Earth Day 50th Environmental Victories
Earth Day is a time to reflect on the progress made and work to be done in order to protect the health of people and the Earth’s natural systems. On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, National Geographic describes in photos 50 key “environmental victories.”
What do you think? Suggestions for important additions?
ISE & Affiliated Additions
- “A list of landmark U.S. environmental legislation would have to include the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972, often-amended laws that have catalyzed momentous progress in cleaning up our air and water resources. For a growing movement demanding action on climate change, the Clean Air Act’s proudest moment occurred in 2007, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants subject to regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency. Less widely recognized is a law that put renewable energy on the map in America: the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). This law for the first time required historically monopolistic utilities to buy electricity from “independent power producers” at a “just and reasonable” price. A whole new cohort of energy entrepreneurs emerged as a result, building the country’s first wave of utility-scale wind farms and solar power plants.” – Philip Warburg, ISE Senior Fellow
- “In 2014, @NSF launched the #NSFNRT Program. Now there are over 80 Programs like BU URBAN across the US & many unite environmental research w/ other disciplines. I’d say that’s a win!” – BU URBAN
1970 First Earth Day in 1970; National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 goes into effect
1972 DDT banned (thank you Rachel Carson)
1972 Clean Water Act
1972 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act
1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act
1973 Endangered Species Act
1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
1974 Safe Drinking Water Act
1975 EPA begins a phaseout of lead from gasoline (takes 20 years)
1976 Toxic Substances Control Act
1978 Love Canal demonstrates power of community organizing
1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (aka Superfund)
1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act
1981 Ranch dog in WY appears with dead black-footed ferret in its mouth; thought extinct, captive breeding program establishes viable wild populations
1982 International Whaling Commission finally adopts a global moratorium on commercial whaling
1986 McDonalds starts using biodegradable packaging in lieu of styrofoam
1986 W.R. Grace found guilty of contaminating water supply in Woburn, MA (basis for A Civil Action)
1987 Captive breeding program begins in CA for 27 remaining wild California condors
1987 The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer
1987 The Water Quality Act of 1987
1988 Medical Waste Tracking Act
1989 EPA begins phased ban on asbestos
1990 Update to Clean Air Act
1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit)
1993 Convention on Biological Diversity enters force (signed at Earth Summit in 1992)
1993 U.S. Green Building Council founded
1996 Erin Brokovich and company win $333 million v. Pacific Gas and Electric for alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium near Hinkley,CA
1995 Wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone Park, WY
1995 Bald Eagles removed from Endangered Species list (thanks to DDT ban and conservation programs)
1997 Kyoto Protocol (extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)
2000 Toyota introduces Prius to US market; hybrid vehicle era begins
2000 Greenpeace activists arrested outside EPA headquarters; environmental awareness and activism climbs toward an all-time high
2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule
2002 California pass an aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard
2002 William McDonough and Michael Braungart publish Cradle to Cradle, inspiring zero waste movement
2003 Elon Musk founds Tesla
2006 An Inconvenient Truth, starring former Vice President Al Gore
2006 US begins to regulate commercial fishing through catch shares
2007 Energy Independence and Security Act
2007 Walk Score launched to rate cities on how easy they are for pedestrians to navigate
2007 PlaNYC outlines city action to support zero-waste, energy efficiency, tree planting, green space, biking, and much more
2009 Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument established
2010 Department of the Interior places a seven-year ban on oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic
2012 Dams blocking Washington’s Elwha River, like the Elwha Dam are removed, highlighting growing movement to restore natural rivers and fish migration
2015 Paris Climate Agreement established the 1.5 degrees target
2017 EPA tightens the ozone national pollution standard
2018 Lesser long-nosed bat is the first bat to be taken off the Endangered Species List
2019 John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act greatly expands land and river protection
2019 Youth Climate Strike