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1600-1763
When the London Company sent out its first expedition to begin colonizing Virginia on December 20, 1606, it was by no means the first European attempt to exploit North America. -
1763-1783
Until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, few colonists in British North America objected to their place in the British Empire. -
1783-1815
At the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War with Great Britain in 1783, an American could look back and reflect on the truly revolutionary events that had occurred in the preceding three decades. -
Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.
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1815-1880
During this period, the small republic founded by George Washington's generation became the world's largest democracy. -
Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden
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1861-1877
In 1861, the United States faced its greatest crisis to that time. -
The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
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The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain
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1876-1900
In the decades following the Civil War, the United States emerged as an industrial giant. -
1900-1929
The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States. -
The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution
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US Congress created the National Park Service
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1929-1945
The widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly with the stock market crash in October 1929 and the great economic depression that followed. -
1945-1968
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every aspect of American life. -
Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring
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1968
The entry of the United States into World War II caused vast changes in virtually every aspect of American life. -
The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise
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Earth Day – April 22., millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day organized by Gaylord Nelson, former senator of Wisconsin, and Denis Hayes, Harvard graduate student. US Environmental Protection Agency established
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Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force
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The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases
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U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol
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U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
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U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
