During the 1960s and 1970s, A growing number people around the world began to focus on environmental issues. They stopped to look how human activities affected other living organisms on Earth, from the tiniest microbes to the largest plants and animals. Their concerns gave birth to a new science called ecology, the study of the relationships between living things and their environments.

Growing Environmental Awareness 1 Rachel Carson, an American marine biologist, made a huge impact on the study of ecology with her 1962 book, Silent Spring. Carson warned of the damages of pesticides, the chemicals used to kill insects on plants. Besides killing insects, pesticides like DDT harmed birds, animals, and humans.

Growing Environmental Awareness 2 Carson forecast a “silent spring” a time when birds would no longer sing. Following the publication of Silent Spring, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin proposed the idea of Earth Day celebration. The First Earth Day was held on April 22, Some 20 million people attended Earth Day festivities held across the country.

Growing Environmental Awareness 3 Since then, Earth Day has grown into an international involving millions of people. The event has created new interest in other environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Audubon Society, and the Wilderness Society. These and other organizations bring environmental problems to the public’s attention, seeking solutions through citizen involvement.

Keeping the Planet Alive 1 The environment movement alerted people to the many challenges facing our planet. Here are some frightening situations: –Love Canal (1970s)-people living in a New York housing development named the Love Canal noticed that their community had a high rate of certain serious health problems such as blood diseases, nerve damage, birth defects, cancer, and so on. Families in the community, which lay near Niagara Falls, discovered that they lived atop a decades-old toxic waste dump.

Keeping the Planet Alive 2 Three Mile Island (1979): On March 28, one of the reactors at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, overheated when its cooling system failed. Officials closed down the reactor until they could seal the leak. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) later declared the facility safe for operation, but the incident raised grave concerns about the future use of nuclear power in the United States.

Keeping the Planet Alive 3 Bhopal (1984): A major ecological disaster occurred at a chemical plant in Bhopal, India. The plant released deadly toxic fumes into the air. The poisonous gas killed 3,800 people and injured another 100,000.

Keeping the Planet Alive 4 Chernobyl (1986): In the mid- 1980s, the Soviet Union was the site of the worst nuclear accident thus far. An explosion at a nuclear plant at Chernobyl released radioactive waste that killed hundreds and has caused persistent health problems for many others. Eventually the fallout spread around the globe in various layers of the atmosphere and has had long-lasting environmental consequences.

Keeping the Planet Alive 5 Valdez Oil Spill (1989): On March 24, shortly after midnight, the oil tanker, Exxoon Valdez struck the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the water. The spill threatened the delicate food chain that supports Prince William Sound’s fishing industry. It also endangered millions of birds, hundreds of sea otters, and dozens of other species, such as harbor porpoises, sea lions, and several kinds of whale. It was the largest oil spill in the United States, but not in the world. In the late 1900s, spills occurred in many regions, posing a grave threat to ocean life.

Government Involvement Such ecological disasters led people to pressure their governments into dealing with environment problems. Nations began negotiating multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), or pacts among nations to protect the environment.

Major Multilateral Agreements (MEAs) Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention), 1972 Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna1 and Flora2 (CITES), 1973 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer3, 1987 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary4 Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposals, 1989 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992

Kyoto Accord 1 One of the most talked- about MEAs in recent years grew out of a conference held in Kyoto, Japan, in December At Kyoto, representatives from more than 160 nations met to discuss ways to reduce the emission (discharge) of harmful gases like carbon dioxide into the environment.

Kyoto Accord 2 The outcome of the meeting was a document known as the Kyoto Protocol--- a framework for designing an environmental treaty. It called on industrial nations to cut the discharge of harmful gases, especially from motor vehicles and industries, by an average of 5.2 percent by Developing nations, or nations in the process of industrializing, were excused from the limits on emissions so they would have time to catch up economically with industrial nations.

Kyoto Accord 3 Treatment of developing nations under the Kyoto Protocol upset some people. They argued that industries and motor vehicles in developing nations produce a large amount of harmful gases. In 2006, a report out of TIME magazine predicted that the increase in China’s emission of harmful gases from 2000 to 2030 will equal the increase from the rest of the industrial world.

Kyoto Accord 4 Developing nations, however, have pledged to clean up their environments by using “clean power,” energy that reduces pollution. Pollution is the release of wastes such as chemicals or harmful gases into the air, water, and soil.) In India, two environment scientists, Sunita Narain and Bhure Lal, won a court case required buses, taxis, and rickshaws (motorized bicycle carts) to use natural gas for fuel. Drivers had been using leaded fuel. This case followed the example of the United States, which started taking action against leaded fuels in the early 1990s.

Kyoto Accord 5 Debate over the Kyoto Protocol has continued into the 2000s. In February, 2005, 141 nations, which account for 55 percent of harmful gas emissions, signed what became known as the Kyoto Accord, or Kyoto Treaty. The United States and Australia did not sign. Many leaders felt the treaty had several weaknesses. These included: –1. the high cost of cutting emissions in a short time. –2. the lack of emissions limits on developing nations. –3. the lack of clear-cut steps for all nations to follow.

Kyoto Accord 6 As of 2006, the United States had not changed its position on the Kyoto Accord. Several states such as California and North Carolina, however, have enacted programs to help meet the goals of the Kyoto Accord. Some U.S. officials have also proposed the industrial nations provide the money and technology needed to develop clean energy sources in developing nations.