The Environment Chronicle

The Club of Rome is founded to debate emerging global problems. The key impulse came from Aurelio Peccei (1908 - 1984), along with Alexander King, Dennis Gabor, and later Hasan Ozbekhan.

On 21 January 1968, a US B-52 bomber with several nuclear weapons on board crashed near the Thule Air Base in North-Western Greenland, releasing several kilos of weapons grade plutonium. The plutonium contaminated the immediate snow and ice at the crash site and was carried by high winds and water over an extensive area.

First evidence of ozone depletion.

c. 120,000 t oil are spilt from the Torrey Canyon and cause the largest oil slick to date off the British, French and Dutch coasts.

Since a pulp and paper combine came into operation on the south bank, the Epischura, 98% of the zooplankton mass, and one of the first links in the food chain, have died out. This has seriously upset the ecological balance of the lake.

Owing to methyl mercury pollution in water, the Swedish Medical Board prohibits consumption of fish from 40 lakes and rivers. The source of the pollution is thought to be seed treated with mercury.

Naturopa is an organ of the Council of Europe (all its member states are also members of Naturopa). Its particular goal is to improve public awareness of the environment and nature conservation in Europe.

On September 18, 1966 the tanker Seestern lost 1,700 tons of crude diesel oil which was quickly pushed by winds and tides onto the Medway Estuary, UK, affecting some 8,000 acres of wetlands. An estimated total of 5,000 birds were killed by this oil spill.

The "Anne Mildred Brovig" spills c. 20,000 t oil.

A U.S. B52 bomber collided with KC-135 tanker during mid-air flight refuelling over the coast of Spain. The tanker was completely destroyed in the incident, while the B52 broke apart, spilling four hydrogen bombs from its broken fuselage. The non-nuclear weapons in two of the bombs detonated on impact with the ground, contaminating of a 490 acre area with radioactive plutonium. One of the devices was recovered from the Mediterranean Sea.

The European Diploma of Protected Areas is a prestigious international award granted since 1965 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to protected, natural and semi-natural areas and landscapes of special European importance for the preservation of biological, geological and landscape diversity. The Diploma is awarded to protected areas because of their outstanding scientific, cultural or aesthetic qualities, but they must also be the subject of a suitable conservation scheme. The first areas to be awarded the Diploma were the Camargue National Reserve (France), the Peak District National Park (United Kingdom) and the Hautes Fagnes Nature Reserve (Belgium).

The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations, adopted in 1961, provides humanitarian aid in emergencies, but also supports long-term economic development to ensure independent food supplies.

Marine biologist Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring, calling attention to the threat of toxic chemicals to people and the environment.

World Day for Laboratory Animals is a United Nations recognized day of international commemoration of the suffering and killing of millions of innocent sentient beings in laboratories throughout the world.

"Silent Spring", a book by US biologist Rachel Louise Carson (1907 - 1964) is published. The German translation appears in 1970, and has a major impact on public opinion, to some extent initiating the environmental debate.

On 13 December 1961, the British tanker the Allegrity ran aground off the coast of Caerhays, near Saint Austell in the Channel. 800 tonnes of petroleum were spilled in the incident.

The World Wide Fund (as it is still known in USA and Canada) is founded. It now has 4.7 million members (individual and organisations) worldwide. Its goals are the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity, through conservation of species and habitats, and changes in consumer behaviour.

In June 1961, electricity generated by nuclear power is fed into the public grid for the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany from the Kahl Nuclear Power Plant.

The Aral Sea has shrunk to 2/3 of its original size, and has almost been split in two. Natural inflow from the Amu Darja and Syr Darja has been cut off by irrigation systems. The sea is becoming oversalinated, fish populations are falling. Since pesticides flow into the sea, the food which gains water from the Aral is also contaminated. Mammal mortality in the region is on the rise, as is anaemia. The overall climate in the area has become more continental.

