Environmental Laws, Treaties, and Movements: Key Concepts and Impacts

Atomic Energy Act (1954)

U.S. law regulating nuclear energy development

Basel Convention

International treaty controlling hazardous waste export

BP Gulf Oil Spill (2010)

Offshore drilling explosion

Chernobyl (1986), Ukraine

Nuclear reactor explosion

CITES

Treaty regulating trade of endangered species

Clean Water Act (1972)

U.S. law regulating water pollution

Commercial Whaling

Overhunting of whales

Cuyahoga River Fire (1969)

River caught fire due to pollution

Greenpeace / NGO Direct Action

Protests, blockades, awareness campaigns

Exxon Valdez (1989)

Oil tanker spill in Alaska

Grassroots Movement

Local citizen activism

Kyoto Protocol (1997)

Climate treaty with emissions targets

Love Canal

Toxic waste under homes

Minamata Disease

Mercury poisoning from industrial waste

Montreal Protocol (1987)

Phase-out of CFCs

NEPA (1970)

Required environmental review

Paris Agreement (COP21, 2015)

Global climate accord

Silent Spring (1962)

Rachel Carson exposed pesticide harm

The Population Bomb

Warning about overpopulation

Three Mile Island (1979)

Nuclear reactor partial meltdown

Torrey Canyon Oil Spill

Early tanker spill

UNFCCC

Climate change framework

Union Carbide - Bhopal

Toxic gas leak in India

Flint Water Crisis

Lead-contaminated drinking water

Fukushima (2011)

Earthquake-triggered nuclear meltdown

Neoclassical economics

Market-based, growth-focused

Ecological economics

Economy within environmental limits

NIMBY / LULU

Local opposition to unwanted land uses

Indicator species

Signals ecosystem health

Green taxes

Tax pollution

Environmental Justice

Fair treatment of all communities

Polluter Pays Principle

Polluters bear cleanup costs

Precautionary Principle

Prevent harm even without full proof

Biomagnification

Toxins increase up food chain

Bioaccumulation

Toxins build up in organisms

Externalized costs

Costs shifted to society/environment

Planned obsolescence

Products designed to fail

NGO

Non-government organization

Anthropocentrism / Biocentrism / Ecocentrism

Human-centered → all life → ecosystems

Command & Control

Laws & penalties

Incentive-Based

Taxes, credits

Jobs vs regulation conflict

Environmental extremism rhetoric grew in 1970s

Tragedy of the Commons

Shared resource overused

Globalization

Benefits: trade, technology

Mercury

Neurotoxin, biomagnifies

Lead

Brain damage

DDT

Endocrine disruption

Dioxin

Carcinogen

BFRs

Hormone disruption