| Timeline for Environmental Awareness | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1892 | Sierra Club | |||
| 1905 | Audubon Society | |||
| 1922 | Izaak Walton League | |||
| 1935 | Wilderness Society | |||
| 1936 | National Wildlife Federation | |||
| 1951 | Nature Conservancy | |||
| 1961 | World Wildlife Fund | |||
| 1967 | Environmental Defense Fund | |||
| 1968 | Zero Population Growth | |||
| 1969 | Friends of the Earth
Union of Conceerned Scientists |
|||
| 1970 | Center for Science in the Public
Interest
Environmental Action League of Conservation Voters National Resources Defense Council |
|||
| 1971 | Green Peace | |||
| 1975 | Worldwatch Institute | |||
| Source: Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1993. The Green Revolution - The American Environmental Movement 1962-1992. Hill and Wang, New York, 124 pp. | ||||
| Critical Events in the Environmental Arena | |
|---|---|
| 1962 | Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring |
| 1965 | Water Quality Act, Solid Waste Disposal Act, Clean Air Act (1955) amended |
| 1969 | Cuyahoga River bursts into flames |
| 1970 | Environmental Protection Agency established
OSHA (occupational safety) Earth Day, April 22 |
| 1972 | Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) |
| 1973 | Endangered Species Act |
| 1980 | Superfund established for toxic waste cleanup |
| Source: Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1993. The Green Revolution - The American Environmental Movement 1962-1992. Hill and Wang, New York, 124 pp. | |
| Environmental Disasters | |
|---|---|
| 1962 | Health effects of thalidomide publicized |
| 1966 | B-52 with nuclear bombs on board crashed near Spain |
| 1967 | Torrey Canyon oil spill
36 million gallons spilled into English Channel |
| 1969 | Santa Barbara oil spill |
| 1975 | FMC Corp. dumped 3,000 pounds of toxic waste into Ohio River |
| 1977 | North Sea oil spill (8.2 million gallons) |
| 1978 | Love Canal (Buffalo, NY) contamination
reported
Three Mile Island (PA) radiation leak from nuclear plant Amoco Cadiz tanker spilled 70 million gallons of oil off French coast |
| 1983 | Times Beach (MO) abandoned (PCB contaminated road oil) |
| 1984 | Bhopal, India leak at Union Carbide
pesticide plant
10,000+ dead and dying |
| 1985 | Toxic chemical leak in Institute, WV |
| 1986 | Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion |
| 1989 | Exxon Valdez tanker spills 11 million gallons of crude oil |
| 1991 | Persian Gulf war pollution disaster |
| Source: Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1993. The Green Revolution - The American Environmental Movement 1962-1992. Hill and Wang, New York, 124 pp. | |