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Aug 1, 1000
Agricultural Revolution
The first time in History people have stopped simply hunting and gathering and have begun to plant their own food and raise livestock. -
Industrial Revolution
A turning point in the world where people have begun to leave the rural towns and go to the city to work in factories. For example, the steel industry was booming! -
Thomas Malthus predicted that exponential population growth would outspace linear food production, leading to starvation.
He wrote an essay about population growth after studying the rate of famine in areas of the world with dense a population of people. -
John Muir
Scottish Born American who was an early environmental activist on protecting the wildernest of the United States. -
Henry David Thoreau wrote the book, Walden
Part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. This book told of Thoreau's experiences living in a cabin in the woods for two years, two months, and two days. -
Homestead Act
This was signed into law by president Abraham Lincoln. This was when Americans, Foreigners, and former slaves could move Westward in search of new land. -
Yellowstone National Park Founded
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American Forestry Association Founded
The American Forestry Association is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. -
General Revision Act
This law repealed the Timber Culture and Preemption Acts and enabled the U.S. President to create forest reserves. -
Sierra Club Founded
John Muir, the Scottish conservationist and preservationist created the Sierra club to protect wildlife. The club's mission is "To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth". -
Lacey Act
President William McKinley signed this bill to protect both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for a wide array of violations. Actions like hunting endangered species or destroying wildlife. -
Golden Age of Conservation
Lasted from 1901 through 1909 when Theodore Roosevelt was in office. This is when alot of pro environmental acts were put in place. -
First National Wildlife Refuge Established
Pelican Island on the east coast of Florida -
Aldo Leopold
American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was also a professor at the University of Wisconsin. A very important Environmental activist as well as a founder of the science of wildlife management. -
U.S. Forest Service Founded
The nation's organization that manages America's 155 national parks and 20 natinal grasslands. President Roosevelt hand picked the first administrators. -
Gifford Pinchot
The first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910. Pinchot coined the term conservation ethic as applied to natural resources. He was fired for speaking out about ethics regarding politics and the environment. -
Audubon Society Founded
The national Audubon society is a non-profit, environmental organization dedicated to conservation.This society uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission. It is named after the famous scientist that researched and painted birds. -
Antiguities act
Passed by congress and the signed by Theodore Roosevelt this act gives the President of the United States the authority to restrict the use of particular public land owned by the federal government. Now it causes lots of debate regarding the necessity of this law. -
Congress became upset because Roosevelt was waving so much land that they banned further withdrawls
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U.S. National Park Service founded
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Dust Bowl
Known as the "dirty thirties" (1930-1937) was a series of devestating dust storms that swept through America from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast. This was caused by a combination of over-plowed fields and drought. All it took was strong wind and off it went. -
Soil Conservation Service Founded
Developed as a direct result of the dust bowl. This was designed to improve the quality of soil and to check soil qualities to ensure that the dust bowl doesn't happen again. -
Civilian Conservation Corps Founded
Operating from 1933 to 1942 this program gave jobs to young men that needed work during and after the great depression. Part of the New Deal created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it dealt with building new roads and cleaning up America. -
Taylor Grazing Act
A federal law that puts restrictions on livestock grazing on public land. Regulations were put in place and it is still in effect today. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
This is literally a postage stamp that permits you to hunt migratory birds and allows you to visit national parks without paying the fee. 98% of all of the proceeds went to protecting the wetlands of the United States. -
Fish Plus Wildlife Service founded
The police force for the environment, this Service protects and ensures the safety of the environment and it's inhabitants. The services' mission is, "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people." -
Jane Goodall
Possibly the worlds' expert on chimpanzees. She studied the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania in 1960. She made outstanding discoveries relating to the ways humans and chimps are related. -
Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson
The book tells about harmful effects on aquatic environment caused by pesticides. She focused particularly on aquatic bird species around the springs. She even went so far as to accuse pesticide companies of giving out false information regarding their products. -
Wilderness Act
Signed by president Lyndon B. Johnson this law protects 9.1 million acres of Federal land and created the definition of wilderness. This took 8 years to create and turn into a law. -
Gerret Hardin Introduced the tragedy of the Commons
In an essay by the American Ecologist Gerret Hardin he tells of how the earth is going to not stop reproducing til everyone is dead. He came to the conclusion that the only way to conserve resources is to control breeding. -
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
This law was designed to protect wild rivers and scenic rivers. The federal government was worried that with new developement rivers would be damaged. Now, the govt. can claim that any river belongs to them. -
NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
Became effective on January First of 1970 it's role was to set up procedural requirements for all federal government agencies to prepare environmental assessments and environmental impact statements. These are tests to see if the environment is healthy, if it's not in certain areas the owner of a location can be fined or imprisoned. -
