The Environment Chronicle

"It's good to walk!" The public is encouraged to take part in sport, organised walks and other car-free activities - although the oil crisis has long been over. After three years, the event is shelved, not least because environmental groups lose interest. A new car-free Sunday takes place in 2000 (18th June), and a Europe-wide day is inaugurated on 22nd September.

Greenpeace activists occupy the chimney of the Boehringer pesticide factory in Hamburg for 26 hours, ushering in a long-term chemicals campaign.

Bird of the Year 1981 is the Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius).

Flower of the Year is the 1981 Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus).

Fish stocks die due to lack of oxygen in the Baltic Sea.

On 7 March 1980 the oil tanker Tanio, carrying 26.000 tonnes fuel oil, broke in two during violent weather conditions off the coast of Brittany, France. As a result approximately 13.500 tonnes of cargo oil was spilled. Strong northwest winds moved the oil towards the Breton coast. The spilled oil contaminated about 200km of coastline to varying degrees.

Flower of the Year 1980 is the Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe).

Flower of the Year is organised by Stiftung Naturschutz Hamburg und Stiftung zum Schutze gefährdeter Pflanzen, Steintorweg 8; D-20099 Hamburg; Tel.: +49 40 243443; Fax: +49 40 243175

Bird populations across Europe have experienced sharp declines over the past 30 years, with the majority of losses from the most common species, say researchers from the University of Exeter, the RSPB and the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) in a new study. However numbers of some less common birds have risen. The study, published in the journal Ecology Letters on 2 November 2014, reveals a decrease of 421 million individual birds over 30 years. Around 90 percent of these losses were from the 36 most common and widespread species, including house sparrows, skylarks, grey partridges and starlings, highlighting the need for greater efforts to halt the continent-wide declines of our most familiar countryside birds.

Bird of the Year 1980 is the Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix).

"First the trees, then us" - the debate on dying forests becomes emotionally highly charged. This is partly thanks to the Green Party, which raised public awareness.

BUND's annual Bodo Manstein Medal for exceptional services to the environment is awarded for the first time.

David McTaggart combines the many competing Greenpeace offices under an umbrella organisation registered as "Stichting Greenpeace Council" in Holland. This is the birth of Greenpeace International. The central office is in Washington DC at first, subsequently moves to Amsterdam.

Deaths from pollution and accessible chemicals on the site of the chemical factory Stoltzenberg, Hamburg: The Chemical Factory Dr. Hugo Stoltzenberg (CFS, 1923-1979) was a chemical factory in Hamburg, which, according to its own account, dealt with the production and handling of "Ultragifte". It was known mainly by two events, the so-called Stoltzenberg scandals of 1928 and 1979. The first was triggered by the withdrawal of a poison gas cloud on the company premises in Hamburg, which killed ten people. In the case of the second, three children were involved in the game with chemicals discovered at the company's premises ... (6 September 1979)

A cement factory in Lengerich contaminates the surroundings with the toxic heavy metal Thallium. Agricultural land becomes unusable, trees lose their foliage.

Over time, c. 170,000 t crude oil leak from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico. The borehole is eventually capped.

On 28 April 1979, the Liberian oil tanker Gino, transporting 40,000 tonnes of carbon black, a refined oil 1.09 times denser than water, was en route from Port Arthur (Texas) to Le Havre, when she sank off Ushant island after colliding with the Norwegian oil tanker Team Castor in foggy conditions. About 1,000 tonnes of oil were spilled from a damaged tank in the Team Castor. 17 antipollution vessels poured dispersants on the oil slick. The Gino sank 120 metres deep, taking her cargo with her. Despite its viscosity, the carbon black spread into the surrounding water.

Art.1(1) of the guideline concerns the conservation of all wild bird species native to the European territories of member states, and covers protection, management, control and use of the species.

A failed valve in the cooling pump for Block 2 of the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island means that almost no water reaches the core. Half of the 150 t reactor core melts, and large quantities of radioactive water are released (source: Greenpeace).

Organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the First World Climate Conference (WCC-1) was held on 12-23 February, 1979 in Geneva, Switzerland. The WCC-1 recognized climate change as a serious problem and the WCC-1 declaration called for the urgent development of a common strategy for a greater understanding of the climate system and a rational use of climate information, and proposed the establishment of the World Climate Programme (WCP).

Five activists parachute into a building site for a Canadian nuclear reactor. During the confusion, other activists succeed in occupying the site.

The European Community publishes its second "Report on the State of the Environment"

The "Atlantic Empress" loses 287,000 t oil.

The "Independenta" loses 95,000 t oil on the Bosphorus.

BUND presents the first solar-powered boat on the Bodensee.

Bird of the Year 1979 is the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustico).

The jury sits for the first time to award the Blue Angel eco-label. The process involves close cooperation between consumer organisations, environmental groups and business. The label becomes an important help for environmentally aware consumers. There are now many other eco-labels, and in 1998, the FEA publishes a guide to the 40 eco-labels now in use.

"Sun Day" is celebrated every year on 3 May. The "Sun Day" was established by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in 1978.

The "Amoco Cadiz" spills c. 230,000 t crude oil into the Atlantic. The bay of Arcachon in France is particularly affected. Thousands of sea birds and mussel or oyster farms are destroyed and 200 km of the coastline is contaminated.

Greenpeace discovers by chance that Great Britain and other European states are dumping nuclear waste in the North Atlantic. As the British freighter "Gem" reaches the dumping site, c. 960 km from the coast of Cornwall, carrying 2,000 t nuclear waste, two dinghies take up post below the loading ramp. The barrels continue to roll out, and the protest must end, although the media are on hand to record events.

Bird of the Year 1978 is the Common Crane (Grus grus).

Greenpeace targets the Icelandic whaling fleet, to stop it killing fin whales, whose populations have shrunk dramatically. In 3m waves, they manoeuvre their dinghies between the ships and the whales, with the result that not a single whale is harpooned.

At its third solar energy exhibition, BUND presents Germany's first solar-powered vehicle.

In "Seveso is Everywhere", Egmont Koch and Fritz Vahrenholt warn of the dangers inherent in the chemicals industry.

Fertilisers may only be traded when their type is permitted by the Ordinance.

World Vegetarian Day was established as an annual celebration to promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism. The day was originated by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 and endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978. October 1st is the official date, however if necessary, individuals may schedule their event on a nearby date instead.

The 30th World Health Assembly lays the foundation for a global health strategy with the "health for all" resolution (WHA 30.43). This lays out the key target that "all citizens of the world will attain by the year 2000 a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life"

On 22 April 1977, an oil well blowout occurred at the Ekofisk Bravo platform, due to an incorrectly installed downhole safety valve. The blowout resulted in the first major oil release in the North Sea. At an estimated rate of 1170 barrels per hour, approximately 202,380 barrels of oil escaped before the well was finally capped 7 days later on April 30th.

Technical Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) has been banned in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1977. In the German Democratic Republic, however, it was still produced and applied until 1990. The main production site was the industrial area around Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt. Technical HCH was banned in the EU in 1991.

The "Hawaiian Patriot" loses 95,000 t oil off the coast of Honolulu.