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1769 — Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution.
As the unanimously appointed president of the Constitutional Convention, Franklin's influence over the proceedings can be seen in the proposed plan of a confederation of states and a unicameral legislature. -
First Women's Rights Convention
The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. There, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which modeled on the Declaration of Independence -
Aint i a women
At a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth, a former slave, delivers her now memorable speech, “Ain't I a woman?” -
1854 — Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden
to live deliberately, to confront the essentials, and to extract the meaning of life as it is, good or bad. He exhorts his readers to simplify, and points out our reluctance to alter the course of our lives. -
The civil war
The Civil War begins in the United States and women’s rights advocacy grinds to a halt until the war ends in 1865. -
Formation of the American Equal Rights Association
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage. They petition Congress for “universal suffrage.” -
1866 — The term ecology is coined in German as Oekologie by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
Haeckel wore several hats. Zoology, morphology, embryology, philosophy, medicine and marine biology were among his many interests. -
Ratification of The 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” and that right may not be “denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State -
The suffragists split into two organizations
The suffragists split into two organizations. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The primary goal of the organization is to achieve voting rights for women by means of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell -
Ratification of 15th amendment
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” -
Founded anti suffrage party
The Anti-Suffrage Party is founded. Many people, including prominent women, such as Ellen Sherman, wife of General William Tecumseh Sherman, challenged the notion of suffrage as a “natural right,” and opposed its extension to women. -
1872 — The term acid rain is coined by Robert Angus Smith in the book Air and Rain
The term 'acid rain' was coined in the mid-1800s, when Robert Angus Smith, a Scottish chemist working in London, noticed that rain tended to be more acidic in areas with more air pollution and that buildings crumble faster in areas where coal is burned -
“Declaration of Rights for Women.”
Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage disrupt the official U.S. Centennial program at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, presenting a “Declaration of Rights for Women.” -
The National Women Suffrage Association
The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. As the movement's mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state-by-state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women. -
1905 — The term smog is coined by Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a London meeting to express concern over air pollution
the term smog was coined in the English-speaking world. In 1905, the English term smog was coined by Dr. Henry Antoine Des Voeux in his paper, “Fog and Smoke” for a meeting of the Public Health Congress in London -
1916 — US Congress created the National Park Service
President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established. -
1962 — Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring
The book Silent Spring by biologist and nature writer Rachel Carson was published in 1962. Carson's research on the effect of insecticides (specifically DDT) on bird populations coupled with her moving prose made Silent Spring a best-seller, though chemical companies attacked it as unscientific. -
1968 — The Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise
e shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon -
1970 — First Earth Day – April 22. Millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day. US Environmental Protection Agency established
special executive order to regulate and enforce national pollution legislation. -
1989 — Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer entered into force
This phase-out plan includes both the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. The landmark agreement was signed in 1987 and entered into force in 1989. -
1997 — The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December. Countries commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide
Protocol commits industrialized countries to limit and reduce GHG emissions by 5.2% below the 1990s base year level by 2008–12 in aggregate -
2001 — U.S. rejects the Kyoto Protocol
the U.S. formally rejected the Kyoto Protocol and looking back on Kyoto's track record that is a very good thing. Ultimately, 36 developed countries were legally bound to its GHG targets and 17 – nearly half – of them failed to meet their GHG targets. -
2017 — U.S. announces it will cease participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, contending that the agreement would "undermine" the U.S. economy, and put the U.S. "at a permanent disadvantage." -
2021 — U.S. announces it will rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation
On January 20, on his first day in office, President Biden signed the instrument to bring the United States back into the Paris Agreement. Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States officially becomes a Party again today.