The new Aswan dam (Sadd al-Ali) makes 3 annual harvests possible, instead of only 2, extends the arable surface by 25% and covers 70% of the country's electricity needs. The number of edible fish in the reservoir grows, even crocodiles and tapirfish return to the area. Negative side-effects are that the nutritious sediment remains above the dam, making fertilisers necessary; the reservoir becomes eutrophied and water hyacinth teems unchecked; far more water evaporates than expected, due to the large surface area and the river bed is less well cleaned, due to the lack of flooding; the Nile delta is no longer fed by sediment. The clear positive effect is security from drought.

Reactor accident at Windscale (Sellafield, England). 35 fatalities.

The Federal State Unitary Enterprise ‘Production Enterprise Mayak’ was founded for the industrial production of plutonium for nuclear weapons. It is located in Cheljabinsk province in the South Urals, not far from the cities of Kishtym. An explosion of a tank with liquid radioactive waste occured on September 29, 1957. The accident released large amounts of fission products that contaminated an area covering 300 x 50 km, later called the Kyshtym footprint. The Kyshtym accident measured as a Level 6 disaster on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

The IAEA is the world´s center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world´s "Atoms for Peace" organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

After an accident involving radioactive material, a large area around an atomic facility in the Urals (Russia) becomes contaminated.

On 17 October 1956, the Queen Elisabeth II opened Reactor number 1 at Calder Hall, bringing into service the world's first industrial scale nuclear power station.

Early in the morning on March 1, 1954, the hydrogen bomb, code named Bravo, was detonated on the surface of the reef in the northwestern corner of Bikini Atoll and created widespread radioactive contamination.

A thermal reaction releases TCDD in a production plant, injuring 55. Investigation after 30 years shows

The west of the lake has consumed all of its oxygen. Mayflies larvae die on the lake bed, and cannot decompose, due to the lack of oxygen. In addition, concentrations of fertilising nitrate and phosphate ions have trebled between the 1930s and the 1970s.

Arbor Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. The idea originally came from Nebraska. Arbor Day was established by J. Sterling Morton in 1872. In November 1951 the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) arranged for all member nations to set aside one particular day each year to celebrate Arbor Day. For Germany it is April 25.

In 1952, the first incidents of mercury poisoning appear in the population of Minimata Bay in Japan, caused by consumption of fish polluted with mercury, bringing over 500 fatalities. Since then, Japan has had the strictest environmental laws in the industrialised world.

The worst smog on record hangs over London for five days. 4,000 more than average die during the period. The smog was created by accumulated sulphur dioxide from coal burning.

The Federal Republic of Germany became the 64th member state of UNESCO on 11 July 1951.

In Ohio (USA), a factory releases c. 200 t of radioactive uranium dust into the environment, with government permission.

Each year, on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization, its 188 Members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate World Meteorological Day. This Day commemorates the entry into force, on that date in 1950, of the WMO Convention creating the Organization. Subsequently, in 1951, WMO was designated a specialized agency of the United Nations System. The United Nations weather agency is marking World Meteorological Day by calling for improvements to climate observation technologies to help people and economies adapt to climate change, climate variability and extreme weather.

The 1948 Donora smog was an historic air inversion wall of smog that killed 20 and sickened 7,000 people in Donora, Pennsylvania in the United States, a mill town on the Monongahela River, 24 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is set up in Paris as part of the Marshall Plan. It has an environment department, which deals above all with the relationship between economic activity and the environment. The OECD regularly publishes reports on the environment in OECD countries and other studies.

The Economic Commission for Europe is responsible for a great many fundamental environmental agreements, especially on air quality, water quality, industrial waste and environmental impact assessments.

The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling aims to conserve large whale populations. It is legally binding in civil law.

"Fat Man", a 22 kt atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 immediately.

"Little Boy", an atomic bomb with a 60 kg core of uranium 235, explodes over Hiroshima with the power of 13.5 kt of explosives. By the end of 1945, 140,000 have died as a consequence.