The supertanker Sea Star collided with the tanker Horta Barbosa, and Arctic permafrost may be gone by 2100.

Occidental Chemical settles the Love Canal suit, oceans are getting noisier, and Rajendra Pachauri is accused of financial conflicts of interest.

A coelacanth is caught in South Africa, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act takes effect, and male smallmouth bass are laying eggs.

Chico Mendes is murdered, coal ash floods local waterways in Tennessee, and polar bears remain a threatened species.

Cyclone Tracy nearly wipes Darwin, Australia off the map, and the Obama administrations reverses the so-called 'No More Wilderness' decision.

John Muir dies, Apollo 8 snaps a picture of an earthrise, and the polluted Boston Harbor becomes a political weapon against Michael Dukakis.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake hits Gansu in north central China, 16 campers die in a landslide, and the Pope denounces the 'abuse of energy' in his Christmas addre

The HMS Beagle makes sail for the Galapagos Islands, and an earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggers a tsunami.

An estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake strikes near Erzincan, the Sea Gem collapses, and Dian Fossey is found murdered.

The Sicilian city of Messina is partially destroyed by an earthquake and a 40-foot tsunami, England gets its first National Park, and Nixon signs the Endangered

This day in history, December 29: Birth of environmental law, yacht race ends in disaster, monarch butterflies at risk.

Kangaroos receive protection, canaries are fired and Bangladesh is told sea levels are nothing to fear.

Clean air is legalized, DDT is banned, Pennsylvania dumps its ash in Haiti and India finishes a dam.

National park established, green folk music created, ozone protocol pondered and carbon tax enacted.

The U.S. lowers the speed limit, an Interior Secretary pleads guilty and climate scientists mull a Plan B to fight global warming.

A tragic nuclear accident, signing a nuclear arms treaty and saving turtles the world over.

Two Presidents make the case for a green future and an environmental symbol dies.

A ship spills oil, a president creates an environmental monument and there are high prices for tuna.

A President dies and the U.S. highway system is proposed.

Secondhand smoke is labeled a carcinogen and scientists call for the protection of mountaintops.

American seashores are preserved and the Calypso sinks in Singapore.

An earthquake shakes California and BP decides against Arctic drilling.

Big oil begins to form, the oil rush starts and a Wild West entertainer dies.

The co-founder of the Wilderness Society is born and two U.S. Presidents push conservation.

An earthquake strikes Haiti and protesters buy land to block an airport's development.

Earthquakes and tsunamis strike and Europe approves food products from cloned animals.

Nixon protects the Everglades and a diplomat questions the UN on global warming.

Molasses overruns Boston and President Ford outlines a plan to reduce oil imports.

Dian Fossey is born and Toyota makes a commitment to being green.

Eisenhower warns of the military-industrial complex and a volcano explodes.

The Ohio River Valley floods and oil leaks near the Galapagos Islands.

A conservationist dies and oil spills in different parts of the world.

Two teams reach the South Pole and a song about the environment is released.

A U.S. president outlines goals for American rivers and the Concorde takes off.

A bottlenose whale visits London and a clean coal showdown begins.

The U.S. reduces its oil consumption and oil fields burn in Kuwait.

President makes a push for clean coal and an oil spill threatens the Great Barrier Reef.

Reagan calls conservation 'common sense' and a national forest is opened for logging.

The 'Cascadia quake' rocks the U.S. and Rocky Mountain National Park is established.

A nature painter and illustrator dies and snows buries Washington, D.C.

An oil spill in the Antarctic and two U.S. presidents talk about the environment.

A nuclear satire is released in theaters, and mountaintop removal is approved.

A cyanide spill poisons waters in Europe and U.S. climate scientists are under pressure.

The U.S. is addicted to oil and the Yucca Mountain Project loses funding.

Scientists begin studying temperature changes and an extinct bird may not be extinct.

Yellowstone National Park is established, and a hydrogen bomb is detonated.

A new national park opens and a conference that dismisses climate change is held.

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey are founded.

Hernando Cortez arrives in Veracruz, and a natural gas pipeline explodes in Louisiana.

A nuclear treaty goes into effect, and Lake Champlain becomes 'Great.'