environmental timeline

Welcome to the Timeline of Environmental History. The concept came to me in a dream in 1999 and became a class project in webpage design. The history of humans and their relationship with nature goes back to the dawn of civilization. I chose 1830 as the beginning of this timeline because it shows how long it took us to reach the first billion people on earth. The span between each successive billion gets shorter and shorter each time. Follow the links on the right for more info on each subject. Any comments can be emailed to me at sher<at>kipukagraphics.com if you change the <at> symbol to the correct character. You can also visit my website at www.kipukagraphics.com.

1830

World Population reaches 1 Billion

It took us millions of years to get here.

World Population Clock

1869

The term "ecology" is

coined by German zoologist Haeckel

Ernst Heinrich Haeckel

1872

Yellowstone, the First National Park Created

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant

signed a law declaring that

Yellowstone would forever be

"dedicated and set apart as a public

park or pleasuring ground for the

benefit and enjoyment of the

people."

Yellowstone history page

1892

Sierra Club Founded

Sierra Club founded on May 28 with 182 charter members. John Muir elected

first President. In its first conservation campaign, Club leads effort to

defeat a proposed reduction in the boundaries of

Yosemite National Park.

www.sierraclub.org

of 12Welcome to the Environmental Timeline

29/03/2009http://www.kipukagraphics.net/timeline/

1905

National Audubon Society Founded

Audubon's mission is to conserve and

restore natural ecosystems,

focusing on birds, other wildlife, and

their habitats for the benefit of humanity

and the earth's biological diversity.

www.audubon.org

1916

National Park Service Founded

"There is created in the Department of the Interior a service to be called the National Park Service, which shall be under the charge of a director....The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations.

www.nps.gov

1914

Passenger Pigeon Becomes Extinct

Martha, the last living specimen,

died in the Cincinnati

Zoological Garden, September 1, 1914.

information on passesnger

pigeons

1930

World Population Reaches 2 Billion

100 years since 1 Billion reached

World Population Program

1935

The Wilderness Society Founded

Spirited people protecting America's

Wilderness since 1935 through the

potent combination of science,

advocacy and education.

www.wilderness.org

National Wildlife

The mission of the National Wildlife

Federation (NWF) is to educate, inspire,

and assist individuals and



1936

Federation Founded

organizations of diverse cultures in conserving wildlife and other natural resources and to protect Earth’s environment in

order to achieve a peaceful, equitable

and sustainable future.

www.nwf.org

1947

Defenders of Wildlife Founded

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of

all native wild animals and plants

in their natural communities.

www.defenders.org

1951

The Nature Conservancy Founded

The mission of The Nature

Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals and natural

communities that represent the

diversity of life on Earth by protecting

the lands and waters they need to

survive.

www.nature.org

1960


Only 30 years since 2 Billion reached

Population by Country

1961

World Wildlife Fund Founded

WWF's mission is the conservation of nature. Using the

best available scientific knowledge and advancing that knowledge where

we can, we work to preserve the diversity and

abundance of life on Earth and the health

of ecological systems.

www.wwf.org

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is Published

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which in 1962 exposed the



1962

hazards of the pesticide DDT,

eloquently questioned

humanity's faith in technological progress and

helped set the stage for the

environmental movement.

information about Rachel Carson

1963

Limited Test Ban Treaty Signed by US, USSR and UK

info on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1964

Wilderness Act Public Law 88-577

September 3, 1964

To establish a National Wilderness

Preservation System for the

permanent good of the whole people,

and for other purposes.

Wilderness Act

1965

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Established

The Smithsonian Environmental

Research Center (SERC) leads the Nation in research on linkages of land

and water ecosystems in the coastal zone, and provides society

with knowledge to meet critical

environmental challenges in the

21st century.

SERC website

1965

Environmental Groups Gain Legal Ground in Court

For the first time, a conservation group had been permitted to sue to protect the

public interest.

It began with the announcement in

1963 by New York's utility company, Consolidated

Edison, of plans to build a power plant

on Storm King Mountain near the

Hudson River...

Storm King Mountain Case



1966

Endagered Species Act

Inspired by the plight of the whooping crane, Congress passes the

Endangered Species Preservation Act.

The law authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make a list of endangered domestic fish and wildlife and allows the Fish & Wildlife

Service to spend up to $15 million per

year to buy habitat for listed species.

Endangered Species Act

1967

Evironmental Defense Fund Founded

Environmental Defense is a leading national nonprofit organization

representing more than 400,000 members.

Since 1967, we have linked science,

economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-

effective solutions to society's most

urgent environmental

problems.

Evironmental Defense Fund

1968

The Population Bomb by

Paul R. Ehrlich is Published

The Population Bomb sold many copies and raised

the general awareness of

population and environmental

issues.

Information About The Population

Bomb

1968

Population Connection

Founded as ZPG

Population Connection Link

On the afternoon of January 29, 1969, an environmental nightmare began in Santa Barbara, California.

Santa Barbara Oil Spill

1969

Friends of the Earth Founded

Friends of the Earth defends the

environment and champions a

healthy and just

Friends of the Earth



world.

1969

Cuyahoga River Fire

On June 23, 1969, Cleveland's oily, contaminated Cuyahoga River caught

fire. Flames climbed as high as five stories until fireboats brought it under

control.

The fire was attributed to wastes

dumped into the river by the waterfront

industries. The publicity

embarrassed local government mightily; the

increasingly mocked Cuyahoga river,

under the "burn on" spotlight, was

poster-child for federal clean water

legislation which followed.

