1798 Thomas Robert Malthus publishes still classic book An Essay on the Principle of Population.
1839 Charles Robert Darwin publishes Voyage of the Beagle.
1844 Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes his famous essay on Nature.
1850
The industrial revolution begins around this time.
1854
Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden.
1864
George Perkins Marsh publishes his benchmark treatise on human environmental impact called Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action.
1866
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is established.
1886
New York Audubon Society is founded.
1892
Sierra Club founded by John Muir.
1894
John Muir publishes The Mountains of California.
1900
The first cars appear. By 1998 the number of cars exceed 500 million. Each car produces two tons of carbon dioxide annually.
1911
Anna Botsford Comstock publishes Handbook of Nature Study.
1919
National Parks and Conservation Association formed.
1923
Izaak Waltoin League founded. Organization fights dredging of the Mississippi River through a lobbying initiative in Washington, D.C.
1924
Oil Pollution Act passed in the U.S.A.
1926
The first large scale survey of air pollution in the U.S.A. is conducted in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1928
St. Francis Dam breaks in Los Angeles, California, killing over 500 people.
1929
In the U.S.A. over 100 wildlife sanctuaries consolidated under federal protection by the Norbeck-Anderson Act.
1933
The Civilian Conservation Corps formed in the U.S.A. More than 2.5 million people serve until the program ends in 1942.
1935
The Wilderness Society is founded by Aldo Leopold and Arthur Carhardt.
1936
The National Wildlife Federation is established.
1937
The term “greenhouse effect” is coined by Glen Thomas Trewartha , a geographer at the University of Wisconsin.
The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (or Pittman-Robertson Act) passes in the U.S. Congress.
1949
Aldo Leopold publishes A Sand County Almanac which contains his famous Land Ethic.
1951
The Nature Conservancy is established.
1958
Kenneth Galbraith publishes The Affluent Society.
1961
The World Wildlife Fund is established.
1962
Marine biologist Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring drawing attention to the environmental and health threats of toxic chemicals.
1967
The Torrey Canyon oil tanker runs aground and spills 117,000 tons of oil into the North Sea near Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Formation of the Environmental Defense Fund.
1968
Paul Ehrlich publishes The Population Bomb analyzing the environmental impact of an exploding human population.
Zero Population Growth organization is established.
1969
A major oil spill from a tanker occurs near Santa Barbara, California.
Chemical wastes in the Cuyaoga River fuel its burst into flames.
Mississippi ravaged by hurricane Camille.
Friends of the Earth is established as a radical splinter group from the Sierra Club.
Severe famine in China leads to the deaths of more than 20 million people.
Poet, essayist, deep ecologist, and Zen Buddhist Gary Snyder publishes Turtle Island.
Charlene Spretnak publishes The Spiritual Dimension of Green Politics.
1970
Cyclone and tidal wave s kill more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Chimbote, Peru, kills 66,000 people.
The first Earthday Celebration is held on April 22. This influences the development of the Endangered Species Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Environmental Protection Agency established in the U.S.A.
Formation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Establishment of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The League of Conservation voters is established.
The first issue of The Ecologist is published in July by Edward Goldsmith
1971
Floods in Vietnam kill 100,000 people.
Conference in Menton, France, of 2,200 scientists present statement to the United Nations about the dire need for collective action to find solutuons to the problems of pollution, hunger, overpopulation, and war.
Spraying of Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant used as a weapon against nature in the Vietnam War from 1962-1971, is stopped after studies demonstrates serious negative health effects on military personnel not to mention civilians in Vietnam and Cambodia. Over 13 million gallons of this toxic chemicals were used!
Greenpeace is formed.
The Sierra Legal Defense Fund is established.
1972
Severe blizzards in Iran kill 4,000 people.
Research attributes 75% of the acid rain falling in Sweden to pollution originating in other countries.
The Club of Rome publishes its influential study on the Limits to Growth by Donella and Dennis Meadows. It predicts that at current rates of population growth, resource depletion, and pollution generation the Earth’s limits (carrying capacity) will be reached within 100 years.
The Negative Population Growth organization is established.
OPEC oil crisis erupts.
Delegates from 114 countries attend the UN Stockholm Environmental Conference in Sweden. The delegates adopt 109 recommendations including the establishment of the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and the first call for a moratorium on whaling.
