FIGURE 1: Major Environmental Policy Eras

	Human Control / Impacts	Public Health	Resource Conservation	Industrial Regulation	Civil Society	Economics / Ecology
5x10⁵BCE	Fire domesticated by homo erectus
4x10⁵BCE	Homo sapiens evolve from homo erectus
10,000 BCE	Domestication of dogs, goats Wheat and rye cultivated in Fertile Crescent
7000 BCE	Pottery is invented
5000 BCE	Copper first smelted
3500 BCE	Earliest Mesopotamian cities, irrigation systems Bronze is invented First animal-drawn plows
2500 BCE		Babylonian and Israeli cities enforce strict hygiene laws Mohenjo Daro culture (Pakistan/India) invents underground sewers
1750 BCE					Code of Hammurabi is first written law
1500 BCE	Glass vessels first made in Mesopotamia
1400 BCE	Iron smelting is invented
650 BCE						Coined money first minted
350 BCE		Roman aqueducts are built	At Aristotle’s urging, several Greek city-states protect forests and regulate wood use			In Ethics, Aristotle argues price should represent "intrinsic worth" to humans Paper money in China
1000 CE			Many European feudal states restrict hunting of wild game to nobles
1300s	Sawmill is invented	The Black Plague decimates Europe; cities begin enforcing strict hygiene laws	German and French forest laws attempt to protect valuable timber supplies	England limits coal burning to preserve London air quality		Aquinas’ Summa Theologica calls loaning on interest (usury) "un-Christian"
1600s	Hooke discovers plant cells	Paris builds Europe’s first large-scale sewage system	France strengthens its Forest Codes Pennsylvania settlers required to preserve 1 in 5 forested acres		Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years’ War and gives rise to territorial nation-states
1700s	Tull invents seed drill Watt steam engine invented	Citizens petition to remove tannery waste from Philadelphia’s commercial center Typhus epidemic kills thousands in London Jenner develops smallpox vaccine	Early closure of the heath hen hunting season in New York		Hundreds of Bishnois Hindus die trying to protect trees from the Maharaja of Jodhpur	Quesnay’s Tableau Economique calls land source of wealth Smith’s The Wealth of Nations establishes the Classical School Bentham, Mill et al develop Utilitarianism Malthus writes his Essay on Population
1800-1820		First modern sewer built in London	US Navy Secretary authorized to reserve timber lands Massachusetts bans hunting of two threatened species			Ricardo develops the theory of comparative advantage
1830-1849	Deere invents steel plow	The UK Public Health Act is passed after cholera kills 62,000	Arkansas Hot Springs becomes the first national reservation US Department of the Interior is established		Scottish Rights of Way Society founded	Dupuit establishes willingness to pay as a measure of value Marx writes The Communist Manifesto
1850-1884	Chromosome and DNA discovered Mendel describes Laws of Heredity Marcus invents gasoline-powered automobile First hydroelectric dam	New York city rules all homes must be connected to sewers Pasteur develops germ theory of disease	US Geological Survey is formed US Division of Forestry established (becomes US Forest Service in 1905)	UK Alkali Act enacted to reduce pollution by the chemical industry First US municipal air pollution control laws	The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded American Forests is founded	Darwin publishes Origin of the Species Jevons, Walras, et al establish the Neo-Classical School Häckel writes on ecology Seuss coins biosphere Forbes develops ecosystem* concept*
1885-1899	Arrhenius speculates on CO² and climate change	Chicago develops the first comprehensive US city sewer system Nicolle invents typhus vaccine	US Census declares the "end of the American frontier" Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant National Parks established		Sierra Club founded Massachusetts Audubon Society founded	Marshall interprets marginal utility theory in formal mathematics
1900-1915	Sutton and Boveri propose chromosome theory of inheritance Haber process to synthesize ammonia	First international health organization is established in Paris Construction of Baltimore sewer begins	US Lacey Act regulates interstate wild game traffic First US National Bird Preserve is named on Pelican Island, Florida	US-Canada pollution agreement negotiated between t US and UK	American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society founded Smoke Prevention Association of America founded	Pareto and Walras develop general equilibrium theory Grey formalizes optimal resource consumption Ecological Society of America founded
1916-1925			US National Park Service is established Migratory Bird Treaty signed with Canada	US Oil Pollution Act prohibits near-shore discharges	Save the Redwoods League founded National Parks Association founded	Soddy argues that thermodynamics limit economic productivity Pigou on taxing negative externalities
1926-1945	Stihl invents gas chainsaw Muller identifies genetic mutations due to radiation Bosch invents industrial-scale ammonia production Hoover Dam is first mega-dam to be constructed Weil et al create first sustained nuclear reaction	Fleming discovers penicillin US National Institute of Health established	US Civilian Conservation Corps formed, dissolved within a decade		Wilderness Society founded National Wildlife Federation founded Planned Parenthood founded	Elton on Animal Ecology Clements and Weaver publish Plant Ecology Keynes’ General Theory on aggregate demand Kaldor and Hicks on welfare economics Lindeman develops energetics* methodology*
1946-1955	First artificial insemination Watson and Crick identify DNA’s helical structure	World Health Organization formed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention founded to fight contagious disease CDC establishes applied epidemiology program	International Whaling Convention signed First UN Conference on the Environment	US Federal Water Pollution Control Act US Air Pollution Control Act	Defenders of Wildlife founded International Union for the Protection of Nature forms Osbourne writes Our Plundered Planet The Nature Conservancy founded	Hotelling uses travel cost to establish amenity values Gordon’s economic theory of common property resources Arrow and Debreu’s general equilibrium* proof* Odum writes textbook Fundamentals of Ecology
1956-1960	FDA approves oral birth control and IUDs	Earliest known HIV case	Antarctic Treaty established wildlife and scientific preserve UN Conference on the Law of the Sea generates series of related treaties		First International Geophysical Year	Eckstein promotes cost-benefit analysis for resource policy In the Problem of Social Cost, Coase claims property rights lead to internalization
