世界地球日百科知识

世界地球日百科知识 世界地球日即每年的 4 月 22 日，是一项世界性的环境保护运 动。最早的地球日活动是 1970 年代于美国校园兴起的环保运动， 199 0 年代这项活动从美国走向世界，成为全世界环保主义者的节日和环 境保护宣传日，在这天不同国籍的人们以各自不同的方式宣传和实践 环境保护的观念 最初的地球日选择在春分节气，这一天在全世界的任何一个 角落昼夜时长均相等，阳光可以同时照耀在南极点和北极点上，这代 表了世界的平等，同时也象征着人类要抛开彼此间的争议和不同，和 谐共存。传统上在很多国家都有庆祝春分节气的传统。早期联合国也 在每年的春分举行世界地球日的活动。 1969 年美国民主党参议员盖洛德尼尔森在美国各大学举行演讲会， 筹划在次年的 4 月 22 日组织以反对越战为主题的校园运动，但是在 1 969 年西雅图召开的筹备会议上，活动的组织者之一，哈佛大学法学 院学生丹尼斯海斯提出将运动定位在于全美国的，以环境保护为主题 的草根运动。1970 年 4 月 22 日在美国各地总共有超过 2000 万人参 与了环境保护运动，这次运动的成功使得在每年 4 月 22 日组织环保活 动成为一种惯例，在美国地球日这个名号也随之从春分日移动到了 4 月 22 日，地球日的主题也转而更加趋向于环境保护。 现在人们普遍认为 1970 年 4 月 22 日在美国发生的第一届地球日活动 是世界上最早的大规模群众性环境保护运动，这次运动催化了人类现 代环境保护运动的发展，促进了发达国家环境保护立法的进程，并且 直接催生了 1972 年联合国第一次人类环境会议。而 1970 年活动的组 织者丹尼斯海斯也被人们称为地球日之父。 由于环境保护运动在世界范围内的兴起，1990 年第二十届地球日活动 的组织者希望将这一美国国内的运动向世界范围扩展，为此他们致函 中国、美国、英国三国领导人和联合国秘书长，呼吁他们采取措施， 举行会晤缔结关于环境保护议题的多边协议，协力扭转环境恶化的趋 势；同时地球日的组织者还呼吁全世界愿意致力环境保护的政府在 19 90 年 4 月 22 日各自动员国民开展环境保护运动。地球日活动组织者 的倡议得到了亚洲、非洲、美洲、欧洲许多国家和众多国际性组织的 响应，最终在 1990 年 4 月 22 日全世界有来自 140 多个国家的逾 2 亿 人参与了地球日的活动。从此世界地球日成为全球性的环境保护运动 。 Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earths environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on A pril 22, 1970.Earth Day is celebrated in spring in the Northern H emisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Earth Day Network, a group that wishes to become the coordinator of Eart h Day globally, asserts that Earth Day is now observed on April 22 on virtually every country on Earth. World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5 in a different nation every year, is the prin cipal United Nations environmental observance. Many communitie s also celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of environment-relat ed activities. The first Earth Day U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced his idea f or a nationwide teach-in day on the environment in a speech to a fledgling conservation group in Seattle on 20 September 1969, and then again six days later in Atlantic City to a meeting of th e United Auto Workers. Senator Nelson hoped that a grassroots outcry about environmental issues might prove to Washington, D. C. just how distressed Americans were in every constituency. Se nator Nelson invited Republican Representative Paul N “Pete” M cCloskey to serve as his co-chair and they incorporated a new non-profit organization, environmental Teach-In, Inc., to stimulate participation across the country. Both continued to give speeches plugging the event. On September 29, 1969, in a front-page New York Times article, Gladwin Hill wrote: “Rising concern about the “environmental crisis“ is sweeping the nations campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to e clipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam.a national d ay of observance of environmental problems, analogous to the m ass demonstrations on Vietnam, is being planned for next spring, when a nationwide environmental teach-in.coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned.” Denis Hayes, a H arvard graduate student, read the NYT article and traveled to W ashington to get involved.He had been student body president a nd a campus activist at Stanford University in McCloskeys distric t and where Teach-In board member Paul Ehrlich was a profess or. He thought he might be asked to organize Boston. Instead, Nelson eventually asked Hayes to drop out of Harvard, assembl e a staff, and direct the effort to organize the United States.Hay es would go on to become a widely recognized environmental a dvocate. Nelsons suggestion was difficult to implement, as the Earth Day movement proved to be autonomous with no central governing b odyAs Senator Nelson attests, it simply grew on its own: Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and t he thousands of schools and local communities that p articipated. That was the remarkable thing about Ear th Day. It organized itself. On April 22 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the moder n environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated. Thousands of colleges and universities organized pr otests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, Freeway and expre ssway revolts, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlif e suddenly realized they shared common values. Media coverage of the first Earth Day included a One-Hour Prim e-time CBS News Special Report called “Earth Day: A Question of Survival,“ with correspondents reporting from a dozen major c