Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Overview: Students will create a timeline of environmental law history from

a larger list of environmental history events. Students can not simply put all
of the events on the timeline, but must chose events that they deem relevant and
significant to the conditions provided. This teaches students to:
Prioritize historical facts and events in order to develop the discerning
memory needed for critical thinking and judgments;
Analyze the historical significance of events; and how historical events
impact present circumstances;
Recognize the roles of popular culture, federal, state, and local
governments; and how such roles and relationships demonstrate change
and continuity over time; and
Appreciate and articulate the importance of the Rule of Law for
protecting the environment.1
Standards: Students will develop the following Historical Thinking Skills:2
Chronological Thinking
Historical analysis and interpretation
Historical issues-analysis and decision-making
Materials and Preparation:
Discussion of environmental law, environmentalism, environmental
movement, conservation, contemporary issues, or other appropriate
context according to your teaching standards and curriculum
One single-sided copy of the timeline events listing for each student
A stapled packet of: one copy of the procedure sheet and one double-sided
copy of the timeline events listing for each student
Scissors for each small group
Large rectangular sheets of paper for each small group (i.e. butcher
paper, 11 x 17 construction paper)
Glue sticks or tape for each small group
Markers for each small group
Space to hang, or otherwise display, the finished timelines around your
classroom or in hallway

This timeline activity is adapted from a similar timeline activity created by Elizabeth Scarbrough, teacher, Austin
Elementary School, Atlanta, Georgia.
1
The historical thinking skills outlined in the four bulleted points are adapted from Historys Habits of the Mind, from
the National Council for History Education, Inc.
2
National Center for History in the Schools, University of California Los Angeles, National Standards for United
States History, 1996.
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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Activity Procedure
Part I: Introduction
1. Distribute the single-sided copy of the timeline events sheet to all students.
2. Ask students to glance through the timeline events and answer any questions
they might have. Point out important events that youve studied already, or
other events you think are important.
Part II: Assignment
3. Divide the students into small groups according to your class size.
4. Distribute the packets to all students, ask them to read it, and go over any
questions they have. Check for understanding to make sure they understand
the assignment: cut event strips, select timeline events, and assemble on the
paper as a timeline. Ask groups to begin discussing possible events from the
list that they would like to put on their timelines.
5. Give each group a large rectangular sheet of paper, several scissors, and
several glue sticks or rolls of tape.
6. Facilitate the timeline creation process as needed. Allow students 20-30
minutes to complete the activity.
Part III: Debriefing
7. When groups are finished, ask them to hang their timelines around the room
for viewing.
8. If time allows, ask each group to present their timeline to the class. Why did
they choose the events that they did? Why are they important? Limit time to
keep things short.
9. Debrief with discussion questions or homework assignment.
Possible Discussion Questions
What events are on your timeline? Why? What events did you leave off of
your timeline? Why?
Was it difficult to choose one event over another for your timeline exhibit?
Look around at your classmates timelines. Are there events that everyone
chose to put on their timelines? Why do you think this is? Are there events
that everyone chose to leave off of their timelines? Why do you think this is?
What does this say about the historical significance of the event?
Are there events that were left off of the timelines that you would have
liked to see included?
How would your timeline look different if you lived in Alaska?
How does your timeline reflect all of the environmental laws and Supreme
Court decisions in American history?

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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

You are a museum curator, and have to create an exhibit for your community
about the history of environmental law in the U.S. The American Bar Association
has been working with your boss to assemble some very important laws, cases, and
events related to environmental law to include on the timeline. Unfortunately,
your museum can not afford to host an exhibit highlighting everything on your
boss list. Your job as curator is to select the most important laws, cases, and
events from the list, in order to best educate your museum visitors about
environmental law and its impact on your community. What will you include?
What you will leave out? Why?
Directions
1. Review the list of possible timeline exhibit events.

2. Select 25 items from the list to include on your exhibit timeline. As you
create your exhibit, youll want to look for the most important events,
historically significant events, and the most relevant events for your
community. You want your exhibit viewers to be well-educated about the
history of environmental law and environmentalism in their community and
throughout American history.