1961-1965	Brenner et al discover RNA Green Revolution begins		US National Wilderness Preservation System established	International Clean Air Congress held in London US Clean Air Act funds research and cleanups US Water Quality Act US Solid Waste Disposal Act	World Wildlife Fund founded Silent Spring *First World Parks Conference* in Seattle**	Barnett and Morse’s Scarcity and Growth on future availability of natural resources Davis, et al begin developing contingent valuation methods
1966-1970	Torrey Canyon spills 80,000 tons of oil off Cornwall’s coast	First case of HIV in US		US Air Quality Act funds pollution control planning Sweden establishes first national environmental protection agency US National Environmental Policy Act US Clean Air Act	Environmental Defense Fund founded Club of Rome founded Friends of the Earth founded Natural Resources Defense Council founded First Earth Day	Boulding’s Spaceship Economics argues for radical recycling Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons Daly writes On Economics as a Life Science Dales on tradable pollution permits Ayres and Kneese on materials balance and externalities
1971-1972	Berg creates recombinant DNA		Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is signed US Coastal Zone Management Act US Marine Mammal Protection Act World Heritage Convention signed	US Federal Water Pollution Control Act US Ocean Dumping Act US Toxic Substances Control Act	Greenpeace founded UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm UN Environment Program established First bottle recycling bill passes in Oregon Limits of Growth	Georgescu-Roegen argues the Laws of Thermodynamics ultimately limit growth Nordhaus and Tobin on accounting for environmental quality Meadows etal write Limits to Growth Simon’s theory of bounded rationality
1973-1975		US Safe Drinking Water Act	CITES Treaty signed US Endangered Species Act	International Treaty to Prevent Pollution from Ships signed US Hazardous Waste Transportation Act	Worldwatch Institute founded Council of Asilomar founded to discuss future of recombinant genetics	Schumacher publishes Small is Beautiful OECD Economics Unit develops the polluter pays principle
1976-1979	First in vitro fertilization of a human being Human growth hormone cloned and patented	WHO declares smallpox is effectively eradicated	US Federal Land Policy Management Act US National Forest Management Act US Soil and Water Conservation Act Endangered American Wilderness Act	EPA has authority to regulate leaded gas US Resource Conservation and Recovery Act US National Energy Act Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Treaty signed	The Land Institute founded in Kansas Green Belt Movement founded in Kenya First Blue Angel eco-labels are awarded Love Canal Homeowners Association founded	Daly proposes a Steady-State Economics as an alternative to perpetual growth Dasgupta and Heal unite growth theory in Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources Lovelock writes Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth
1980-1982	First transgenic animal	World Health Assembly calls for a Global Strategy of Health for All by 2000 Interferon cloned Genetically engineered iinsulin first sold Onset of AIDS epidemic	World Conservation Strategy guides many developing nation conservation plans US Endangered Species Act amended	US Superfund Act directs the EPA to clean up toxic waste The Global 2000 Report to the President	Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste founded UN World Charter for Nature World Resources Institute founded	Siebert’s ecospace describes ecological sources and sinks
1983-1987	Monsanto develops first antibiotic-resistant GMO Frostban is first field-tested GMO	First International AIDS Conference in Atlanta AZT trials to control AIDS	UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signed International Tropical Timber Agreement signed	Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer signed US-Canada Agreement on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes Montreal Protocol on Ozone-Depleting Chemicals	UN World Population Conference in Mexico US Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act Third World Network founded	Solow on allocation of renewable resources across generations Ecological Modeling special issue on Ecological Economics Martinez-Alier writes Ecological Economics
1988	Transgenic mouse is first patented life form		UNEP convenes Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts on Biological Diversity	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in Toronto		International Society of Ecological Economics founded
1989-1991	Human Genome Project is launched	AIDS drugs first marketed First gene therapy trials on humans	UN Antarctica treaty prohibits mining, limits pollution and protects animal species	Basel Convention regulates hazardous waste transport London Protocols tighten ozone controls US Clean Air Act amendments restrict power plant emissions US-Canada Agreement on Air Quality	Nigeria's Movement for the Survival of the Ogani People founded	Ecological Economics journal first published Hartwick et al develop green accounting techniques
1992			The Statement of Principles on Forests, and Convention on Biological Diversity are opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit	Agenda 21 and the Framework Convention on Climate Change are opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit		Costanza and Daly on natural capital Business Council for Sustainable Develop-ment coins eco-efficiency* at Rio*
1993-1999	FDA declares GMO food is not dangerous Flavr Savr is first GMO food marketed First sheep is cloned "Terminator seeds" patented Human cells are cloned		The Convention on Biological Diversity enters into force US Supreme Court rules habitat alteration can be regulated Moratorium on further Endangered Species Act listings	US-EPA moratorium on toxic waste incineration Kyoto Protocol signed by 122 nations (but not ratified by Congress)	National Environmental Trust founded Forest Stewardship Council founded First GMO food bans	Wackernagel et al on ecological footprint Daily writes on ecosystem services First Ecological Economics degree and certificate programs Ecological Economics Student Group forms at University of Maryland
2000-2001	First GMO primate (rhesus monkey) is born First GMO human is born	Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria established		Bush administration rejects Kyoto Protocol	World Commission on Dams
2002-2003	Human Genome Project completed

