On March 23, 1950, the World Meteorological Organization was created as a specialized agency of the United Nations. The WMO speaks on the state of Earth’s atmosphere and reports its interaction with oceans, the climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources.…
On March 22, 2022, we celebrate World Water Day, a special day for focusing upon the most vital food for life on Earth. Each year, the United Nations Organization chooses a special water focus that has included water for cities, groundwater, health, disasters, scarcity,…
On March 21, 1971, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization declared this as World Forestry Day to share information, research, and project updates on forests and forestry around the world. This day was chosen because it is the vernal equinox in the Northern…
On May 18, 1980, in Washington state, Mount St. Helens volcano exploded leaving 57 people dead or missing. This was a Plinian eruption. It validated Pliny the Younger’s eyewitness description, often regarded as exaggeration, of the Vesuvius explosion that buried Pompeii and Heraculaneum. Mount…
On January 28, 1884, Belgian physicist, inventor, and extremes explorer Auguste Piccard was born in Switzerland… a few minutes after his physicist-chemist brother Jean-Felix. Auguste conducted atmospheric research using balloon flight and was well into the public eye when the University of Brussels offered…
On October 29, 1831, American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh was born. As a professor of paleontology at Yale, Marsh led student expeditions to the West aboard the recently completed Union Pacific Railway to find fossils. Full of energy and passion for his subject, Marsh…
On October 27, 1986, Nevada’s Great Basin National Park was established, incorporating the Lehman Caves National Monument. Rather than being one actual great basin, the area is a collection of many small basins. The park, with its deserts, mountains, and caves, ranges in elevation…
On July 16, 1981, Yoho National Park’s Burgess Shale became Canada’s fifth World Heritage Site of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Within Yoho National Park of Canada, the Burgess Shale holds the deposit of one of world’s most ancient marine…
On July 1, 1867, Canada became a country. Originally called the Dominion of Canada, it started with four provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the former Province of Canada split into Quebec and Ontario. This confederation had taken some years to achieve for…
Each year, IOI Canada organizes the annual Elisabeth Mann Borgese Ocean Lecture as part of a series of events to mark World Oceans Day. 2019 poster: Elisabeth Mann Borgese Ocean Lecture Mann Borgese was an outstanding leader committed to encouraging a global system of…