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Acid Rain
Acid Rain was discovered in 1852 by Robert Angus Smith. It is when the rain becomes acidic, which is usually created from pollution. Although it was discovered in 1852, it only started being observed and researched until the 1960s. -
Yellowstone Park Founded
On the First of March in 1872, Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone Park to be America’s first national park. It is over 2,000,000 acres large, making it larger than some states in America. -
Cane Toads introducted into Australia
Cane Toads were introduced into Australia in June of 1935 in an attempt to control the Cane Beetles that had been wreaking havoc on local sugar cane crops. However, when they were released, they rapidly multiplied and spread diseases amongst the local communities. In addition to this, the Cane Toads also killed off certain species that preyed on the Cane Toads for food. -
Donora Smog
In the October of 1948, a fog started to build up in the town of Donora. This was mainly caused by an air inversion, that trapped a lot of the pollution in the air low to the ground. The fog stayed on the ground until 4 days later. However, by then it has killed 20 people and gave around 7,000 people some sort of illness. -
The Aral Sea starts to shrink
The Aral Sea is a lake, that used to be one of the four largest lakes in the world. However, some of the water that went into it got diverted to agricultural projects. This caused the lake to lose a lot of its size. This caused the once prosperous fishing industry to almost abolish, and there were also other effects. -
Victorian Environment Protection Act
The Victorian Environment protection act was created in Victoria to protect the environment in 1970. -
Coral Bleaching
Coral bleaching is caused by ocean acidification, and it has a widespread effect across the world. One of the primary examples of this is the Great barrier reef, which has lost a lot of its beauty due to coral bleaching. -
Chernobyl Nuclear plant goes into meltdown
On April of 1986, a safety test for reactor number four backfired and ended up causing explosions and an open fire. It also caused a large amount of radiation to enter into the air. There were 2 recorded deaths from this incident, one from the explosion that occurred and one from radiation poisoning. -
Great Pacific Garbage Patch Discovered
In 1988, various Alaska based researchers discovered that in the somewhat-middle of the Pacific Ocean, there is a large layer of trash and garbage. It is theorized to get there from the various different currents that move through the ocean, and the mass amounts of pollution that occurs around the globe. -
Exxon Oil Spill
An Exxon Oil tanker, which was near Alaska, got grounded and had a leakage. It ended up spilling over 10 million gallons of Oil, and had drastic effects on the local environment. The effects of this caused people to have to make new rules surrounding the transportation of oil across large stretches of sea.