July
July 6, 2001
Environmental Working Group reports thatsources of drinking water for more than 7 million Californians and millions of others are contaminated with Perchlorate, a chemical that disrupts child development and may cause thyroid cancer.
July 19, 2001
Convictions of Mexican environmental activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera on arms and drug possession charges is upheld by an appeals court despite evidence that their confessions were obtained under torture. Montiel has been recognizedfor efforts to preserve tropical rain forests in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico's west coast with a 1999 Goldman Prize in 1999 and the Sierra Club Chico Mendez Prize. The environmental issue is that between 1994 and 2000, more than a third of the 560,000 acres of forest in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero state was cut down, according to a satellite imaging study by the environmental group Greenpeace. Mexican environmentalists says corrupt local politicians cut deals with timber companies to allow illegal logging.
July 22, 2001
G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy sees massive protests over the lack of environmental and labor standards in the push for international free trade. One protester is killed by police, others are beaten and detained under harsh conditions.
July 6, 2002
The European Parliament imposes a permanent ban on six chemicals known as "phthalates" used in plastic toys and childcare articles to soften the plastic because of their carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic effects.
July 11, 2007
US — Lady Bird Johnson (1912 – 2007) dies. Widow of Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the U.S., Lady Bird Johnson’s behind-the-scenes efforts were instrumental in the passage of about 150 laws that directly benefited the environment; for her strenuous conservation efforts, she was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and a Congressional Gold Medal in 1988.
July 9, 2008
The Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations (U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Japan and Canada_ agree to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, leading to hopes for a successful summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. (See Dec. 18, 2009).