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教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導
═══════════════════════《2003/04/25》═════
*****【本 期 內 容】
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教育專題 ◎ 422勿忘愛地球
◎ 5月徵文
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◎ 422勿忘愛地球
前言：每年的4月22日是世界地球日，世界各地的環保團體均會舉辦相關活動，提醒世人注意地球環境日益惡化的問題。
（1） 地球日的起源（Environlink）
1970年，地球日誕生於美國（Environlink）
1970年4月22日，美國舉辦第1個地球日活動，之後，這個旨在提醒世人關心環境問題，及打造和平、正義和永續的世界活動，日益受到世界各國環保團體重視，迄今，全世界有184個國家的5千個團體參與地球日活動。
地球日的概念是如何形成的？根據地球日創辦人前參議員蓋洛德．尼爾森（Gaylord Nelson）的回憶，他早在1962年就萌生了創辦地球日的構想。他說服甘迺迪總統，在全國性的巡迴視察行程中，把環境議題彰顯出來。之後，美國環境惡化的證據日增，但美國政壇卻因處理古巴飛彈危機而無暇面對。
1969年夏天，美國大學校園反越戰運動風起雲湧。尼爾森發現，如果能將學生反越戰的激情，轉移到環境議題上的話，必能產生一股力量，使環境議題受政壇重視。1969年9月，尼爾森在西雅圖的一場會議上宣布：1970年春天，將舉行一場代表環境的全國民間請願活動。美國民眾的迴應十分熱烈，他們終於有管道可以抒發他們對土地、河流、湖泊及空氣等的關心。
1970年4月22日，由美國一群關心環境與自然生態的大學生，發起了第1屆「地球日」活動，呼籲人類應重視環境所面臨的生態危機。此活動受到廣大群眾的響應，並受媒體廣泛的報導，遂成為全球性的活動，世界地球日於是誕生。第1次的世界地球日於1990年4月22日舉行，全球有141個國家，大約2億人參與相關活動。從此地球日便訂於每年的4月22日。
What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the
questions I am most frequently asked. 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"（眾所注目之中心） 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 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.
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（惡化）
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.
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," had spread to college campuses
all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a
huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?
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.
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
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.
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:
"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the
nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing 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...."
It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth
Day. It was also obvious that grassroots 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 coordinator of activities.
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 the thousands of schools and local communities that
participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized
itself.
2. 環保團體抨擊布希降低環保標準（Reuters）
布希擁抱污染 引發抨擊（Reuters）
美國是地球日的創始國，不過，環保團體對當今布希政府的環保表現頗不滿意，因為布希政府不僅拒絕簽署旨在降低二氧化碳排放量的「京都議定書」，並且允許石油財團開挖阿拉斯加北極保護區的儲油。世界地球日這天，環保團體抨擊布希政府，對經營能源和石化工業的共和黨支持者讓步，降低煙霧和汞污染防治的標準。他們也指責布希政府，有毒廢棄物處理場的清除工作績效不彰，2000年時清除了87個處理場，但到了2002年則僅剩42個???。根據環保團體「環境信託」所做的一項報告，每6個美國人中就有1人，住在646個有毒廢棄物處理場的附近。
Environmental groups commemorated Earth Day Tuesday by accusing the
Bush Administration of undermining public health through rollbacks in air
pollution and toxic-cleanup standards.
Activists lambasted President Bush and the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for what they said are a long string of pollution-increasing
concessions to Republican supporters in the energy and chemical industries.
Groups criticized the Administration for regulations it finalized on December
31, 2002, that opened loopholes（漏洞） in federal rules requiring power plants and
other polluting factories to install pollution-control technologies in many of
their facilities. The new rules slowed curbs to smog and mercury（汞） emissions
laid down by the Clinton Administration.
Smog contains fine particles collectively known as "soot"（煤灰）,
as well as several toxic gasses that have been blamed for rises in cancer rates
in urban areas. Mercury has a wide range of ill health effects, including
neurological and lung damage.
