List of years in the environment
This is a list of years in the environment. The subjects relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.
List of years
1920s
- 1927 - several species become extinct; the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 is caused by a denuded landscape and causes extensive damage.
1940s
1950s
- 1954
- 1959
1960s
- 1960 -
- 1961 -
- 1962 - Silent Spring, the widely acclaimed book by Rachel Carson which documented the effects of indiscriminate use of pesticides, is published.
- 1963 - The Clean Air Act is passed in the United States, with subsequent amendments in 1970, 1977 and 1990.
- 1964
- 1965
- 1968
- 1969
1970s
- 1970 - The first Earth Day, on April 22, millions of people gather in the United States for the first Earth Day organized by Gaylord Nelson, former senator of Wisconsin, and Denis Hayes, Harvard graduate student.
- 1971
- 1972 - The Limits to Growth was published. The book is about the computer modelling of unchecked economic and population growth with finite resource supplies, and became both controversial and influential.
- 1973
- 1974
- 1975
- 1976 - Ongoing oil spills began in Nigeria leading to various environmental issues in the Niger Delta.
- 1977
- 1978 - The Amoco Cadiz oil spill occurred on the coast of Brittany resulting in the largest oil spill of its kind in history to that date.
- 1979 - The Three Mile Island accident, a partial nuclear meltdown that released radioactive material, occurred in the United States.
1980s
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985 - the International Tropical Timber Agreement enters into force.
- 1986 - the Chernobyl disaster, a catastrophic nuclear accident, occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine
- 1987
- 1988 - the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer enters into force.
- 1989 - the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska.
1990s
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993 - the Convention on Biological Diversity, known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, enters into force. It is an international legally binding treaty.
- 1994 - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
2000s
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002 - the World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations.
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
2010s
- 2010
- 2011 - 2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019