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

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.

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

- 2010 is declared to be the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations General Assembly.

- The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico flows unabated for three months.

List of years

See also