3. Use the large sheet of paper to create a timeline. Attach the events to the
paper on the timeline, in chronological order.

4. Once your timeline is assembled, go to the copy of timeline events stapled to

this sheet, and mark all of the events that you used on your timeline so you
have a record of them for later.

5. Share your final timeline exhibit with your classmates. Explain why you
choseAssignment
Homework the events that you did.

Using the list of possible timeline events, and the events that you marked as used
on your timeline, write 1-2 sentences for each event describing why it is important
enough to be part of your exhibit. In doing so, you should answer the following
questions:
Why should we know about the event?
How does the event impact you today?
Why is it important for your community members viewing your exhibit to
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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Environmental Law Possible Timeline Events

Year Event
Pennsylvania colony governor William Penn ordered colonists to conserve
1 1681
one tree for every five cut down.
Congress passed the Yellowstone Act, making Yellowstone the first national
park "dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for
2 1872 the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and "for the preservation, from
injury or spoilation, of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or
wonders. . . and their retention in their natural condition."
The Lacey Act prohibited the transport of illegally obtained wildlife across
3 1900
state lines, and outlawed hunting in Yellowstone National Park.
Missouri v. Illinois and the Sanitary District of Chicago:
Missouri filed suit against Illinois to stop polluting the Mississippi River
with waste from the city of Chicago. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor
of Illinois, thereby allowing the City of Chicago to continue draining city
4 1900 sewers into neighboring rivers. The Court issued this concern: It is a
question of the first magnitude whether the destiny of the great rivers is to
be the sewers of the cities along their banks or to be protecting against
everything which threatens their purity. To decide the whole matter at one
blow by an irrevocable fiat would be at least premature.
In his annual message to Congress, President Roosevelt suggested,
provisions should be made for preservation of the bison, calling it a real
5 1905
misfortune should the species become extinct. The American bison
population, once 70 million, had dwindled to fewer than 300.
Congress passed the Burton Act, which preserved Niagara Falls from
6 1906
hydroelectric power facilities.

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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Georgia v. Tennessee Copper Company and Ducktown Sulphur:

Georgia filed suit against the Tennessee Copper Company and Ducktown
Sulphur because fumes from the companies were coming across the state
border and polluting communities, killing forests, and making Georgians ill.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Georgia, that the Tennessee
Copper Company must regulate fumes that were traveling across state
7 1907
lines. Chief Justice Holmes opined, It is a fair and reasonable demand on
the part of a sovereign that the air over its territory should not be
polluted on a great scale by sulphurous acid gas, that the forests on its
mountains should not be further destroyed or threatened by the act of
persons beyond its control, that the crops and orchards on its hills should
not be endangered.
After a seven year debate between environmentalists and Californians
seeking water rights, Congress passed the Raker Act, authorizing the
8 1913
flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley and the building of OShaughnessy Dam, in
Yosemite National Park.
Congress established the National Park Service. Today there are
9 1916 approximately 400 national parks across America, comprising
approximately 4% of the entire U.S., or 84.6 billion acres of preserved land.
New York v. New Jersey and Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners:
New York sued New Jersey commissioners to stop dumping sewage in the New
10 1921
York harbor. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey, and the
dumping continued.
Salt Lake City was the first U.S. city to conduct a large scale survey of air
11 1926
pollution.
As part of his New Deal plan during the Great Depression, President
Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to pass the Emergency Conservation
Work Act. Under the Act, thousands of unemployed young men were
12 1933 recruited into a peacetime army called the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC), also known as Roosevelts tree army. Their job was to protect
against erosion and the destruction of natural resources. CCC camps
existed in every state.
Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act in an
effort to control Dust Bowl storms, erosion, land use and conservation.
13 1935 Over 100,000,000 acres of U.S. prairie land were affected by the Dust
Bowl. The catastrophe inspired the largest migration of Americans in U.S.
history, as 2.5 million Dust Bowl refugees moved away from the prairie.
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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