The Green Party is formed in the United Kingdom.
The Ecologist publishes A Blueprint for Survival.
Barry Commoner publishes The Closing Circle: Confronting the Environmental Crisis.
1973
Severe monsoons in India kill 1,200 people.
Women villagers in the foothills of the Himalayas of northern India launch the Chipko movement to protect trees from commercial logging which started to cause deforestation, soil erosion, and flooding in the region. Eventually the Chipko movement influences similar initiatives in other countries including the U.S.A.
The international Convention in Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is approved. It restricts trade on about 5,000 animal species and 25,000 plant species threatened with extinction. However, inadequate enforcement allows the black market in wildlife trade to flourish.
The Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships is adopted to regulate ocean contamination from oil spills and from ships dumping plastics, garbage, and sewage in the oceans.
The Cousteau Society is established by explorer Jacques Cousteau.
E.F. Schumacher publishes Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered and founds Intermediate Technology
The TransAmazon Highway construction is completed in Brazil, paving the way for an orgy of deforestation.
The Sahel drought and devastating desertification kills millions of people in arid Africa.
1974
World population reaches 4 billion.
Massive toronado outbreak in the U.S.A. on April 3-4 with 148 separate toronadoes grounded, 348 people killed and about 5,500 injured.
Chemists Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina publish their landmark study about chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) destroying ozone molecules and damaging the ozone layer the protects the Earth from radiation.
The Environmental Policy Institute is founded.
Lester Brown establishes the Worldwatch Institute as a non-governmental organization pursuing environmental sustainability and social justice.
Christopher Stone publishes Should Trees Have Standing?
1975
Astronauts on Apollo-Soyuz space flight take photographs of spaceship Earth.
Greenpeace’s first anti-whaling campaign is launched from Vancouver, Canada.
UN Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, recognizes adequate shelter as a basic human right and makes 65 recommendations accordingly.
Peter Singer publishes Animal Liberation.
1976
Fierce earthquake kills more than 650,000 in Tangshan, China.
Toxic dioxin leak in Seveso, Italy, leaves decades of contamination.
1977
Devastating cyclone kills 20,000 in India.
Wrecked tanker spills more than 8.2 million gallons of crude oil in the North Sea.
The severe health hazards of the New York Love Canal chemical waste deposits are exposed and this triggers huge and expensive clean-up program called Superfund.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is established.
UN holds a major international conference on desertification.
The Greenbelt Movement begins in Kenya under the leadership of Wangari Maathai, paying poor rural women to plant many millions of trees.
Indigenous demonstrators in the Philippines force the World Bank to withdraw its funding for the construction of four large dams along the Chico River. In turn this contributes to a global movement to protect rivers and resist dam building.
Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research founded.
1978
Amoco Cadiz oil tanker grounded off the coast of France spills 97 million gallons of crude oil polluting miles of coastline.
1979
Collision of Aegean Captain and Atlantic Empress oil tankers spills 97 million gallons of crude oil near Trinidad-Tobago.
Ixtoc oil well blows with over 175 million gallons of crude oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico.
Partial meltdown of the reactor core in the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania releases radioactive contamination into the air of surrounding communities.
More than 100 million gallons of radioactive water leaked from a pond at Church Rock in New Mexico.
Hurricane David kills over 2,000 in the Caribbean and eastern U.S.A.
China implements one-child per family policy.
The Green Party rises to political power in Germany.
The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution is approved to reduce acid rain and regulate pollution spreading across national borders. This influences later protocols regulating emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur, heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and so on.
James Lovelock publishes Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.
Ecopsychologist Theodore Roszak publishes Person/Planet: The Creative Disintegration of Industrial Society.
1980
Chemical spill in Basle, Switzerland, leaves 200 kilometers of the Rhine River lifeless.
Mount Saint Helens in Washington State explodes.
President Jimmy Carter’s Global 2000 Report is published.
World Conservation Union (IUCN) publishes World Conservation Strategy.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is founded.
Earth First! is established.
Social ecologist Murray Bookchin publishes Towards an Ecological Society.
1981
On November 21 in the United Kingdom 104 tornados are recorded.
1982
The acid rain industrial pollution scandal shakes up Europe.
China becomes the first country to reach a population of one billion.