Richard Nixon elected as President of the United States
He signed the National Environmental Protection act, which gave birth to the EPA. This was right before the first Earth Day. -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland Ohio Caught fire
Although the first fire reported was in 1868 it was the 1969 fire that really caught the attention of the public. Because of the waste and hazerdous material that was dumped in there the water became "flamable". This lead to the clean water act. -
First Earth Day
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Environmental Protection Agency established--Clean Air Act
Developed from an idea from President Richard Nixon the EPA's purpose is to protect human health and the environment. They are able to do this by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The clean air act put regulations on car companies and industries as to how much emissions they can produce. -
FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Control Act
The original FIFRA was developed in the mid 1940's but went through major revisions in 1972. Since then it has been their mission to control the spreading and production of harmful pesticides and other chemicals so that they don't harm the environment. -
OPEC oil embargo
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC. On the holiest day of the Jewish calender Egypt, Syria, and other Arabic nations attacked Israel, they were forced to go on full NUCLEAR alert. America aided Israel by sending them arms for defense. The Arabic nations responded by calling an embargo against the U.S. until 1974. It was very difficult to get gas for your car. -
Endangered Species Act
Put into effect to outlaw the hunting and poaching of endangered species. Of course not 100% effective. -
Sherwood Roland and Molia Announce that CFC's are depleting the Ozone layer
The professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine discovered that chlorofluorocarbons contribute to ozone depletion. -
RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery act)
The RCRA was developed to combat the increasing problems the nation faced from its growing volume of municipal and industrial waste. It is most widely known for it's role in the storage of toxic waste. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation act
The group that regulates coal mining in the United States. They make sure that Mining Operations are safe. -
Clean Water Act
Developed by the federal Govt. to set standards for healthy water and outlaws lumping hazerdous material in sewage drains and in any water source. -
Love Canal, NY & lois Gibbs
This was a location were 21,000 tons of toxic waste was burried. The land was then sold to the NY school board for $1. The deed even told of the waste! People only began to care when after heavy rain toxic waste was being found in creeks and in the streets due to run-off. People in the area were concerned with health risks. The area was bulldozed and abandoned. -
3 Mile Island Nuclear Accident
A partial meltdown of reactor #2 on three mile island in Pennsylvania. The partial meltdown resulted in the release of small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive material into the environment. However no cancer can be linked to the dissaster. -
Alaskan Lands Act
This act allowed the Federal Govt. to claim 43,585,000 acres of land in Alaska to be protected and unmolested.It also included thousands of more acres in the United States to fall under the category of protected land. -
CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabiliy Act= Super Fund
The CERCLA is a federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. What they do is they go to super fund sites and clean it up so that it can be usable again. In 1986 funding was increased to 8.5 billion dollars to fund the program and pay for research. -
Ronald Reagan President of the United States
President from January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 this Conservative President signed a bill that set standards for vehicle emissions. He even banned some vehicles in selected states if they did not meet his standards.Led successful effort to block federal proposal to build 730-foot-tall Dos Rios Dam on the Eel River. And supported protecting Lake tahoe from polution. -
Bhopal Incident, India
Considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster the Pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked deadly pesticide gasses into the town and killed thousands of people. To this day people are effected. The 8 people responsible had to pay only $2000 dollars and spend two years in prison for negligence. -
Chernobyl Disaster
On the morning of April 26th reactor #3 at the Chernobyl nuclear Powerplant near Pripyat in the Ukraine exploaded. The blast sent tons of radioactive material into the air. The battle to contain the contamination to avoid a greater catastrophe involved over 500,000 workers. The city of Pripyat was abandoned with only 31 deaths from workers near the blast. -
World Population Reaches 5 billion
THAT'S ALOT OF PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol is an international plan designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. -
Exxon Valdez
A very large Exxon Oil Tanker ran aground in the Prince William Sound, Alaska. The resulting effects of it running aground resulted in the oil to leak out of the ship and spread killing lots of sea life and sea birds. 1,300 miles of coastline was contaminated and 11,000 square miles of Ocean was effected. -
Energy Policy Act of 1992
The Act of '92 addressed energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy management. In regards to natural gasses, nuclear energy, renewable resources and the possibility of electric cars or alternative fuels. -
Desert Protection Act
The Desert Protection Act established the Death Valley, the Joshua Tree National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve National Parks of California -
Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia Butterfly Hill sat in a tree she named "Luna" for 700= days to protest deforestation. December 10th 1997-December 18th 1999 -
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty that obligates industrialised countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.The United States signed but is not directly involved. -
World Population Reaches 6 Billion
MY GOD THAT'S ALOT OF PEOPLE!!!!!!! -
WORLD POPULATION REACHES 7 BILLION
DANG!!!!!!!! REPRODUCE LIKE RATS WHY DON'T YA!!!!!!
