Laws & Treaties

Antarctic Treaty

The ___________ is an international agreement signed in 1959 that designates Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.

Clean Air Acts

The ________ are a set of federal laws designed to regulate and reduce air pollution in the United States.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation Liability Act (CERCLA)

A 1980 U.S. federal act that imposes a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, funds the cleanup of abandoned and nonoperating hazardous waste sites, and authorizes the federal government to respond directly to the release or threatened release of substances that may pose a threat to human health or the environment.

Convention of Climate Change & the Kyoto Protocol

An international agreement that sets a goal for global emissions of greenhouse gases from all industrialized countries to be reduced by 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012.

Convention of Ozone Depletion & the Montreal Protocol

In response to the decrease in stratospheric ozone, 24 nations in 1987 signed this was a commitment to reduce CFC (chlorofluorocarbons) production by 50 percent by the year 2000. More than 180 countries eventually signed a series of increasingly stringent amendments that required the elimination of CFC production and use in the developed world by 1996.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

The _______________ is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Endangered Species Act

The __________ is a United States law that aims to protect and recover imperiled species of plants and animals and the ecosystems upon which they depend.

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)

The __________ is a United States law that gives authority to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics. It sets standards for food and drug labeling, establishes requirements for new drugs to be proven safe before they can be marketed, and regulates the manufacturing and distribution of food, drugs, and cosmetics.

The Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)

The ___________ is a federal law in the United States that regulates the management of hazardous waste. It was enacted in 1976 and amended in 1984. The law sets standards for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste, and also establishes a framework for the management of non-hazardous solid waste.

Paris Climate Accords

The __________ is an international agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It was adopted in 2015 and signed by 196 countries.

Soil Conservation Act

The _________ is a United States federal law that was passed in 1935 to address the issue of soil erosion and establish programs for soil conservation.

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

The _______________ was passed by Congress in 1974, with amendments added in 1986 and 1996, to protect our drinking water.

U.S. Clean Water Act

The _______ establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972, "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972.

What is a “law”?

**The “____**” is a system of rules that a society or government develops in order to deal with crime, business agreements, and social relationships. 

What is a “treaty”?

Under international law, a "_____" is any legally binding agreement between countries/nations and become part of international law.