 My professor, Dr. Lanham, had us discuss a timeline of ecological events in the last 100 years that were important to us. I separated my list into environmental organizations, disasters, media, policy, innovation, and personal events. Some events won't make sense to some environmental people (I'm a big nuclear power advocate and think that the Crocodile Hunter is a demi-god, for example) but I felt it was important to list these events for easy access and a reminder next time I forget when Earth First was founded or how much advocacy work has occurred in the last century.
Environmental organizations When I learned of the environmental organizations in the United States, I didn’t feel alone in my local efforts. I didn’t know anything about the conservation movement as a whole, let alone the history or national players. At the time, I was focused on cleaning wetlands and learning about plants. Understanding that there were organized groups with specific focused on land and biodiversity conservation changed my entire perspective. 1935 – The Wilderness Society is founded 1947 – Defenders of Wildlife was founded 1948 – The IUCN is founded 1951 – The Nature Conservancy is founded 1961 – World Wildlife Fund is founded 1967 – Environmental Defense Fund is founded 1970 – National Resource Defense Council is founded 1971 – Greenpeace is founded 1977 – Sea Shepherd is founded 1980 – Earth First is founded 1987 – Conservation International is founded 1988 – IPCC is established Disasters When I was developing my relationship with conservation I saw the threats to the environment as chronic, persistent, and ubiquitous threats from constant habitat destruction and pollution. While I don’t diminish any of those threats and still see them as the primary causes of concern, I had never experienced the trauma of a major catastrophe as I did with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon event. The impacts of that event motivated an entire shift in how I approach conservation issues. 1928 – Thomas Midgley develops chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 1929 – Swann Chemical Company develops polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) 1939 – DDT was used as an insecticide 1946 – GI Bill allows for low cost loans for the suburban housing boom, and subsequent sprawl to occur 1957 – KB Homes is founded and is the first home-building company to be traded on the NYSE 1969 – Santa Barbara oil spill 1969 – Cuyahoga River Fire 1984 – Bhopal disaster 1986 – Chernobyl 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill 2010 – Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill 2016 – Dakota Pipeline construction started 2017 – President Obama left office 2018 – East China Sea oil spill Media The Crocodile Hunter was my favorite show as a teenager and I tried to watch every episode possible. When he died in 2006, I was devastated. I built my environmental education programs around his philosophies and from that found that many other people considered his work an inspiration. 1949 – Sand County Almanac is published 1962 – Silent Spring is published 1968 – Apollo 8 picture of Earthrise is taken 1968 – Desert Solitaire is published 1997 – First episode of the Crocodile Hunter airs Policy The Endangered Species Act, with all of its flaws, is my favorite American policy. It is truly impressive and its scope is a philosophical and paradigmatic shift. I hope that there is a current trend that will involved another shift in intrinsic, holistic, and eco-centric values: nonhuman persons’ rights. The first official declaration of nonhuman persons’ rights is with India declaring dolphins and whales as such. 1970 – First Earth Day 1972 – Marine Mammal Protection Act 1972 – Clean Water Act 1973 – Endangered Species Act 1987 – Brundtland Commission is published 1987 – Montreal Protocol is signed 1992 – The Rio Earth Summit 1997 – Kyoto Protocol 2006 – California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill 32) 2010 – Citizen’s United Supreme Court ruling 2013 – India declares dolphins and whales are non-human persons 2017 – New Zealand gives legal rights as humans to a river and a mountain Innovation Until a remarkable lecture I heard in 2012, I had never considered the positive power of technological innovation on conservation other than solar panels. Until then, I had always thought that technology was related to consumerism which negatively affected biodiversity conservation. In this presentation I learned that whale conservation started not because altruism but because refined oil and electricity were cheaper and more efficient than whale oil. The technological innovation decreased the need to exploit whales. Since then, I’ve tried to look at the impact of technology, positive or negative, on conservation. 1954 – The first nuclear power plant generates electricity 1958 – Mauna Loa Observatory begins monitoring CO2 levels 1968 – First formal acknowledgment of the Green Revolution of modern agriculture 1975 – Catalytic converters are included on all vehicles 1984 – Solar Energy Generating Systems opens thermal power station in Mojave Desert 2009 – 9 Planetary Boundaries concept 2017 – Doughnut Economics concept published Personal I’m really proud of my personal conservation history. I’ve accomplished a lot in accordance to my values and I’ve worked hard to achieve meaningful conservation metrics. I’ve had several significant events in my personal conservation history. All of the following are memorable but when I saw a wetland restored and opened up to the Pacific for the first time in 100 years in 2006, I saw that it was possible to fix things. 2003 – I started volunteering for environmental causes 2003 - I saw my first California Least Tern 2003 - I saw my first endangered species – a butterfly 2004 - I saw my first California Sea Otter 2005 – I sailed from Boston to southern California via the Panama Canal for an environmental non-profit 2005 - I did my first research on an endangered species 2005 - I saw my first endangered plant – Salt Marsh Bird’s Beak 2005 - I saw my first Western Snowy Plover 2005 - I started my first environmental company 2006 - Bolsa Chica Wetlands are opened to the Pacific Ocean for the first time in 100 years 2006 – The Baiji was declared extinct and I baked my first Fuck the World Cake 2006 - I hired my first employee 2006 - I saw my first Peregrine Falcon 2007 - El Nino where giant Humboldt Squid came north from Mexico, bringing Orcas down 2008 - I set up my environmental internship program 2009 – California Brown Pelicans are delisted 2009 - I worked in Chilean Patagonia 2009 - Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority is formed 2009 – Western Peregrine Falcons are delisted 2010 - I advocated in California’s Senate House for the first time 2010 - I worked on swordfish conservation in Hawaii 2011 – The Western Black Rhinoceros was declared extinct and I baked a Fuck the World Cake 2011 - I met Jared Diamond 2011 - I received my first $100k check for environmental work 2012 – A wetland I worked on, Colorado Lagoon, is restored 2013 - I met Joy Zedler 2013 – The Formosan clouded leopard was declared extinct and I baked a Fuck the World Cake 2013 - I received my first contract to work on an endangered species 2014 – Traveled to Iceland as photography assistant 2014 - I saw my first California Condor 2015 - I started my conservation radio show and podcast 2015 - I worked in Montana on technical conservation work 2015 - I worked in New Zealand on duck conservation 2016 - Obama approves federal designation of San Gorgonio 2017 – Chilean Patagonia is protected 2017 - I saw the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker
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