• 1962: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
• 1962: beginning of the end of leaded gasoline
• 1963: nuclear test ban treaty between U.S. and USSR (stops above-ground testing)
• 1964: U.S. Wilderness Act (from 9 to 90 million acres in 37 years)
• 1968: U.S. Congress: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, National Trails Act
• 1968: publications: Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb, Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
• 1969: U.S. Congress: NEPA (national environmental policy act, establishes EPA, environmental impact statements, forest planning processes to integrate public participation)
• 1970: Earth Day (April 22)
• 1970: U.S. Congress passes Clean Air Act
• 1970: NRDC founded
• 1970: OSHA established
• 1971: Greenpeace founded
• 1971: First bottle recycling bill passes IN OREGON
• 1972: U.S. Congress passes:
  • Federal water pollution control act
  • Coastal zone management act
  • Ocean dumping act
  • Marine mammal protection act
• 1972, 73: publications: Small is Beautiful (Schumacher), Limits to Growth (Meadows et al)
• 1973: U.S. Congress passes Endangered species act
• 1974: Congress passes Safe Drinking Water Act (under EPA control)
• 1976: Congress passes RCRA (Resource conservation and recovery act-leads to superfund
• 1977: President Carter creates U.S. Dept. of Energy
• 1979: Three Mile Island Accident
• 1979: EarthFirst! Founded
• 1980: U.S. Congress passes CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act)-superfund act-abandoned toxic waste dumps
• 1982: UN World Charter for Nature passes 111 in favor 1 against (guess who?)
• 1984: Bhopal disaster in India (Union Carbide)
• 1986: Chernobyl (in Kiev) nuclear plant explodes, releases large doses of radioactivity. Immediate deaths are numbered at 31, mid-term deaths are estimated around 4,200. Various agencies report 10 fold to 200 fold increases in thyroid cancer. Over 2,000 square miles evacuated
• 1987: U.S. GAO study shows strong correlation between toxic waste dumps and minority communities
• 1988: International treaty bans all ocean dumping of wastes
• 1988: Ozone hole grows over Antarctica; DuPont announces it will stop making CFCs
• 1989: Exxon Valdez dumps 11 million gallons of oil along Alaskan coastline
• 1990: UN Report on climate change suggests global temperatures are on the rise (and sea levels!)
• 1992: Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero
• 1995: Wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone Nat'l Park
• 2003: Snowmobiles permitted in Yellowstone, despite research suggesting harmful ecological impacts
• 1997: Kyoto Protocol adopted by US and 121 other nations (but not ratified by Congress)
• 2001: George W. Bush announces US intentions to pull out of Kyoto Protocols
  

source: http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/hist1/11nineties.html