AP Environmental Science Timeline

“Father of the National Parks John Muir Naturalist that wanted to preserve wilderness in US. Founded Sierra Club “Father of the National Parks “

Prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold

Market fishermen, convinced that their livelihood was being harmed, mistakenly argued that pelicans were eating too much fish and competing with them for a dwindling fishery. This controversy reached a climax in the spring of 1918, when over 400 defenseless pelican chicks were clubbed to death on Pelican Island. The Florida Audubon Society was subsequently able to prove that the bulk of the pelican's diet consisted of commercially unimportant baitfish, thereby defeating an attempt to weaken newly enacted bird protection laws.

Aldo Leopold Founder of the science of wildlife management

US National Park Service Founded

Civilian Conservation (CCC) founded by FDR to conserve and develop natural resources. Planted 3 billion trees to reforest America and constructed 800 parks nationwide

The town was the scene of the infamous Donora Smog of 1948 The town was the scene of the infamous Donora Smog of 1948. Between October 26, and October 31, 1948 an air inversion trapped industrial effluent (air pollution) from the American Steel and Wire plant and Donora Zinc Works. "In three days, 20 people died... After the inversion lifted, another 50 died, including Lukasz Musial, the father of baseball great Stan Musial. Hundreds more finished the rest of their lives with damaged lungs and hearts. But another 40 years would pass before the whole truth about Donora's bad air made public-health history."[2] Today, the town is home to the Donora Smog Museum which tells the impact of the Donora Smog on the air quality standards enacted by the federal government in subsequent years

It started out quite simply, with the strangeness of cats "dancing" in the street--and sometimes collapsing and dying. Who would have known, in a modest Japanese fishing village in the 1950s, that when friends or family members occasionally shouted uncontrollably, slurred their speech, or dropped their chopsticks at dinner, that one was witnessing the subtle early symptoms of a debilitating nervous condition caused by ingesting mercury? Yet when such scattered, apparently unconnected, and mildly mysterious events began to haunt the town of Minamata, Japan, they were the first signs of one of the most dramatic and emotionally moving cases of industrial pollution in history. The outcome was tragic: a whole town was both literally and figuratively poisoned.

Wilderness Act

Watch--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlHiaZFvcXA

Environmental Impact Statement

Endangered Species Act -1973 Conservation of species that are endangered or threatened

FIFRA – Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Control Act federal control of pesticide distribution, sale, and use

1974 Roland and Molina announce CFC’s culprit in ozone layer A 1970s photo of F. Sherwood Rowland (left) and Mario Molina in the lab. 1974 Roland and Molina announce CFC’s culprit in ozone layer

Safe Drinking Water Act

CITES – protect wildlife against exploitation

RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste “cradle to grave”

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

in the 1920's the excavation was turned to a new and ominous use in the 1920's the excavation was turned to a new and ominous use. It became a chemical and municipal disposal site for several chemical companies and the City of Niagara Falls. Chemicals of unknown kind and quantity were buried at the site for a 25-30 year period, up until 1953. And from 1942 through 1953 alone, the Hooker Chemical Company dumped 21,800 tons of highly toxic chemical waste. After 1953, the site was covered with earth. After 1953, the site was deeded to the Niagara Falls School board and they proceed to build an elementary school directly on top of the dump site. Everywhere the air had a faint, choking smell. Children returned from play with burns on their hands and faces.

The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown which occurred in one of the two Three Mile Island nuclear reactors in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States, on March 28, 1979. It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.[1] The partial meltdown resulted in the release of small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine into the environment.

CERCLA – 1980 “Superfund Act” clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances

The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster.[1] Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shanty towns located near the plant.[The official immediate death toll was 2,259.

20th Anniversary of Earth Day

Persian Gulf War

Energy Policy Act energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy management

World Population Hits 6 billion

Impacted Gulf Coast – New Orleans, LA, Al Hurricane Katrina – one of strongest storms to impact US in past 100 years, 125 mile winds Impacted Gulf Coast – New Orleans, LA, Al

IPCC Report on Climate Change (1990, 1992, 1995, 2001, 2007)

Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVNd6Fa9fg

World Population Hit 7 Billion

2012 Hurricane Sandy