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Oct. 21, 1876: J.N. "Ding" Darling is born in Norwood, Mich. A Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the New York Tribune, Darling published his first conservation-minded cartoon in 1901, supporting President Theodore Roosevelt’s call to establish a national forest service.  Darling does the artwork for the first U.S. duck stamp, and in 1936, he founds the National Wildlife Federation.

 

Oct. 21, 1975: U.S. Congress passes the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), tightening the rules on the production, use, disposal and export of dangerous chemicals.

 

Oct. 21, 1983: Mixed messages are produced from two competing U.S. government studies on climate change. The National Academy of Sciences says that rising CO2 levels and temperatures are "cause for concern," but says that no action is needed at this time. Three days earlier, the U.S. EPA had struck a more urgent tone, saying that prospects for a changing climate need to be addressed immediately.

 

Photo: Louisana Department of Environmental Equality

 

This feature is compiled by Peter Dykstra, an MNN contributor and publisher of Environmental Health News and The Daily Climate.