The Environment Chronicle

The "Society for Protection of Birds" (BfV) is founded by Lina Hähnle. In 1906, members of the aristocracy are successfully recruited, including the kings of Sweden, Rumania and Bulgaria, the royal couple in Wurttemburg, as well as most German Counts. US president Wilson joins in 1912, when the society gains charitable status. In 1934, the Forestry Minister orders it to be renamed the "Imperial Society for Protection of Birds" (RfV). After 1945, the society rebuilds in West Germany with its former name, becoming the "German Society for Protection of Birds" (DBV) with its White Stork logo in 1966, while the East German society is first subsumed under the GDR Cultural Society. After reunification, the society merges with the GDR Conservation Society to form the German Nature Conservation Society (NABU). After 100 years, NABU has 225,000 members, organised in some 200 local and youth groups, as well as 15 regional (Land) societies.

In his authoritative speech as President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the physicist William Crookes (1832 - 1919) warns of the scarcity of resources, particularly nitrogen fertiliser.

W.C. Röntgen discovers X-rays and receives the first Nobel Prize for physics in 1901.

The world's first waste incinerator comes into operation in Hamburg.

The Sierra Club was founded on May 28, 1892, by John Muir, a noted preservationist, and a group of influential friends who sought to create an organization to protect the boundaries of the newly established Yosemite National Park. Today, the Sierra Club has over 1.3 million members and supporters and is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States.

The hydroelectric plant Lauffen on the Neckar provides power to Frankfurt, 175 km away, marking the start of distributed electricity supply.

The first German drinking water reservoir comes into operation at Remscheid. By WW1, more reservoirs are built, such as at the Eder and Möhne valleys.

The first sewage treatment works comes into operation in Frankfurt-Niederrad.

Robert Hasenclever (1841 - 1902), a soda producer in Stolberg, reports to the Aachen Scientific Society on desulphurisation of "smelting smoke", and publishes "On Harm to Vegetation Through Acid Gas" - a pioneering achievement in air quality.

Berlin's sewage system is begun. Following Gdansk's example, the sewage is passed onto sewage fields.

The first hydroelectric power is used to illuminate Castle Linderhof in Bavaria.

The Yellowstone First National Park situated in the US states Wyoming (96%), Montana (3%), and Idaho (1%) was founded on March 1st, 1872 as the first national park of the world, setting an example followed in other countries, including Germany.

On July, 13th, 1870 the Royal Prussian Commission for the Research of the German Seas took up work in Kiel on behalf of the fishery. The commission had been established by the Royal Prussian Ministry of Agricultural Affairs aiming at improved fishing results.

At their 26th general meeting, farmers and foresters pass a resolution protecting birds deemed useful to agriculture. An international agreement follows in 1902.

The first allotment club founded in Leipzig. The first major allotment parks are created in 1870.

Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) formed the Ecology term in his book "General Morphology of Organisms". However, he can not be named as the inventor of this scientific branch, as ecological problems had already been covered since ancient times. As early as around 300 B.C. the works of Theophrast contained many corresponding examples.

The zoologist Ernst Haeckel coins the term ecology to describe "the body of knowledge concerning the economy of nature - the investigation of the total relation of the animal both to its inorganic and to its organic environment"

George Perkin Marsh (1801 - 1882) publishes his exhaustive "Man and Nature", reissued as "The Earth as modified by Human Action" in 1874. This is the first comprehensive description of the impact of human economic activity on land and sea around the world.

The start of the potash industry in Staßfurt near Magdeburg contaminates rivers with spoil salts.

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) finally publishes his landmark opus " On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection...". The mechanics of nature and thereby the environment become more consciously understood.

Discovery and use of aniline dye. The aniline dye industry leads to much pollution and damage to public health.

The first central water supply is built in Hamburg. Berlin, Frankfurt and Cologne follow suit. The water is not yet filtered.

The first sewage system is put into operation in Hamburg.

J. von Liebig founds the science of agricultural chemistry and forms of artificial fertilisers multiply.

Johann Gottfried Tulla (1770 - 1828) starts work on expanding the Upper Rhine between the Black Forest and the Vosges. The Weser, Elbe and Danube are also excavated in the 19th century.