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The day organizing itself
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地球日--一个自发的节日
昨天是第31个世界地球日。以下的这篇文章由"地球日之父"盖洛德·尼尔森所作，叙述了这个重要日子的诞生的过程。
What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.
设立地球日的初衷是什么？它是怎么开始的？这些是人们最常问我的问题。
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" 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 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. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.
实际上，从1962年后的七年中，设立地球日这个想法的酝酿过程一直在不断发展中。几年来，我一直被这样的现状困扰着，即我们周围的环境还没有列入国家政治生活的议题之中。到了1962年的11月，我萌生了一个想法，我觉得这个想法可一劳永逸地使环境问题成为受人注目的政治议题。这个想法就是说服肯尼迪总统通过一次国内自然资源考察来使这个议题得到重视。我飞到华盛顿，与罗伯特·肯尼迪大法官讨论了此事，他很赞成这个想法。总统先生也同意这么做。1963年9月，总统开始了为期5天,历经11个州的考察。由于多种原因，这次考察未能成功地将环境问题列入政治议题。但这个想法最终发展形成了地球日。
I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some 25 states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation 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25个州对不同的观众继续开展有关环境议题的演讲。全国随处可见到环境恶化的景象，除了政府，每个人都注意到了这个问题。环境议题仍旧不在国家的政治议题之列。人们对此非常关注，而政治家们则不以为然。
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 I was on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins", had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me — why not organize a huge grass-roots protest over what was happening to our environment?
肯尼迪总统的考察结束后，我仍期待着某些想法会推动环境问题列入政治主流议题的进程。1969年夏，当我在西部进行环保巡回演讲中萌生设立地球日这个想法时，整整六年已经过去了。当时，反越战示威，即"宣讲会"等活动在全国的大学校园里蔚然成风。突然间，一个念头出现在我的脑海中——为什么不组织一次庞大的群众示威活动，抗议环境的现状呢？
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, but worth a try.
我很满意如果我们能够使环境问题引起公众的注意，将学生的反战情绪注入到环境问题中来，就可以发起一次示威活动，借此将该问题列入政治议题中。这是一场很严峻的赌局，但值得一试。
At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grass-roots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes and air — and they did so with spectacular exuberance. 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.
1969年9月西雅图的一次会议上，我宣布了1970年春天将就环境问题组织一次全国性的群众示威，并邀请每个人参加。通讯社的报道将此事传遍了大陆两岸。反应是令人激动的。本次活动热烈地开展了起来。电报，信件以及电话问询从全国各地纷纷而至。最后美国人有了一个论坛，他们以极大的热情，在此表达他们对土地、河流、湖泊及空气等环境因素变化的关注。在以后的四个月中，我所在的州参议院的两位成员——琳达·比令斯及约翰·哈里特基在我的办公室里拟定了地球日的有关事宜。
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 of environmental events.
地球日到来的五个月前，1969年11月30日，《纽约时报》刊登了格莱德温·希尔的长篇报道，该文章指出环境问题正以惊人的速度增长。
It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grass-roots activities had ballooned 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 co-ordinator of activities.
很显然我们正朝地球日的伟大成功迈近。同样引人注目的是群众活动的发展非常迅速，我在参议院的办公室工作人员为电话、文案及答询等工作忙得不可开交，开始倍感力不从心。一月中旬，也就是地球日前的三个月，同道会的创始人约翰·戈登纳在华盛顿为地球日活动提供了一个临时总部所在地。在此我和大学生们及选出的丹尼斯·海斯一起进行活动的各项联络工作。
Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grass-roots 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.
正是群众的自发响应使得地球日活动取得了成功。我们实际上既没有时间也没有财力去组织参与这次活动的2000万的示威者、几千所学校及当地团体。这正是地球日最不平常的地方——它是自发组织起来的。
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