本文作者為“地球日”的創(chuàng)辦人蓋洛.尼爾生
What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.
地球日的目的是什么？它是怎么誕生的？這些是我最常被問到的問題。
Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight"（引人注目的中心） once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General（司法部長） Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda（議程）。However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.
事實上，從1962年開始醞釀地球日的想法已有7年之久。這幾年以來，讓我感到困惑的是我們的環(huán)境狀況根本不能成為我們國家的政治生活中的一個問題而存在。最后，在1962年的11月，我有了一個想法，那就是把環(huán)境問題和政治焦點一勞永逸的并有效的捆綁在一起。這個想法就是通過勸服肯尼迪總統(tǒng)進行一個全國性的環(huán)境保護巡游來認識這個問題。我飛到華盛頓和司法部長羅伯特.肯尼迪討論這個建議，后者也欣賞這個想法�？偨y(tǒng)也表示贊同。于是在1963年的9月，總統(tǒng)開始了他歷時5天途經(jīng)11個州的環(huán)境保護之旅。出于很多原因這次旅行沒有成功的把環(huán)境保護問題提到國家的政治議事日程上來，但正是這個想法的種子最后讓地球日開花結果。
I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation（退化） was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation's political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not.
我在大約25個州對不同的聽眾談論起環(huán)境問題。在整個國家，環(huán)境惡化的例子到處都是，每個人都意識到這一點，除了政治機關之外。環(huán)境問題根本沒能提到國家的議事日程上去。人們很關注這個問題，但政治家們卻不以為然。
After President Kennedy's tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins（研討會）," had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a huge grassroots（草根階層，平民） protest over what was happening to our environment?
肯尼迪總統(tǒng)的巡游結束后，我仍抱著一些想法希望環(huán)境問題能夠擠入政治主流。1969年的夏天，在我在西部進行環(huán)保演說之旅時產(chǎn)生了地球日的想法前6年也許過去了。那時一種叫做“研討會”的反越戰(zhàn)的集會已經(jīng)在全國的大學校園中傳播開來了。忽然間，我產(chǎn)生了一個念頭---為什么不組織廣大的普通大眾去*那些發(fā)生在我們環(huán)境上的事呢？
I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble（賭博）, but worth a try.
我很滿意如果我們能夠使得環(huán)境問題引起公眾的關注，并把學生反戰(zhàn)的能量注入環(huán)保事業(yè)，我們將能產(chǎn)生一個運動使得這個問題上升到政治議事日程。這是個很大的賭博，但值得一試。
At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services（通訊社） carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters（偵破團伙者）. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum（論壇）to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance（活躍的）. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.
于是1969年9月在西雅圖的一個討論會上，我宣布，在1970年的春天將為保護我們的環(huán)境而舉行一個全國性的大眾集會活動，并邀請每個人都來參加。通訊社把這個消息傳遍了全國各地。提議的反響是激動人心的，就象掃蕩黑幫的警探一樣大受歡迎。電報，信件和電話咨詢從全國各地涌來。美國人民終于有了一個論壇來表達自己對發(fā)生在陸地，河流和空氣變化的關注了-----他們的表現(xiàn)是如此的壯觀，如此的興高采烈。接下來的4個月，琳達.貝爾林和約翰.哈里提居，我參議員團隊的兩名成員，離開我的參議員辦公室去籌劃地球日的事宜。
Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation（增殖） of environmental events:
1969年的11月30日，在離地球日還有5個月的一個星期天，《紐約時報》登載了格拉迪溫.希爾的一篇長文，文章報道了令人震驚的環(huán)境問題的增長：
"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing（月蝕，使黯然失色） student discontent over the war in Vietnam…a national day of observance of environmental problems…is being planned for next spring…when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'…coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned…."
“對環(huán)境危機的密切關注不斷上升，并席卷了全國的大學校園，相比學生對越戰(zhàn)的不滿，將使后者黯然失色…一個觀察環(huán)境問題的國家性地球日…將在明年春天舉行…屆時將有全國性的環(huán)境問題研討會…參議員蓋洛.尼爾生辦公室正計劃協(xié)調中…”
It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned（氣球般膨脹） beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.
很明顯我們渴望在地球日上獲得巨大的成功。同樣明顯的是平民活動家的壯大也超越了我參議員辦公室成員處理電話，文字工作，咨詢等其他活動的能力。在一月中旬，離地球日還有三個月時，共同事業(yè)的創(chuàng)立人，約翰.加德納先生，提供了在華盛頓特區(qū)的一個臨時場所作為地球日的指揮部。我領導了一個由大學生組成的辦公室并挑選了丹尼斯.海斯作為活動的協(xié)調人。
Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous（自發(fā)的） response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.
地球日之所以發(fā)揮作用是因為來自普通大眾階層的自發(fā)反應。我們既沒有時間也沒有資源去組織有2千萬之多的活動參與者和數(shù)以千計的參加活動的學校和地方社區(qū)。地球日本身就是了不起的事。它組織了它自己。
