演講MP3+雙語文稿:一個就在我們腳下的氣候變化解決方案

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聽力課堂TED音頻欄目主要包括TED演講的音頻MP3及中英雙語文稿，供各位英語愛好者學(xué)習(xí)使用。本文主要內(nèi)容為演講MP3+雙語文稿:一個就在我們腳下的氣候變化解決方案，希望你會喜歡！

【演講者及介紹】Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Asmeret是一位土壤科學(xué)家，也是研究土壤和全球變化的科學(xué)家和教育家，對與土壤之美的科學(xué)相關(guān)的一切事物都充滿了熱情。

【演講主題】一個就在我們腳下的氣候變化解決方案

【中英文字幕】

翻譯者Li Ying (Amelia) Hu 校對者Lipeng Chen

00:12

So one of the most important solutions tothe global challenge posed by climate change lies right under our foot everyday. It's soil. Soil's just the thin veil that covers the surface of land, butit has the power to shape our planet's destiny. See, a six-foot or so of soil,loose soil material that covers the earth's surface, represents the differencebetween life and lifelessness in the earth system, and it can also help uscombat climate change if we can only stop treating it like dirt.

氣候變化帶來了全球性的挑戰(zhàn)，而應(yīng)對這一挑戰(zhàn)的一個最重要的解決方案，每天都在我們的腳下。土壤。雖然土壤只是淺淺地覆蓋著地球表面的那一層，但它卻能決定我們地球的命運。一片厚度6英尺左右的土壤，即覆蓋著地球表面松松的土料，可意味著在這地球上有無生命之別，只要我們不視之如糞土，它還可以幫助我們應(yīng)對氣候變化。

00:54

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

00:56

Climate change is happening, the earth'satmosphere is warming, because of the increasing amount of greenhouse gases wekeep releasing into the atmosphere. You all know that. But what I assume youmight not have heard is that one of the most important things our human societycould do to address climate change lies right there in the soil.

氣候正在發(fā)生變化，地球的大氣層正在變暖，因為我們不斷向大氣層釋放越來越多的溫室氣體。這是眾所周知的。但我猜想你們可能還沒聽說過，為應(yīng)對氣候變化，我們?nèi)祟惿鐣梢宰龅淖钪匾虑橹痪驮谶@土壤里。

01:21

I'm a soil scientist who has been studyingsoil since I was 18, because I'm interested in unlocking the secrets of soiland helping people understand this really important climate change solution.

我是一名土壤學(xué)家，我從 18 歲起就開始研究土壤，因為我有興趣揭開土壤的秘密，并幫助人們了解這個十分重要的氣候變化解決方案。

01:35

So here are the facts about climate. Theconcentration of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere has increased by 40percent just in the last 150 years or so. Human actions are now releasing 9.4billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, from activities such asburning fossil fuels and intensive agricultural practices, and other ways wechange the way we use land, including deforestation. But the concentration ofcarbon dioxide that stays in the atmosphere is only increasing by about half ofthat, and that's because half of the carbon we keep releasing into theatmosphere is currently being taken up by land and the seas through a processwe know as carbon sequestration. So in essence, whatever consequence you thinkwe're facing from climate change right now, we're only experiencing theconsequence of 50 percent of our pollution, because the natural ecosystems arebailing us out.

我來講一下有關(guān)氣候的實際情況。就在過去大約 150 年期間，地球大氣中的二氧化碳濃度增加了 40%。人類活動現(xiàn)正向大氣釋放 94 億噸碳，這些活動包括燃燒化石燃料、進行密集的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)活動，以及我們改變土地用途的其他方法，包括砍伐森林。但大氣中的二氧化碳濃度只約增加了一半，這是因為我們不斷釋放到大氣中的碳，目前有一半正被陸地和海洋吸收，我們稱這個過程為碳封存。所以從根本上來說，不管你認為我們現(xiàn)正面臨氣候變化帶來的后果是什么，我們只遭受了 50% 的污染所產(chǎn)生的后果，因為自然生態(tài)系統(tǒng)在拯救我們。

02:45

But don't get too comfortable, because wehave two major things working against us right now. One: unless we do somethingbig, and then fast, emissions will continue to rise. And second: the ability ofthese natural ecosystems to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere andsequester it in the natural habitats is currently getting compromised, asthey're experiencing serious degradation because of human actions. So it's notentirely clear that we will continue to get bailed out by these naturalecosystems if we continue on this business-as-usual path that we've been.

