1770s
The first systematic studies of photosynthesis and the basics of the carbon cycle by Joseph Priestley and Jan Ingenhousz. Antoine Lavoisier discovers azote, and André Chaptal names it nitrogen.
1830s
The first research in yeast fermentation.
1840s
Justus von Liebig, Jean-Baptiste-André Dumas and Jean Baptiste Boussingault outline the principal processes of carbon and nitrogen cycles.
1843
John Bennet Laws begins his […]

Ambassador Richard E. Benedick has played a major role in global environmental affairs as chief U.S. negotiator and a principal architect of the historic Montreal Protocol on protection of the ozone layer, and as Special Advisor to Secretaries-General of both the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and the […]

600,000,000 B.C.
Ozone layer forms.
Late 1830’s
Christian Friedrich Schönbein identifies ozone as a component of the lower atmosphere and names it.
1845
Auguste de la Rive and Jean-Charles de Marignac suggest ozone is a form of oxygen; this is confirmed by Thomas Andrews in 1856.
1865
Jean-Louis Soret proves that ozone is composed of three oxygen atoms (O3).
1879
Marie Alfred Cornu measures […]

Table of Contents

What is ozone and where is it in the atmosphere?
How is ozone formed in the atmosphere?
Why do we care about atmospheric ozone?
Is total ozone uniform over the globe?
How is ozone measured in the atmosphere?
What are the principal steps in stratospheric ozone depletion caused by human activities?
What emissions from human activities lead to ozone […]

1970
Council on Environmental Quality in the United States issues an important early warning that industrial activity might be changing the climate.
1988
World Conference on the Changing Environment meets in Toronto and establishes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
1989
The Global Climate Coalition is formed to bring industry into climate debate. The GCC was a coalition […]

Table of Contents

What is market shift and how does climate change cause it?
Why do some companies undertake voluntary GHG reductions?
What is the risk to a company that does not take action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
What are Certified Emissions Reduction (CER)?
What is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)?
What is Emissions Trading?
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
What […]

Andrew J. Hoffman is the Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Dr. Hoffman’s research deals with the nature and dynamics of change within institutional and cultural systems. He applies that research toward understanding the cultural and managerial implications of environmental protection and social sustainability for industry.

1934
The need for economic information during the Great Depression leads the Department of Commerce to undertake what became the first official continuing series on national income in the United States. These estimates were prepared with the cooperation of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
1947
The U.S. Department of Commerce begins the first in an annual series […]

Waste-to-energy is the process in which waste is used to generate useful energy–electricity, heat or both. This is possible (and convenient) when the heat generated by burning the waste is high enough to warrant satisfactory combustion conditions and make available enough energy to overcome losses and auxiliary consumption: in practice, a lower heating value of at least 4 megajoules per kilogram.

Table of Contents

What are externalities?
Doesn’t the economy have to keep growing to have jobs?
Doesn’t protecting the environment hurt the economy?
What is ecosystem valuation?
What types of value do people assign to nature?
How can you value things like nature?
What is wrong with using GDP as a measure of well-being?
Are there alternatives to GDP?

What are externalities?
An externality is […]