The Stockholm+10 conference is held in Nairobi, Kenya. Delegates agree to establish an independent commission to develop a global agenda for change to deal with environmental problems. This sets the stage for the 1987 report Our Common Future.
The United Nations World Charter for Nature is published.
The UN Law of the Sea establishes rules on marine pollution standards.
The World Resources Institute is founded.
The Earth Island Institute is formed.
The Citizens Clearninghouse for Hazardous Waste is established.
1983
Times Beach community in Missouri abandoned because of toxic waste hazards.
Castillo de Beliver tanker spills 73m million gallons of oil.
Nowruz oil field spills 175 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf after blowout.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences publish a report indicating that the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is likely to lead to global warming.
World Commission on Environment and Development is established.
1984
Ethiopian famine catastrophe kills multitudes of people.
Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills an estimated 10,000 people and injures many more when it accidentally leaks 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas into the air sending a poisonous cloud into a city of one million people.
First annual State of the World Report issued by the Worldwatch Institute.
Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson publishes Biophilia.
1985
Colombian volcano Nevada del Ruiz explodes killing 25,000 people.
Ozone hole in the stratosphere over Antarctica discovered and blamed on CFCs and other anthropogenic chemical products. A British Antarctic Survey reveals that the ozone level in January was 10% less than that of the previous year.
International outcry over the sinking of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior by French government commandos in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, killing one crew member. Ship was protesting French nuclear tests at the Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia.
Villach, Austria, hosts the first international conference on the greenhouse effect.
Kirkpatrick Sale publishes Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision.
The Rainforest Action Network is established.
The Conservation Fund is formed.
1986
The International Whaling Commission imposes a moratorium on commercial whaling.
World Conservation Union (IUCN) conference held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
One of the four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine explodes and melts down completely. This becomes the world’s worst nuclear disaster killing more than 10,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people in Western Europe are exposed to high levels of radiation through the circulation of the contamination in the atmosphere.
The Rainforest Alliance is established.
1987
World population reaches 5 billion.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is signed to phase out the production of dangerous chemicals that leak into the atmosphere and cause the Ozone hole.
UN World Commission on Environment and Development publishes the Bruntland Report called Our Common Future. It argues that economic growth and environmental conservation can coexist through a strategy of sustainable development. Preserving the environment, addressing global inequities, and battling poverty can promote rather than hinder economic prosperity. This sets the stage for the Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Conservation International is established.
1988
Epidemic kills 18,000 seals in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, probably from weakened immune systems resulting from poisonous organic chemicals contaminating the waters.
Brazilian rubber tree tapper, labor leader, and environmental activist Chico Mendes is murdered on December 22nd by local cattle ranchers. His assassination attracts worldwide attention to the numerous and diverse causes and consequences of deforestation in the Amazon and elsewhere in the tropics.
Prominent Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson publishes essays from the National Forum on Biodiversity in a book he edits called Biodiversity.
1989
International trade in elephant tusks banned
Altamira gathering of Brazilian Indians protests rainforest destruction
Some 76,000 tons of crude oil are spilled when the Exxon Valdez tanker runs onto a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The oil spill spreads over 5,100 kilometers of pristine coastline killing more than 250,000 birds, severely degrading the ecosystems, and seriously damaging the health and livelihood of the local fishing communities.
The Basel Convention regulates the movement of hazardous wastes from industrial countries across international borders to developing countries.
Bill McKibben publishes The End of Nature.
Roderick F. Nash publishes The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics.
Indian ecofeminist Vandana Shiva publishes Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development.
1990
The first report was issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a landmark study by scientists acting in unison to advise the world. It finds humans to be the cause of global warming and sea level rise from the cumulative effect of geenhouse gases.
Edward Abbey publishes The Monkey Wrench Gang which becomes a guidebookm for Earth First!
1991
An international agreement is reached on a protocol for protection of the environmental of the Antarctic which in effect creates a world park with most economic activities restricted.
Saddam Hussein’s troops start numerous oil fires at they retreat from Kuwait during the Gulf War causing widespread pollution and damaging the health of the populace in region. Allied bombing releases more oil into the Gulf. The sabotage and fighting leak approximately 1.25 tons of oil into terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems making this the worst oil spill in history.