但是不要太過于掉以輕心了，因為現(xiàn)在有兩件事對我們不利。第一：除非我們采取大規(guī)模且快速的行動，否則排放量將持續(xù)上升。第二：自然生態(tài)系統(tǒng)有能力從大氣中吸收二氧化碳并將其隔離在自然棲息地，而它的這一能力目前正受到損害，因為人類的活動，這種能力正經(jīng)歷嚴(yán)重退化。因此，如果我們繼續(xù)像往常一樣行動，是否會繼續(xù)得到這些自然生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的幫助而擺脫困境，還尚不明確。

03:33

Here's where the soil comes in: there isabout three thousand billion metric tons of carbon in the soil. That's roughlyabout 315 times the amount of carbon that we release into the atmospherecurrently. And there's twice more carbon in soil than there is in vegetationand air. Think about that for a second. There's more carbon in soil than thereis in all of the world's vegetation, including the lush tropical rainforestsand the giant sequoias, the expansive grasslands, all of the cultivatedsystems, and every kind of flora you can imagine on the face of the earth, plusall the carbon that's currently up in the atmosphere, combined, and then twiceover. Hence, a very small change in the amount of carbon stored in soil canmake a big difference in maintenance of the earth's atmosphere.

下面我來說說土壤的作用：土壤里約含有三萬億噸的碳，這大約是我們目前釋放到大氣中碳量的 315 倍，土壤中的碳含量超出植被和空氣中的碳含量兩倍多。我們就此來想一下，土壤中的碳量大于世界上所有植被中的含量，這些植被包括茂密的熱帶雨林和巨大的紅杉、廣闊的草原、所有的耕地，以及你能想到在地球表面的每一種植物群，加上目前在大氣中的所有的碳，全部加起來，還多出兩倍。因此，土壤中所儲存的碳量有點小變化就能對維持地球大氣產(chǎn)生很大的影響。

04:34

But soil's not just simply a storage boxfor carbon, though. It operates more like a bank account, and the amount ofcarbon that's in soil at any given time is a function of the amount of carboncoming in and out of the soil. Carbon comes into the soil through the processof photosynthesis, when green plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphereand use it to make their bodies, and upon death, their bodies enter the soil.And carbon leaves the soil and goes right back up into the atmosphere when thebodies of those formerly living organisms decay in soil by the activity ofmicrobes. See, decomposition releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, aswell as other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, but it alsoreleases all the nutrients we all need to survive.

但是土壤不只是一個碳儲存箱，它的運作更像是個銀行賬戶，在任何時候，土壤中的碳量都跟進出土壤的碳量密切相關(guān)。碳通過光合作用進入土壤，綠色植物從大氣中吸收二氧化碳，并用它來生長植物體，植物死亡時，就會進入土壤，這些原來活著的生物體死后，由于微生物的活動使其在土壤中腐爛，這時碳離開土壤，再回到大氣層。腐爛分解釋放出二氧化碳進入大氣，還有其他溫室氣體如甲烷和一氧化二氮，但它還會釋放出我們生存所需的所有營養(yǎng)。

05:28

One of the things that makes soil such afundamental component of any climate change mitigation strategy is because itrepresents a long-term storage of carbon. Carbon that would have lasted maybe ayear or two in decaying residue if it was left on the surface can stay in soilfor hundreds of years, even thousands and more.

