VOA慢速英语2013 This Is America - Pictures Connect People for Earth Day 2013

 

This Is America - Pictures Connect People for Earth Day 2013

From VOA Learning English, welcome to This Is America. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Mario Ritter. April twenty-second is 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 awareness¹ about the state of the world’s environment. The creation of Earth Day is widely considered the beginning of the modern environmental movement.

Gaylord Nelson was a Democrat² 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 1969 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 severely³ 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.

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 interest to all the country’s politicians and leaders. He had observed that students at colleges across the country had been organizing “teach-in” demonstrations⁴ 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.

In September of 1969 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 leaders 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 non-profit group called Environmental Teach-In to help organize what would become an environmental revolution.

Gaylord Nelson hired a student and activist⁶ 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, labor⁷ unions, religious groups, political groups, scientists and environmental organizations would also support the event.

The planning for a national protest on the environment soon began to receive national media attention. The Environmental Teach-In group began to educate people about how to take action locally and spread the news of the event. The group stated that the national day for the environment would be “more than a day of fruitless talking.” And, they created a new name for their national teach-in event: Earth Day.

The hard work of this grassroots effort resulted in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. An estimated 20 million people took part. In New York City, Fifth Avenue was closed to traffic as people marched through the streets. At demonstrations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Miami, Florida people gathered to demand a cleaner environment.

Gaylord Nelson later said that “Earth Day worked because of the immediate⁵ response at the grassroots level.” He said that the event organized itself.

Lawmakers in Washington seemed to have understood the public demand for a cleaner environment. In December of 1970, a new federal agency began its work.

The Environmental Protection Agency aimed to bring together federal research, supervision⁸, and enforcement of environmental matters. By 1974 several other environmental laws had been signed. These include the Clean Water Act, the Pesticide⁹ Control Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

Earth Day has spread well beyond the United States. This year, organizers estimate that one billion people around the world will observe Earth Day. The event is one of the largest civic¹⁰ observances on the planet.

A nonprofit organization called Earth Day Network, based in Washington, DC, helps promote many Earth Day events.

Susan Bass¹¹ is the senior vice-president of programs and operations at the Earth Day Network. She says Earth Day is still very much about activism and fighting for the environment on a local level.

The theme for 2013 is “The Face of Climate Change.” The Network’s 20,000 partner groups are helping¹² spread the word. Franklin Russell is the director of Earth Day for the Earth Day Network.

“We had a couple photos come in from India recently, from students who were using recycled plastic bags to make pots for their plants. We had a bunch of people take to the streets in Bulgaria to protest deforestation and to demand that the government start taking action.”

Franklin Russell says his group is collecting thousands of pictures from social media for The Face of Climate Change campaign at earthday.org.

“The key is engaging as many people as possible… to take a photo of themselves, depicting¹³ either the impact of climate change or even some of the solutions that they are engaged in, share it with us and allow to build this really impressive digital mosaic¹⁴ that we can share with the world and influence change.”

That mosaic appears as a digital wall of photos. VOA reporter Rosanne Skirble calls it “mesmerizing.” She says you can stop on a photo, click to turn it over, and read more on the back. Then, you can join a live Twitter feed to comment on what you see.

One of the photos shows a young girl named Stephanie. She is on a glacier¹⁵ in New Zealand. She comments that warming temperatures have made it impossible to climb some icy peaks.

Another photo shows women in Kenya. They are learning to use new kinds of cook stoves. The stoves are more efficient, less polluting, and safer to operate.

A third photo shows Sarah Vant. Ms. Vant is an educator with a group in England called EcoActive.

“Well, the picture is a picture of me and my friend Polo here. Polo is my polar bear puppet.”

Polo helps Ms. Vant talk about solutions to environmental problems. They also talk about the dangers we face.

“If I talk about the polar bears, he might get a bit sad. Or if a child comes up with a brilliant idea for saving energy or reducing the emission¹⁶ waste that their family might be using, he might get really excited and maybe do a little dance.”

Another face on the mosaic belongs to a 75-year-old woman in a refugee camp on the border between Thailand and Burma. She is carrying a solar panel to put on the grass roof of her house.

“We are the face of climate change because we are proud to have the first solar-powered refugee camp in the world.”

That’s Iona Proebst. She is the executive director and founder¹⁷ of the Branch Foundation. The foundation helps people in South East Asia, includes Burmese refugees. Some of those refugees have been living in a camp without electricity.

Ms. Proebst says the solar panels have changed daily life at the camp. For instance, students’ grades have improved. People are no longer getting hurt in fires. And refugees are saving money on lamps and candles. Those savings¹⁸ mean they can buy better food. Ms. Proebst says the solar panel project has given many refugees renewed hope.

“I think it sets an amazing example of a small amount of dedicated¹⁹ individuals wanting to create sustainable change. They are probably in terms what you might think of renewable energy a kind of unlikely suspect. Yet it has worked fantastically well in terms of the benefit.”

One goal of the Earth Day Network mosaic is to connect people around the world. One person commented on pictures of children planting trees. Ngong Edwin Nkainin says, “These children are climate change advocates. Imagine what one hundred children can do.”

Or, on Earth day, what one billion people can do.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Mario Ritter. Join us against next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Learning English.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

9 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

10 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

11 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

14 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

15 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

16 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

17 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

18 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

19 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。