to the environmental movement which later created the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.
  • The Environmental Defense Fund

    Scientists who got the use of pesticide (DDT) banned from ever be used on wildlife again. They had also helped convince federal regulators to end the use of lead in gasoline, this ultimately resulted in blood levels to be dropped significantly in children in the U.S.
  • The Club of Rome

    A distinct Indian paradigm to address the most pressing concerns in the world involving food security, challenge of water, and the need to generate “green jobs and skills”. This had also allowed Indian leaders to analyze global situations from an Indian perspective and give suitable recommendations to others.
  • The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich

    Helped warn the dangers of overpopulation which included mass starvation and societal upheaval and environmental ruins that would come along side of it as well.
  • The first Earth Day

    An event that increased awareness of the world’s environmental problems out in the world. This day also led to the passage of Clean Water and Endangered Species Act.
  • The Clean Air Act

    This act helped phase out the production use of chemicals that contribute to the hole in the ozone layer, reduce main pollutants that contribute to acid rain, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, by 71% and 46% since 1980 respectively, and it reduced mercury emissions by 45% since the 1990s.
  • Gaia Hypothesis

    After the Gaia Hypothesis had been put out into the world, it then encouraged people to think of the Earth holistically, as a kind super-organism that protects us and deserves our protection in return.
  • The Stockholm Conference

    A declaration that placed environmental issues into the light of international concerns. This conference also marked the start of dialogue between industrialized and developing countries between economic growth, pollution in the air, bodies of water, and the well-being of the people.
  • Population hit 4 billion

  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

    The CERCLA gathers up parties that were responsible for such action to help clean up their sites that were contaminated with hazardous waste. They also have emergency responses for when they would eliminate serious risks to human health and the environment as quickly as possible.
  • Whaling (save the whale)

    It took a decade of the campaign of saving the whales’ movement began, the IWC voted to a ban commercial whaling in 1982. It was then in 1986 when the ban became enforced, this ban then began the virtual end of large-scale whaling around the world.
  • The Nuclear Waste Policy Act

    Directed the Environmental Protection Agency to create standards for protection for the environment from the offsite releases of radioactive materials in repositories.
  • The Bhopal disaster

    The Bhopal disaster had killed over 3,800 people in the aftermath which then gave countries the need to enforce international standards for environmental safety. Since then, India had gone through rapid industrialization with changes in the government policy and behavior had taken place as well.
  • The Chernobyl accident

    Since the disaster of the Chernobyl, numerous of different agencies plus groups had worked to study and counteract long-term effects from the incident to help prevent future situations like the Chernobyl disaster. Documents on the safety guidelines for nuclear power plants and nations with nuclear weapons were adopted as well.
  • Population hit 5 billion

  • U.N Earth Summit (in Rio)

    Conference that restored worldwide economic development with protection for the environment. Various treaties and documents were signed at the conference that had countries commit themselves to the pursuit of economic development that would protect the Earth’s environment and nonrenewable resources.
  • Kyoto

    With help from the Kyoto protocol along with the Paris Agreement, countries were able to agree on reducing greenhouse gas emissions however the carbon dioxide level kept on rising in the atmosphere. It was then when scientists began to work on another agreement in order to help save the environment for the Earth.
  • Population hit 6 billion

  • The Inconvenient Truth film

    This film help raise awareness to the general public about climate change to a whole new level. It had also helped schools by being an educational tool for various of different levels of education for students providing them with information about what is going on around them.
  • Copenhagen

    Copenhagen is committed to being the first in completely removing 2 million tons of carbon footprint from their city. Copenhagen main goal for their city, and hopefully the world, is to connect and expand district energy systems with excess heat and renewable resources.
  • Population hit 7 billion