Timeline: Environmental events

From Environmental Technology

Contents 1 Early events 2 18th Century 3 19th Century 4 20th Century 5 21st Century 6 References

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)

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.

• 1760 - First experiments on use of coal-gas for lighting by coal mine owner George Dixon in Newcastle, England.

• 1762 --1769 -- Philadelphia committee led by Benjamin Franklin attempts to regulate waste disposal and water pollution

19th Century

• 1803 -- Louisiana Purchase finalized April 30. France sold 828,000 square miles stretching from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Idaho.

• 1832-Arkansas Hot Springs established as a national reservation, setting a precedent for Yellowstone and eventually, a national park system.

• 1832-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

• 1860 - Alabama doctor Nicholas T. Sorsby writes Horizontal Plowing and hillside Ditching, the first book devoted to erosion control through improved cultivation methods.

• 1891-General Revision Act passed

• 1891- Forest Reserve Act passes Congress. Over 17.5 million acres set aside by 1893.

• 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.

• 1940 - US Congress passes Bald Eagle Preservation Act.

• 1960 - First Clean Water Act passes US Congress.

• 1967 - The Torry Canyon oil tanker runs aground and spills 117,000 tons of oil into North Sea near Cornwall, and United Kingdom

• 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.

• 1970 - Earth Day is founded by Denis Hays, and Gaylord Nelson

• 1990 - Congress amends the Clean Air Act to require further reductions in HC,CO,NOx, and particulate emissions.

• 1990 - Pollution Prevention Act passed

21st Century

• 2000- European Union bans leaded gasoline as a public health hazard.

• 2000- November -- World Dam Commission, an independent organization with a variety of stakeholders, reports on alternatives to massive hydroelectric dam projects.

References

• Environmental Timeline