-
Population Hits 1 Billion
-
Yellowstone National Park is Established
The government set aside 2 million acres of land between the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The Yellowstone Act was then created, which designated the region as a public “pleasuring-ground” which would be protected from any human construction. -
Population Hits 2 Billion
-
Extinction of Tasmanian Thylacine
The Tasmanian Thylacine quickly became extinct due to excessive hunting and destruction of their habitat. The extinction of the Tasmanian Thylacine helped push for the creation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. -
Founding of IUCN
The International Union of Conservation of Nature, aka IUCN, was established on October 5, 1948, in France. The IUCN became the global authority on well-being of the natural world and what needed to be done to protect it. The IUCN brought governments with the same goal of protecting nature together. -
Minamata, Japan Disaster
In Minamata, Japan the bay became contaminated with mercury from a factory from 1932 to 1968. This led to people getting a disease that caused people to gain mercury poisoning and led to thousands of people dying. -
Population Hits 3 Billion
-
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is Published
When the book, Silent Spring, was published critiquing the use of pesticide in America, the book quickly became the trademark of environmental activism. The book also led to the Enivronmental Protection Agency and many other protections. -
Santa Barbara Oil Spill
An oil well on the coast of Santa Barbara, California exploded causing major issues to the marine life. Thousands of animals died because of the thick oil. The issue was so overwhelming that government officials did not have solution for saving the wildlife. -
Ganges River Pollution
The Ganges River in India is sacred to the Hindu religion and provides water to most of the population of India. Ecosystems in the river are deteriorating because of the toxic waste that is disposed in the river. Untreated sewage and dead bodies are casted in the river, which also creates water-borne illnesses. -
The First Earth Day
The first Earth Day was celebrated because the Senator of Wisconsin was disturbed that our environment was not discussed in media or politics. This was the first day that was dedicated to our environment and brought attention to the status of the environment. -
Gaia Hypothesis
Chemist James E. Lovelock and biologist Lynn Margulis developed the Gaia Hypothesis. The Gaia Hypothesis is a worldview that the Earth, with all its organisms and ecosystems, functions as one superorganism. Therefore, the Earth can self-regulate, like how an organism goes through homeostasis, to sustain life. -
Stockholm Conference
The conference was the first world conference to make the environment a huge issue. The people who participated in the conference made a plan of action for the environment called the “Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment.” -
Population Hits 4 Billion
-
Whaling
The non-governmental organization, Greenpeace, launched its “Save the Whale” campaign due to the blue whale’s deteriorating population from inhumane fishing practices. Seven years after their campaign launched, the International Whaling Commission put a limit on commercial whaling. -
Bhopal, India Disaster
In 1984, a pesticide plant began leaking deadly gas into the air. This led to people waking up with their eyes burning and lungs choked. Many of them tried searching for their family members while trying to escape the toxic air. -
Antarctic Ozone Hole is Discovered
Scientists found out that ozone values over a couple research stations and Antarctica had been dropping consistently when the Sun reappeared every Spring. This was because of the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and halons which led to the controlled production/use of CFCs. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant malfunctioned in northern Ukraine because of faulty design, and exploded. The radiation killed about 30 people within the first few weeks. Nuclear radiation spans far beyond its point of origin; therefore, about 350,000 people had to evacuate parts of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. -
Population Hits 5 Billion
-
Mapping of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Garbage Patch is a collection of debris in the North Pacific Ocean that was discovered in 1997. This patch compromises roughly 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. The discovery of the garbage patch brought a lot of awareness to the amounts of plastic that humans produce and through away improperly. -
Kyoto
The Kyoto Protocol was a treaty created by the UN that mandated a limit on the amount of greenhouse gasses each country was allowed to emit, to reduce the effects of climate change and global warming. -
Population Hits 6 Billion
-
Amazon Rainforest
Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest have been going on for the past 3 decades, however, the early 2000s is when the forest rapidly started losing its vegetation and the effects have been seen by the extinction of animals from habitat destruction. -
Documentary Film "An Inconvenient Truth" Released
An Inconvenient Truth, featuring political figure Al Gore, spread awareness to the issue of climate change and global warming. The documentary uses personal events from Gore’s life to explain his interest in the environment and uses animations to explain environmental topics such as the greenhouse effect. -
Japan's Overfishing
The fishing industry is Japan’s greatest economic sector; however, the surrounding oceans’ ecosystems are being overfished and fish populations are declining rapidly. -
Population Hits 7 Billion