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570
Ancient Civilzations B.C. - 570 A.D.
1150-1250 -- Rise and persecution of the Cathari, a vegan sect in southern France who were eventually exterminated by the Albigensian Crusade and the institution of the Inquisition in 1233. -
May 16, 1350
Ancient Civilization
Bubonic plague kills on third to 75% of the populations Europe and Asia, creating the first attempts to enforce public health and quarantine laws. Reaction to the plague also includes genocidal pogroms against Jews in most cities of Europe. -
The Middle Ages 1000 - 1600's
Japan's shogun warns against dangers of erosion, stream siltation and flooding caused by deforestation, and a proclaimation urges people to plant tree seedlings. Additional measures lead to an elaborite system of woodland management by 1700 -
Enlightenment Era
English scientist Percival Pott finds that coal is causing an unusually high incidence of cancer among chimney sweeps. -
The Middle Ages
Crude sanitation is not necessarily bad sanitation; for a medieval farmhouse, in which the common dung pile was the only domestic privy, was not as great a menace to its inhabitants' health as the progressive pre-Pasteur town of the 19th century, blessed with refined water closets in every middle-class dwelling, and cursed by a supply of drinking water drawn from the same river into which the sewage of the town above was emptied -
Enlightenment Era
Benjamin Franklin leaves money in a widely publicized codicil to his will to build fresh water pipeline to Philadelphia due to the link between bad water and disease. Within a few years, one quarter of the population of the town dies in a yellow fever epidemic. -
The Enlightenment Era 1700 - 1811
1791-- The New York state assembly closes the hunting season on the heath hen. The species is extinct by the early 1900s. -
Enlightenment Era
Smoke in Pittsburgh -- Pittsburgh official Presley Neville wrote "the general dissatisfaction which prevails and the frequent complaints which are exhibited, in consequence of the Coal Smoke from many buildings in the Borough, particularly from smithies and blacksmith shops..." The smoke affected the "comfort, health and... peace and harmony" of the new city. As in most other cities, the remedy of the age was to build higher chimneys. -
Industrail Revolution
1842 -- English engineers lay out sewer system in Hamburg, Germany, and English system of house by house sewer lines is adopted elsewhere in Europe. -
The Industial Revolution 1810 - 1890
1812 -- First gas lights introduced in London by the Gas Light & Coke Co, charterd despite opposition by Boulton & Watt steam manufacturerer. This "town gas" or manufactured gas would be used in every major US and European city, but residual coal tar would remain an environmental problem well into the 21st century. -
The Progressive Era 1890 - 1920
1,000 Londoners die in smog incident. -
The Prgressive Era
Sewage cleanup in London means the return of some fish species (grilse, whitebait, flounder, eel, smelt) to the Thames River. (Fitter). -
Progressive Era
Coal Smoke Abatement Society formed to pressure government agencies to enforce pollution laws in England. -
Progressive Era
100,000 acres of Alaskan coal land withdrawn from public use; sold by USGS to private interests, creating a scandal in 1910. -
Congress Passes:
Congress passes Safe Drinking Water Act to be administered by EPA. -
Congress Passes:
Congress passes Hazardous Waste Transportation Act -
Congress Passes:
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to regulate hazardous waste and garbage
Federal Land Policy Management Act
Whale Conservation and Protective Study Act
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) equired testing for health and environmental effects prior to a chemicals manufacture or distribution. The law also required records to be kept and allowed EPA enforcement through civil proceedings. However, of 2,300 new substances reviewed by EPA between 1972 and 1992, only 13 had been stopped. -
Congress Passes
Congress passes Coastal Barriers Resources Act and Nuclear Waste Policy Act. -
Congress Passes
US Congress passes International Environmental Protection Act. -
Congress Votes
Congress votes to halt timbering in Alaska's Tsongass National Forest, the last undisturbed temperate rain forest in the U.S. -
Clean Air Act..
Clean Air Act amendments strengthen rules on SOx and NOx emissions from electric power plants helping reduce acid rain. -
European Union Agrees..
Jan 10 2007 -- European Union agrees to cut C02 emissions by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. Under the Kyoto protocol, the EU was already committed to an 8% decrease. The plan also called for biofuels to make up at least 10% of vehicle fuel by 2020. -
US EPA..
US EPA cuts level of carcinogenic benzene allowed in gasoline to 1.3% This will result in an 80% cut from 1999 toxic emissions levels by 2030, EPA said. The change in rules was the result of a 2004 lawsuit by the U.S. Public Interest Group and the Sierra Club. The groups were not happy with one part of the new regs that allow refineries to trade credits for air toxics. -
South Korean Container..
Nov. 7 2007-- A South Korean container ship Cosco Busan collides with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in California. About 58,000 gallons of bunker oil and diesel fuel are spilled -- the largest spill since 1988.