Cuyahoga River Fire

1970

First Earth Day Celebrated on April 22, 1970

Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was disturbed that

an issue as important as our environment was not addressed in politics or by the

media, so he created the first Earth Day. An

estimated 20 million people nationwide attended festivities

that day.

The History of Earth Day

1970

Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA Created by

President Richard Nixon

July 9, 1970 Special Message from the President to the Congress

About Reorganization

Plans to Establish the Environmental Protection Agency and the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

EPA History

NOAA



1970

Clean Air Act

Establishing National Ambient

Air Quality Standards

(NAAQS). The law requires that EPA

identify and set standards for

pollutants identified as harmful to

human health and the environment.

Clean Air Act

1971

Greenpeace Founded

Greenpeace is a non-profit organisation, with a presence in 40 countries across

Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

As a global organisation, Greenpeace

focuses on the most crucial worldwide

threats to our planet's biodiversity and environment.

Greenpeace.org

1972

Clean Water Act

established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into

the waters of the United States.

It gave EPA the authority to

implement pollution control programs such as setting

wastewater standards for

industry.

Clean Water

1972

Negative Population Group Founded

NPG is a national membership organization

founded in 1972 to educate the

American public and political leaders

about the detrimental effects

of overpopulation on our environment,

resources and quality of life.

www.npg.org

1973

Green Party Founded in the U.S.

A U.S. group has existed since 1973; the Green party of the United States

was officially formed

www.greenparty.org



in 2001 from the Association of State

Green Parties.

1973

Cousteau Society is Founded

Educating people to understand, to love and to protect the water systems of the planet, marine

and fresh water, for the well-being of

future generations.

www.cousteau.org

1973- 1974

Oil Embargo in the U.S.

President Nixon, as part of his ill-fated price control program, had slapped

controls on oil in March 1973. The U.S., which had been self-sufficient in energy as recently as 1950, was now importing

some 35% of its energy needs.

U.S. petroleum reserves were nearly gone.

Governments, corporations and individuals were

entirely unprepared for what would happen next.

Oil Crisis 1973

1974



Population Counter

1976

Earthtrust Founded

Earthtrust is a conservation-

advocacy group, dedicated to

protecting wild species.

www.earthtrust.org

1978

Residents Evacuated from their homes at Love Canal, NY

On August 7, 1978, United States

President Jimmy Carter declared a

federal emergency at the Love Canal a

former chemical landfill which

became a 15-acre neighborhood of the

City of Niagara Falls, New York.

Info on Love Canal

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Accident

On March 28, 1979 Reactor 2 at the



1979

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant

suffered a partial meltdown.

Info on Three Mile Island

1982

International Whaling Commission Moratorium on Commercial Whaling

In 1982, the International

Whaling Commission (IWC) passed a worldwide

moratorium on commercial whaling

in response to declining whale

populations. The moratorium took effect in 1985/86.

www.iwc.org

1984

Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, India Leaks Toxic Fumes

On the night of Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India,

began leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate.

Half a million people were exposed to the

gas and 20,000 have died to date as

a result of their exposure.

Info on Bhopal Accident

1985

Hole in Ozone Layer Discovered over Antarctica

In 1985, Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin discovered in the ozone hole over

Antarctica.

In the following two years, scientists confirmed that

human-produced chemicals,

chlorofluorocarbons, used in refrigeration

and propellant devices, were

causing the hole.

Info on Ozone Hole

1986

Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Meltdown, Ukraine

On April 25th -26th, 1986 the World's

worst nuclear power accident occurred at

Chernobyl in the former USSR (now

Ukraine).

Info on Chernobyl

Rails to Trails Founded



1986

Creating a nationwide network of trails from former

rail lines and connecting corridors

to build healthier places for healthier

people.

www.railtrails.org

1987



US Census Link

1989

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, March 24, 1989

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the most devastating environmental disaster to

occur at sea in U.S. history.

Its remote location (accessible only by helicopter and boat) made government

and industry response efforts

difficult, and severely taxed

existing plans for response. The

region is a habitat for salmon, sea

otters, seals, and sea birds.

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

1991

Captain Planet Foundation Created

The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to fund and support

hands-on environmental

projects for children and youths.

Captain Planet Foundation

1991

The National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence Created

The National Defense Center for

Environmental Excellence

(NDCEE) was established in 1991, with the directive to serve as a national

leadership organization to

address high priority environmental

problems for the Department of

Link to NDCCEE



Defense (DOD), other government organizations, and

the industrial community.

1991

Kuwait Oil Fires

Persian Gulf Disaster

In the waning days of the Persian Gulf War, as Iraqi forces

retreated to Baghdad, Saddam

Hussein sent a team of engineers into the Kuwaiti oil fields and blew up hundreds of wells.

Unignited oil from the wells formed

about 300 oil lakes that contaminated around 40 million tons of sand and

earth.

Oil Fires of Kuwait

1992

First Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro June 3-14, 1992

The two-week Earth Summit was the

climax of a process, begun in December 1989, of planning,

education and negotiations among all Member States

of the United Nations, leading to

the adoption of Agenda 21, a wide-ranging blueprint for

action to achieve sustainable

development worldwide.

Earth Summit

1997

American Kenaf Society Formed

Conservative estimates indicate that at least one out of every three trees harvested today ends up as pulp. Ancient forests are often the victims.

The American Kenaf Society (AKS) was founded in 1997 as a non-profit organization and is international in scope. Members include individuals and organizations working directly or indirectly with kenaf and kenaf-based products, plus those with environmental concerns.

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1999



World Census Link

2002

Earth Summit Johannesburg

Link to Earth Summit

2010

Projected World Population Will Reach 7 Billion

World Population Clock



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