The first ethanol plant opened in Atchison, KS. The biofuel brand, Agrol,
14 1937 was sold throughout the Midwest with the slogan, Try a tankfulyoull be
thankful.
Congress passed the Bald Eagle Preservation Act to prevent the extinction
15 1940 of the national symbol. The bald eagle was removed from the endangered
species list in 2007.
President Truman established Everglades National Park. Just prior to the
16 1947 parks designation, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas published The Everglades:
River of Grass.
Heavy smog conditions forced city officials to close schools in Los Angeles
17 1954
for most of the month of October.
The Antarctic Treaty protected Antarctica from the dumping of nuclear
18 1959 waste. To date, 46 countries, including the United States and the former
Soviet Union have signed the treaty.
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which warned about the dangers of
19 1962 pesticides, especially DDT, to water supplies and wildlife. The federal
government outlawed the use of pesticides like DDT several years later.
Congress passed the first Clean Air Act, which regulated air pollution and
20 1963
emissions.
Congress passed the Wilderness Act, establishing the National Wilderness
Preservation System to secure for the American people of present and
21 1964
future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. By
2001, there were 90 million acres of preserved wilderness in the U.S.
President Johnson signed the Water Quality Act to strengthen federal
22 1965
water pollution laws and outline water quality guidelines for states/
Sierra Club v. Morton:
The Sierra Club sued Morton to stop the building of Mineral King near
Sequoia National Park. Questions arose over Sierra Clubs legal standing
they personally were not impacted by the building of Mineral King, so did
they have the right to file suit? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the
23 1965 Sierra Club could file suit only if any one of its individual members were
impacted by the building of Mineral King. Thus, the standing requirement
that a third party with no direct interest in a case may file suit on behalf
of members with direct interests was established. Justice Williams
famously dissented, arguing that environmental issues, because the
environment impacted everyone, were not subject to legal standing rules.

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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

NASA released the Blue Marble photo of earth from space, giving
24 1968 Americans a first outside look at their planet. The photo helped raise
awareness of environmental issues.
The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed by Congress and President Johnson
25 1968
to protect waterways from pollution, commercialization, and development.
Colorado River Bill ended a decades-long dispute in the American West by
authorizing the construction of the Central Arizona water diversion
26 1968
project, allowing the seven states of the Colorado River Basin to draw
from the rivers annual flow.
Clevelands Cuyahoga River ignited, as the chemicals and pollution floating
on top of the water caught fire. Images of the fire, along with a Time
27 1969
magazine article accusing the river of oozing rather than flowing sparked
nationwide attention to pollution.
The National Environmental Policy Act was one of the first laws to
establish the broad national framework for protecting the environment.
28 1969 The Act demanded that all braches of government give proper consideration
to the environment prior to building airports, buildings, military complexes,
highways, parks, and other activities.
The first Earth Day was celebrated by 20 million people across the
country. Earth Day was first organized by Gaylord Nelson, a former
29 1970
Wisconsin senator, and Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student. Today,
Earth Day is celebrated annually around the world.
The Environmental Protection Agency was established to create and
30 1970 maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive
harmony.
General Motors president Edward Cole promised Americans pollution free
31 1970
cars by 1980.
The Ad Council and Keep America Beautiful first aired the Crying Indian
32 1971 commercial on nationwide television, inspiring popular interest in the
environment.
Congress passed the Endangered Species Act to protect what are now
33 1973
known as Endangered Species from possible extinction.
Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act to be administered by the
34 1974 EPA, protecting Americans from contaminated drinking water. The EPA
still regulates public drinking water as a result of the act.

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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill et al.:

