地球日是美国群众性的环境保护运动的产物,也被视为现代环境保护运动的开端。“1970年4月22日，在美国民主党参议员盖洛德·尼尔森和哈佛大学学生丹尼斯·海斯的倡议和组织下，美国数十万群众参与了声势浩大的“地球日”活动，呼吁创造一个清洁、简单、和平的生活环境。“地球日”活动推动了多个国家环境法规的建立。”这种环境保护运动首先发生在美国等发达资本主义国家不是偶然的,随着现代化向发展深度，美国等发达国家步入丰裕社会,要求提供强有力的环境安全保障,首先保障地球上本国领土的环境安全。从那时起,到现在40年过去，全球现代化以前所未有的深度和广度拓展，尤其是中国、印度、巴西、南非等新兴经济体快速现代化的进程，使得着个地球日远不限于一个国家或者发达地区的范围，“1990年4月22日，全球140多个国家、2亿多人同时在世界各地举行形式多样的环境保护宣传活动，呼吁改善全球整体环境。这项活动得到了联合国的肯定。2009年4月22日，第63届联合国大会一致通过决议，决定将今后每年的4月22日定为‘世界地球日’”。这样今年就成为第一个世界地球日。

短短的40年,我们这个地球村已经变得越来越脆弱，地震、海啸、火山爆发、极端自然气候的频繁，各国政府对于应对气候变化的认同不力，现代化发展对于地球资源的过度采用和气候变化的负面影响,使得今年我们的世界地球日更有紧迫性和现实性。我们不仅要转变经济运行方式，而且要改变社会生活方式，协调各国应对方式。

善待地球,拯救地球,寰球共济，保障未来

April twenty-second marks the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. Former United States Senator Gaylord Nelson started the observance in nineteen seventy. The aim of this day is to urge local action and increase awareness about the state of the world's environment. The creation of Earth Day is widely considered the beginning of the modern environmental movement.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Gaylord Nelson was a Democrat from the state of Wisconsin. He had always been interested in environmental issues and worked hard to improve the environment in his state. The American public was also increasingly becoming aware of the huge environmental problems the country faced.

In nineteen sixty-nine two environmental problems caught the nation's attention. The first was a huge oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. More than eighty thousand barrels of crude oil from the spill severely damaged over sixty kilometers of coastline. The second was increased news reporting about a river so polluted that it caught on fire. This was the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.

BOB DOUGHTY: Senator Nelson knew there was growing public concern about the country's polluted air, rivers and land. He had been searching for a way to make the environment a subject of national interest to the country's politicians and leaders. He had observed that students at colleges across the country had been organizing "teach-in" demonstrations to protest the war in Vietnam. He realized that this "teach-in" method would be a useful way for the public to express concern about the environment to federal and state officials.

FAITH LAPIDUS: In September of nineteen sixty-nine Senator Nelson announced his aim to create a national version of an environmental teach-in. The idea immediately received wide popular support from students, teachers, religious centers and other community groups. It was so popular that his Senate office alone could not deal with the many responses.

So, Senator Nelson created an independent nonprofit group called Environmental Teach-In, Inc to help organize what would become an environmental revolution.

BOB DOUGHTY: Gaylord Nelson hired a student and activist named Denis Hayes to lead this special campaign. The aim was to get people young and old across the United States to act locally in solving environmental problems in their areas. Senator Nelson did not want the campaign to be about the changes and actions he wanted for the environment.

The movement was to be driven by the American public on a "grassroots" or local level. It was to be an event not just supported by students. Women, labor unions, religious groups, political groups, scientists and environmental organizations would also support the event.

[1] [2] [3] 下一页