1992
The UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) is held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With 117 heads of state attending from most countries of the world, this is the largest gathering ever of government leaders on any topic. They formulates a wish list on sustainable development and sign major environmental conventions on limiting greenhouse gas emissions and on protecting biodiversity. Their Convention on Biological Diversity mandates that countries develop strategies to protect biological diversity and that developed countries assist the efforts of developing countries in this international initiative. Also they adopt Agenda 21 on sustainable development calling for international efforts to improve the quality of life on Earth.
The international Convention on Climate Change establishes goals for carbon dioxide reduction for industrial countries by the year 2000 back to the levels of 1990, although these are non-binding. The government of the U.S.A fails to support the agreement.
The Union of Concerned Scientists with 1,700 scientists from 69 countries issues the World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity which asserts that “human beings and the natural world are on a collision course.”
The ozone hole over the Arctic is discovered heightening fears of increased UV radiation with thinned ozone layer contributing to skin cancer.
Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson publishes The Diversity of Life.
1993
Garrett Hardin publishes Living within Limits: Ecology, Economics, and Population Taboos.
Al Gore publishes Earth in Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit.
1994
The Uruguay Round leads to the formation of the World Trade Organization which is widely criticized by environmental, consumer, and labor organizations.
The international Desertification Convention is finally signed.
Delegates from 180 countries meet at the World Population Conference in Cairo, Egypt. They redefine population as a human rights issue stressing a women’s rights to reproductive health and control of her own body. The develop a plan to reduce and stabilize human population growth in the world.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) publishes an updated list of endangered and threatened species in the world called Red List. This creates a world standard for monitoring threats to biodiversity. One quarter of mammalian species and one in eight bird species are at high risk of extinction.
1995
Arsenic contamination is discovered in the water supply of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Controversy erupts over the plan to dump in the Atlantic Ocean Shell’s giant oil rig called the Brent Spar from the North Sea. The structure is brought ashore for recycling.
Author and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa is hanged to death in Nigeria for leading the Ogoni people in demonstrations against the environmental destruction of their lands by the Royal Dutch/Shell, Chevron, and other international oil companies.
Participants from 180 countries meet at the Conference on Women in Beijing, China. They develop an agenda to improve the lives of girls and women. They call for initiatives to reduce deforestation, soil erosion, and other forms of environmental destruction that often impoverish women and their families.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), involving hundreds of climate scientists worldwide working since 1988, releases a report concluding that the balance of the scientific evidence indicates that there is a detectable negative human influence on the world’s climate.
1996
Our Stolen Future by Theo Colborn, Diane Dumanoski, and Peter Meyers warns about reproductive threats to humans and other animals of the release of billions of pounds of synthetic chemicals into the environment, many of which disrupt natural hormones.
Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees publish Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth.
1997
The Kyoto Protocol is signed as industrial nations (except the U.S.A.) agree to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by 6-8 % from 190 levels by the year 2008-2012 as a first practical measure to help reduce global warming.
Fires throughout the world burn more than five million hectares of forests and other land. More tropical forests burned in 1997 than in any other year in history.
On December 10 Julia “Butterfly” Hill begins her campaign of tree-sitting to save a 1000-year old giant redwood she calls Luna and the surrounding trees from loggers of the Pacific Lumber division of Maxxam Corporation in Humboldt county, California. She ends her tree sit more than two years later on December 18, 1999.
1998
Fires set in oil plantations to vegetation burn out of control over huge areas of the Indonesian island of Borneo during an unusually dry period caused by the El Nino climatic anomaly which many scientists believe is intensified by global warming. Haze threatens public health and transportation in large parts of Southeast Asia.
The hottest year of the hottest decade of the hottest century of the millennium is revealed by studies of temperature records, tree rings, and ice cores from lake sediments. An increasing number of scientists are convinced that anthropogenic global warming is a reality.
The ozone hole over Antarctic increases to 25 million square kilometers. The previous record set in 1993 was 3 million square kilometers.
1999
Controversy erupts in Europe over the safety of genetically modified crops (“Frankenstein foods”) and U.S. products from Monsanto and other companies are boycotted.
Massive civilian protests in Seattle shut down the meeting of the World Trade Organization and challenge its dogma that globalization benefits everyone. Demonstrators draw attention to the environmental and social problems associated with international trade negotiations by the WTO.