This draft timeline (as of October 17, 2003) has been produced from an experimental database that integrates material from a range of environmental history sources (currently including over 1,100 entries). The database can be sorted or searched by two keyword systems (see below), as well as by date, event, source and/or full-text.

Issue keywords: agriculture, atmosphere, biodiversity, climate, conservation, civil society, culture, data source or publication, economics, environment, energy, events (e.g., births, deaths), flora or fauna, fresh or marine water, gender, government, governance, public health, industry, justice, land, law, population, natural resources, transportation, urban issues.

Geographical keywords include specific countries and regions (continents, seas or oceans); it currently references 82 geographical units.

For more information, contact: Ken Cousins, Department of Government and Politics, 3114C Tydings Hall, University of Maryland, College Park <kcousins@gvpt.umd.edu> T: (301) 405-4133

SELECTED SOURCES

Costanza, R. (2003). The Early History of Ecological Economics and the International Society for Ecological Economics. Internet Encyclopaedia of Ecological Economics. Burlington, VT, International Society for Ecological Economics: 4.

Hayes, S. P. (2001). "Toward Integration in Environmental History." Pacific Historical Review 70(1): 59-67.

Kovarik, W. (2002). Environmental History Timeline, Radford University. 2003. Available at: www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/hist1/timeline.new.html

Library of Congress (2002). Chronology of Selected Events in the Development of the American Conservation Movement, c.1850-1920, Library of Congress,. 2003. Available at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html

Neuzil, M. and W. Kovarik (1996). Green Crusades: Environmental Conflict in History. 2003. Available at: www.geocities.com/RainForest/3621/hist.htm

Pearce, D. (2002). "An Intellectual History of Environmental Economics." Annual Review of Energy and the Environment 27(1): 57-81.

Saul, S. (2003). Matrix: Mapping History, Shiralee Saul. 2003. Available at: www.labyrinth.net.au/~saul/history

Spiegel, H. W. (1999). The Growth of Economic Thought. Durham, Duke University Press.

Umwelt Bundes Amt (2000). History of Environmental Protection (Germany and Worldwide), Translation: German Federal Environmental Agency. 2000. Available at: www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-daten-e/daten-e/environmental-protection-in-germany.htm