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In the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union now Ukraine the no. 4 reactor exploded. The disaster occurred while running a test to simulate cooling the reactor during an accident in blackout conditions. The operators carried out the test despite an accidental drop in reactor power, and due to a design issue, attempting to shut down the reactor in those conditions resulted in a dramatic power surge. -
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org. In 1969 at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace -
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific Garbage Patch is a garbage patch of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America. -
The Green Revolution, or the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period during which technology was undergoing rapid transformation which resulted in a significant increase in crop yields. These changes in agriculture initially emerged in developed countries. At the same time, newer methods of cultivation, including mechanization, were adopted, often as a package of practices to replace traditional agricultural technology. -
"The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer" is an international treaty made to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of many substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. The treaty is based around several groups of halogenated hydrocarbons that lead to the destruction of the planets ozone. -
The Kyoto Protocol was an world wide treaty which extended the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the consensus that global warming is occurring and that CO₂ emissions are driving it. The Protocol applied the objective of the UNFCCC to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." -
The Fukushima Disaster was a major nuclear accident started at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan. The direct cause was the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's backup energy sources. Which then caused inability to sufficiently cool reactors after shutdown compromised containment and resulted in the release of radioactive contaminants into the surrounding environment. -
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, triggered by an explosion on the drilling rig which resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history, with 4.9 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days. The incident also killed 11 workers and injured 17, and led to extensive environmental damage and economic hardship for coastal communities. -
The Paris Agreement also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords is an international treaty on climate change. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 different parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France. As of February 2023, 195 members of the UNFCCC are parties to the agreement.