The federal government, via the TVA, spent $80 million to begin
construction of Tellico Dam in the Tennessee Valley. Hill, a scientist, held
up construction on the basis that construction of the dam would harm the
snail darter, and petitioned that the snail darter be added to the
35 1977
Endangered Species list. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hill,
upholding the legitimacy of the Endangered Species list, in spite of the public
funds poured into the dam project. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote in
his opinion, It is clear that Congress intended to halt and reverse the
trend toward species extinction whatever the cost.
Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act,
36 1980 designating over 100 million acres of parks, wildlife refuges, and
wilderness areas throughout the state.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(Superfund) was established to provide funds for cleaning of uncontrolled
37 1980 or abandoned hazardous waste sites, along with accidents, spills, and other
emergency releases of pollutants or contaminants into the environment.
The Act also gave the EPA power to prosecute polluters.
Long Island garbage barge, Mobro 4000, began a 6,000 mile journey up
and down the East Coast, looking for a dumping place. The barge became a
38 1987 popular icon representing the mounting waste crisis in America, but in
reality, the barge was simply a victim of circumstance, caught up in legal
red tape preventing any city from allowing it to dock.
The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty, was first signed to
eliminate ozone-depleting hydrocarbons from the environment. It was
adopted by so many countries that it has been hailed as an example of
39 1987
exceptional international cooperation. Since the Montreal Protocol came
into effect, harmful ozone-depleting hydrocarbon production has
significantly decreased.
40 1988 NASA warned Congress of the effects of global warming.
The Exxon Valdez oil spill dumped 11 million gallons of oil, devastating Prince
41 1989 William Sound off the coast of Alaska, and images of oil-soaked ocean life
flood American homes. Spill results in Exxon v. Baker.
The Oil Pollution Act streamlined the EPAs ability to prevent and clean up
42 1990
catastrophic oil spills.
A gallop poll found that 76% of Americans considered themselves
43 1990
environmentalists.
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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

The Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, resulting in the signing of the
44 1992 Convention on Climate Change and the Earth Charter, a global pledge to
control global warming.
Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife:
The Defenders of Wildlife sued the Department of the Interior to modify the
Endangered Species Act to apply to U.S. actions taken in foreign nations,
rather than actions only in the U.S. or at sea. Based on the Courts earlier
ruling in Sierra Club v. Morton, the Defenders of Wildlife had two members
file affidavits saying that they had traveled abroad to observe the habitats
45 1992 of endangered species (the Nile crocodile in Egypt and the Asian elephant
and leopard in Sri Lanka) and planned to visit these habitats again. The
Supreme Court ruled against the Defenders of Wildlife had failed to
establish sufficient standing to sue, as outlined in Sierra Club v. Morton.
The plans of the Defenders of Wildlife members to some day revisit
potentially threatened habitats were not enough to establish actual or
imminent harm.
Julia Butterfly Hill, age 23, lived for 735 days in the top of a 180-feet tall
46 1997
California Coast Redwood tree and successfully blocked its destruction.
David Chain was killed by a tree felled by foresters while protesting in a
47 1998
forest to protect the destruction of old-growth redwood trees.
Kyoto Protocol implemented as countries around the world pledged to
48 2005
reduce the emission of gasses that contribute to global warming.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth, and the
49 2006 following year, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to raise
awareness about global warming.
The EPA Issued New Air Quality Standards to control daily small or fine
particulate mattersoot, dust, and particles too small to see. Fine
50 2006
particulate matter, which pollutes the air, comes from things like car
exhaust, smokestacks, and coal-fired power plants.
Massachusetts v. EPA:
Massachusetts files suit against the EPA for not establishing greenhouse
gas requirements in the state. The EPA argued that it, as a federal
51 2007
agency, could not regulate individual state issues. The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in favor of Massachusetts, that the states, via the EPA, may
regulate greenhouse gasses.

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 Environmental Law History Timeline Activity

Live Earth concerts around the world featured Madonna, the Black Eyed
52 2007 Peas, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, and the Beastie Boys, to raise
awareness of climate change.
San Francisco Oil Spill:
On November 7, a South Korea bound container ship struck a tower
supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge spilling 58,000 gallons
of oil in the San Francisco Bay. Dozens of dead and injured seabirds were
53 2007 immediately found following the spill. The spill fouled miles of coastland
and according to area scientists, could threaten the lives of the bays birds,
fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals for years. A day after the spill,
oil could be spotted 15 miles north of the city, and at least eight beaches in
San Francisco and Marin County were ordered closed.
Great Lakes Compact signed by all eight Great Lakes states in an attempt
54 2008
to prevent distribution and sale of water to nonregions.

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