Earth Day Turns 50

About 20 million Americans turned out for the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Lectures and gatherings took place at more than 2,000 college campuses, 10,000 elementary and high schools, and thousands of other places across the country. Forty-two states     1     resolutions supporting Earth Day. It is sometimes described as, up to that time, the largest public     2     in history.

The lectures and literature surrounding the event     3     lots of depressing predictions about the future, which could be found in the book The Environmental Handbook. Its cover noted that it had been “prepared for the first national environmental teach-in.” Commissioned(委托) by the group Friends of the Earth, the book talked about the threats of rising population and exhaustion of     4     resources- Many of its contributors—let’s call them the Catastrophists―warned that even such actions as halving the number of human beings and stopping economic growth completely might not be enough to prevent the     5     ecological disasters.

A different group of researchers     6     that while economic growth and technological progress had created some ecological problems, these things also would be a source of solutions. Let’s call these folks the Prometheans. The economist Theodore Schultz argued in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1972 that the     7     of modern agriculture would free up more land for nature. Other advocates of this more     8     outlook included the oceanographer Cy Adler, the economist Christopher Freeman, and Nature editor emeritus John Maddox, author of the 1972 book The Doomsday Syndrome.

Today, the Earth Day Network hopes a billion people across the world will participate in Earth Day 2020, where the 50th anniversary     9     will be on man-made climate change. Living as we do in the future that the Catastrophists and the Prometheans (灾变论者与开创者)    10    ,   now is a great time to look back at the claims made five decades ago.

Species are     1     at an high rate due to human activity. It is clear that human activity     2     all other species on Earth. As we humans depend so much on so many species for our survival, we would also     3     extinction. Thus, we should    4     to improve the situation. For example, we should     5     of endangered animals. Moreover, we should     6     change the way we live. In this way, we might be able to avoid THE SIXTH EXTINCTION.

Years ago, Jason was a college     1    with a big house. But knowing that many people were living in poor conditions, he felt     2    . Jason decided to     3     his fortune by giving his money to     4     and helping homeless people to     5     in life. Now Jason lives in a small     6     room. He     7     the change. For some people, getting rich is their     8     goal and a     9     of success, but for Jason, deciding to     10     this lifestyle made him feel free.

A Hollywood Happy Ending for Movie Theater Owner

Craig Smith is living a true Hollywood happy ending. “I got a Frank Capra life here, you know,” said Smith, owner of the Firehouse Theater in tiny Kingston, Washington.

In a report broadcast, the 65-year-old talked with correspondent Lee Cowan about his     1     for movies, and about using his life savings 10 years ago to turn a former firehouse into a two-screen movie theater – the only cinema in town.

But running a movie house virtually     2     isn’t easy; and the conversion from 35 mm film to digital projection was     3    . Smith had to use credit cards and renegotiate his lease (租约). When he ran out of cash he stopped taking a paycheck to keep the place running. The     4     brought him a heart attack one day while he was up in the projection room.

Fans of the Firehouse Theater have     5     around Smith to volunteer, and set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to support Smith’s business. They’d raised about $6,000 by the time Cowan’s report     6     Sunday.

Within 90 minutes of the broadcast, thousands of donations     7     in from Sunday Morning viewers, topping $100,000. By Tuesday the total was more than $182,000, from about 4,700 donors around the world, many in amounts of $10, $15 or $25. “Love your spirit and community determination,” one donor wrote.

Among the donations were such     8     comments as this: “Our children set aside a part of birthday and gift money for donations and wanted to support the theater after watching CBS Sunday Morning. Good luck!”

Shortly after the     9     of goodwill on GoFundMe, the Seattle Times reported on the Firehouse’s changing fortunes. Smith said he was moved by the response. In a note to Sunday Morning producer, Smith said, “You are all like angels blessing small people like me     10     away in this beautiful country.”