Timeline: Environmental events

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Contents

This article covers the events concerning the environment. These include events like laws, environmentalists, publications, organizations, etc.

Early events

  • 1306 - Edward I forbids coal burning in London when Parliament is in session. Like many attempts to regulate coal burning, it has little effect.
  • 1607 - Establishment of the first English colony at Jamestown. (now Virginia)
  • 1690s- Paris becomes first European city with extensive sewer system. See Frederique Krupa's Paris: Urban Sanitation Before the 20th Century.

18th Century

  • 1700's - Many early American settlers had a frontier attitude, which is a desire to exploit the resources of North America as quickly as possible.
  • 1709 - First manufactoring of iron is performed when Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale, England uses coal instead of wood.
  • 1723 - Lead in alcohol stills causes serious stomach pains, a commission of inquiry learns.
  • 1750 - Typhus epidemic sweeps through London, killing thousands including the Lord Mayor. An inquiry traces one possible origin to Newgate Prison, which was "in a very filthy condition and had long been so."
  • 1760 - First experiments on use of coal-gas for lighting by coal mine owner George Dixon in Newcastle, England.
  • 1762 to 1769 - Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution
  • 1792 - William Murdock first uses coal gas to light a small room in Redruth, Cornwall; He improved the gas by passing it through water. This experiment is usually noted as the beginning of the manufactured gas industry, which created vast pools of toxic coal tar in thousands of European and American towns and cities. Although the industry took off in the 1830s, its environmental legacy is only beginning to be understood.
  • 1796- Jenner demonstrates inoculation against smallpox.

19th Century

  • 1800 - Beginnings of first modern municipal sewers in London, but water supply is still frequently contaminated.
  • 1803 -- Louisiana Purchase finalized April 30. France sold 828,000 square miles stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Idaho.
  • 1804 - Lewis and Clark expedition begins the journey up the Missouri River to explore the geography.
  • 1825- First passenger carrying railway.
  • 1832 - Arkansas Hot Springs established as a national reservation, setting a precedent for Yellowstone and eventually, a national park system.
- George Catlin, proposes the idea of national parks encomassing major areas in which Indians and wild country could both be preserved.
  • 1845-Beginning of the Irish Famine
  • 1851-Henry David Thoreau delivers an address to the Concord (Massachusetts) Lyceum declaring that "in Wildness is the preservation of the World."
  • 1857-James Russell Lowell publishes an article in The Crayon calling for the establishment of a society to protect American trees
  • 1860 - Alabama doctor Nicholas T. Sorsby writes Horizontal Plowing and hillside Ditching, the first book devoted to erosion control through improved cultivation methods.
  • 1864- Congress passes a bill granting Yosemite Valley to the State of California as a public park.
  • 1871-Congress passes a "Joint Resolution for the Protection and Preservation of the Food Fishes of the Coast of the United States
  • 1872-Congress passes "An Act to set apart a certain Tract of Land lying near the Head-waters of the Yellowstone River as a public Park
  • 1875-Congress passes "An act to protect ornamental and other trees on Government reservations and on lands purchased by the United States, and for other purposes,"
  • 1876-John Muir publishes "God's First Temples: How Shall We Preserve Our Forests?,"
  • 1883-The American Ornithologists' Union, a professional society dedicated to bird protection, founded in New York City
  • 1891 - General Revision Act passed
- Forest Reserve Act passes Congress. Over 17.5 million acres set aside by 1893.
  • 1892- John Muir and a group of associates meet to found the Sierra Club, which is modelled on the Appalachian Mountain Club and explicitly dedicated to the preservation of wilderness.
  • 1893- Illinois is the first state to pass a law limiting the workday for women to 8 hours.

20th Century

  • 1900 - May 25 -- Lacey Act regulates interstate traffic in wild birds in order to stop importation of birds where they have become endangered.
  • 1901-President Theodore Roosevelt's First Annual Message outlines his goals of forest conservation and preservation (including the use of forest reserves as wildlife preserves
  • 1908-The Land Classification Board is established within the U.S. Geological Survey to classify natural resources systematically so as to determine their best use.
  • 1911-Former President Roosevelt's leadership in efforts to irrigate the West is recognized at the dedication of the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona
  • 1915-Congress appropriates $125,000 to enable the Bureau of Biological Survey to begin large-scale killing of predator animals, such as wolves and coyotes, regarded as injurious to sheep and cattle.
  • 1918-Congress approves the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
  • 1920-Congress passes the Federal Water Power Act
  • 1940 - US Congress passes Bald Eagle Preservation Act.
  • 1942 - Fermi produces first artificial atomic chain reaction.
  • 1945 - First use of atomic weapons.
  • 1948 - 600 deaths in London in a "killer fog."
  • 1956 - Another killer smog in London; 1,000 die.
  • 1957 - First artificial satellite of the Earth is launched[using chemicial rocket].
  • 1960 - First Clean Water Act passes US Congress.
  • 1965 - Congress passes Water Quality Act setting standards for states.
  • 1968 - Paul Ehrlich publishes The Population Bomb, which describes the threats of the rapidly growing human population.
  • 1970 - Dec. 29 -- Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) bill signed into law.
- Earth Day is founded by Denis Hays, and Gaylord Nelson
  • 1970 - President Richard Nixon creates Environmentsl Protection Agency [EPA] with a mission to protect the environment and public health.
  • 1971 -Congress restricts use of lead-based paint in residences and on cribs and toys.
  • 1982 - A PBC landfill protest in North Carolina begins environmental justice movement.
  • 1990 - Congress amends the Clean Air Act to require further reductions in HC,CO,NOx, and particulate emissions.
- Pollution Prevention Act passed
  • 1991 - Berners-Lee devlopes World Wide Web.

21st Century

- November -- World Dam Commission, an independent organization with a variety of stakeholders, reports on alternatives to massive hydroelectric dam projects.
  • 2001 - National Science Foundation report on Global warming supports previous warnings by scientists
- December 12 -- US National Research Council suggests that climate change may arrive very quickly, wreaking sudden and catastrophic damage on people, property, and natural ecosystems. The report was titled, "Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises."
  • 2005-EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response issued the final Contaminated Sediment Remediation Guidance for Hazardous Waste Sites.

References


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