2000
The UN Biosafety Protocol is signed affording countries the right to refuse the entry of genetically modified organisms. For the first time a precautionary principle is established in an international treaty. Forced on the U.S.A. by the protests over genetically modified crops, the protocol is viewed as a victory against the forces of globalization. The agreement requires exporters of genetically altered crops and organisms to receive prior consent from the receiving countries before they are shipped.
The international Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) mandates the complete phasing out of nine persistent and highly toxic pesticides and limits the use of various other chemicals such as dioxins, furans, and PCBs.
The International Panel on Climate Change releases a report about new and stronger evidence about anthropogenic influences on world climate including global warming estimates of temperature increases between 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by the year 2100.
2001
On February 13, U.S. President George W. Bush announces that the U.S.A. will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol because America cannot afford to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
A UN study reports that tropical countries sacrifice more than 15 million hectares of forest annually to farming, logging, and other threats.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources is approved by delegates from 116 countries giving farmers the right to save, trade, and sell seeds. It also limits patents on plant genes.
Ground rules are established for fisheries in international waters by the UN Agreement for the Conservation and Management of Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.
2002
Some 3,250 square kilometers of the Larsen B ice shelf collapse as temperature increases in the Antarctic region.
The European Union ratifies the Kyoto Protocol.
The World Summit n Sustainable Development is held in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 104 world leaders agree on a limited plan to reduce poverty and advance environmental protection.
Oil tanker Prestige splits apart and spills 77,000 tons of crude oil along the Galicia coastline of Spain resulting in worldwide public anger.
Scientists report that industrial fishing has exterminated 90% of the world’s largest and most economically important fish species.
China closes the gates of the Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River. As the reservoir fills it floods towns and farms as well as historic and archaeological sites. About two million people are forced to relocate.
2003
Scientists report that the northern hemisphere of the Earth has been warmer since 1980 than at any other period over the last 2,000 years.
2004
Research reveals that over the last decade warfare, hunting, mining, and other human activities have reduced the eastern lowland gorilla population in the heart of Africa by 70%, leaving fewer than 5,000 individuals of the species worldwide.
More than 2,000 people are die over a week of torrential rains with flooding in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Deforestation is blamed for massive landslides than bury animals, crops, people, and homes.
The European Union develops the first pollution register with a wealth of data on industrial emissions. This makes an unprecedented level of environmental data available to the public.
2005
Unusually severe hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreak havoc, destruction, and death along the Gulf Coast of the southern U.S.A. in late August and mid-September.
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Sources include:
The Ecologist July/August 2000 30(5):32-37.
“Geography and Environment Timeline” on GEsource: Geography and Environmental Gateway for UK, HE and FE web site:
http://www.gesource.ac.uk/timeline6.html
“Timeline of Environmental Milestones” on The Worldwatch Institute web site:
http://www.worldwatch.org/features/timeline/
Thiele, Leslie Paul, 2002, “Environmental Movements,” in Encyclopedia of Global Change: Environmental Change and Human Society, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1:386-391.
The web site of the Worldwatch Institute has many informative links on its Timeline:
For further background and information see:
Dobson, Andrew, ed., 1991, The Green Reader, New York, NY: Andre Deutsch.
Dunlap, R., and A. Mertig, eds., 1992, American Environmentalism: The U.S. Environmental Movement 1970-1990, New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Goudie, Andrew S., Editor-in-Chief, 2002, Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change: Environmental Change and Human Society, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Volumes 1-2.
Guha, Ramachandra, 2000, Environmentalism: A Global History, New York, NY: Longman.
Kamieniecki, S., ed., Environmental Politics in the International Arena: Movements, Parties, Organizations, and Policy, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Kennedy, Robert F., Jr., 2004, Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy, New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
Palmer, Joy A., ed., 2001, Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment, New York, NY: Rutledge.
Pepper, David, 1996, Modern Environmentalism: An Introduction, New York, NY: Routledge.
Pepper, David, ed., 2003, Environmentalism, New York, NY: Routledge, Volumes 1-5.
Sale, Kirkpatrick, 1993, The Green Revolution: The American Environmental Movement 1962-1992, New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
Thiele, Leslie Paul, 1999, Environmentalism for a New Millennium: The Challenge of Coevolution, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Worster, Donald, 1994, Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.