environmentalism

The league promotes the protection of soil, air, woods, and water in the United States.

In his 1901 book, American conservationist and nature writer John Muir promoted a transcendentalist idea of national parks as wild places of inspirational beauty.

The first bird protection organization in the United States is founded in Boston.

To protect the recently created Yosemite National Park against exploitation, John Muir founds the Sierra Club as the first grassroots environmental organization in the United States.

Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden is considered one of the most important works of nature writing and became highly influential for the environmental movement.

The American diplomat and philologist George Perkins Marsh publishes Man and Nature.

Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist from Kenya, becomes the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The environmental protection NGO is founded in Vancouver, Canada.

The first “Earth Day” is celebrated in the US in 1970; by 1990 it is observed worldwide.

Demonstrating against hormone-treated beef, protesters destroy a McDonald’s restaurant in Millau, France.