"It literally causes more deaths," Gene Karpinski, executive
director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, said of the Bush rules.
Karpinski's group issued a report pointing to a slowdown in federally-funded
cleanups of toxic-waste sites since Bush took office. EPA-led cleanups have
dropped by more than half, going from 87 in 2000 to 42 in 2002, according to
the report.
Philip Clap, who heads the Environmental Trust, said that one in six
Americans now live within a mile of one of the 646 toxic-waste sites in the
U.S.
Last week, the Bush Administration announced a proposal designed to cut
diesel（柴油） emissions from farm and industrial equipment by 90 percent over the
next decade, a move that environmental groups praised as a big step toward
minimizing health damage from smog and soot.
But activists on Tuesday, the 34th annual Earth Day, dismissed the
proposal.
"This single positive proposal, even if it's finalized, will not
repair this administration's horrific record," said Greg Wetstone,
director of programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"I think they're in a bad mood because last week a lot of their
campaign issues were taken off the table," said Frank Maisano, who
represents the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a electricity
industry lobbying consortium.
In a statement issued Tuesday Bush said his administration's clean-air
rules "will reduce
power plant pollution by 70 percent. Three decades after the first
Earth Day, our air is cleaner, our water is purer, and our lands and natural
resources are better protected," the president said.
3. 教材大補帖：
這一天，學生可以做什麼？
環境保護應從每個人做起，且環保不應只做一天，天天都應是地球日。在地球日這天，老師可刺激學生的創意和想像力，設計一些具體行動，協助解決環境的問題。這些活動的最重要意義是，讓環保的意識潛入學生腦海中。下列的地球日活動，是由美國伍德羅．威爾森生物研究中心（Woodrow Wilson Biology Institute）所提供的，供立報的讀者們參考。
* Classroom or school-wide awareness activities
* Identify local as well as global environmental crises
* Create contests for poster, T-shirt, bookmark, and stationary
designs. Proceeds from the sale of these items can be used to support environmental
action groups.
* Read published poetry and stories or play music related to
environmental concerns.
* Research environmental organizations in order to make informed
decisions about where to send proceeds from fundraising.
* Read and post daily environmental announcements.
* Informational picketing by students before and after school.
* Involve students in presenting environmental information to local
media such as writing letters to newspaper editors or science reporters at
local T.V. stations.
* Develop environmental impact statements.
* Bring in environmental speakers.
* Student presentations to class.
* Classroom, club, or school-wide activities
* Have students carry a trash bag with personal garbage for one school
week.
* Make recycled paper.
* Investigate the purchase of recycled paper for school use.
* Make bird houses and feeders or other wildlife feeding stations.
These can be installed by students and/or sold as a fund raiser.
* Propagate（繁殖） house plants to sell as a fundraiser or to give to
teachers to display in their classrooms as air fresheners.
* Give each teacher a recyclable mug（杯子） for coffee or tea.
* Draft petitions and actively inform as signatures are sought.
* Do a garbage study from cafeteria waste cans at the end of a typical
school day. Identify and quantify aluminum, plastic, paper, food, glass, etc..
Propose ways to reduce the amount to the student council or other appropriate
organization.
* Write letters to congress persons to support environmental
legislation.
* Raise money through various contests to support conservation causes.
e.g. class competitions.
* All school art exhibit (photography, sculpture, etc.) focusing upon
the environment.
* Plant a native tree and/or wildflower seeds.
* Ecofair in cafeteria during lunch periods. Have each different club
in school be responsible for one fair booth.
* Write to student and comunity groups involved in environmental
activities in other countries.
◎5月徵文
本月主題：學生變笨了嗎？
許多聲音都反映：現在的學生真是一屆比一屆難教！不是任性不受教、就是程度太差。教育部長官腔說，不要唱衰下一代，教育最前線的老師們，你們覺得呢？
歡迎您寫下自己的經驗來與讀者分享，文長1000～1500字，獲刊登者敬贈稿酬。
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