土壤之所以是任何減緩氣候變化戰(zhàn)略的基本組成部分，原因之一就是因為它代表著長期的碳儲存。如果碳被留在土壤表面，它可能會在腐爛的殘渣中留存一兩年，但碳在土壤里則可以保存數(shù)百年，甚至數(shù)千年以上。

05:52

Soil biogeochemists like me study exactlyhow the soil system makes this possible, by locking away the carbon in physicalassociation with minerals, inside aggregates of soil minerals, and formation ofstrong chemical bonds that bind the carbon to the surfaces of the minerals. Seewhen carbon is entrapped in soil, in these kinds of associations with soilminerals, even the wiliest of the microbes can't easily degrade it. And carbonthat's not degrading fast is carbon that's not going back into the atmosphereas greenhouse gases.

像我這樣的土壤生物地球化學(xué)家就在研究土壤系統(tǒng)是如何使這成為可能的，通過將碳鎖在與礦物的物理聯(lián)系中，鎖在土壤礦物的內(nèi)部聚集物中，并形成牢固的化學(xué)鍵，將碳與礦物表面結(jié)合在一起。當(dāng)碳被包裹在土里，與土壤礦物相結(jié)合，即使是最狡猾的微生物也難以輕易地分解它。而無法快速降解的碳是不會作為溫室氣體返回大氣的。

06:33

But the benefit of carbon sequestration isnot just limited to climate change mitigation. Soil that stores large amountsof carbon is healthy, fertile, soft. It's malleable. It's workable. It makes itlike a sponge. It can hold on to a lot of water and nutrients. Healthy andfertile soils like this support the most dynamic, abundant and diverse habitatfor living things that we know of anywhere on the earth system. It makes lifepossible for everything from the tiniest of the microbes, such as bacteria andfungi, all the way to higher plants, and fulfills the food, feed and fiberneeds for all animals, including you and I.

但是，碳封存的好處不只是限于緩解氣候變化，儲存大量碳的土壤會很健康、肥沃、柔軟，它具有適應(yīng)性，適合耕種。碳讓土壤變得像海綿，它能保持大量的水分和營養(yǎng)。像這樣健康肥沃的土壤為我們所知的地球上任何地方的生物都提供了最具活力、最豐富和最多樣的棲息地。它使得各種生命得以維持，從最微小的微生物，如細菌和真菌，一直到更高等的植物，并滿足所有動物，包括你和我，對食物、飼料和纖維的需要。

07:25

So at this point, you would assume that weshould be treating soil like the precious resource that it is. Unfortunately,that's not the case. Soils around the world are experiencing unprecedentedrates of degradation through a variety of human actions that includedeforestation, intensive agricultural production systems, overgrazing,excessive application of agricultural chemicals, erosion and similar things.Half of the world's soils are currently considered degraded.

說到這兒，你可能會認為我們應(yīng)該將土壤視為寶貴資源，不幸的是，事實并非如此。世界各地的土壤正在經(jīng)歷前所未有的退化率，這是人類各種行為所導(dǎo)致的，包括砍伐森林、密集的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)系統(tǒng)、過度放牧、過度使用農(nóng)用化學(xué)品、腐蝕和類似的行為。目前世界上有一半的土壤被視為退化了。

08:02

Soil degradation is bad for many reasons,but let me just tell you a couple. One: degraded soils have diminishedpotential to support plant productivity. And hence, by degrading soil, we'recompromising our own abilities to provide the food and other resources that weneed for us and every member of living things on the face of the earth. Andsecond: soil use and degradation, just in the last 200 years or so, hasreleased 12 times more carbon into the atmosphere compared to the rate at whichwe're releasing carbon into the atmosphere right now.

從很多方面來說，土壤退化都不是好事，我來跟大家講幾個原因。第一：退化了的土壤降低了支持植物生長的潛力。因此，人類的行為導(dǎo)致土壤退化，同時也危及了我們自己提供食物和其他資源的能力，這些食物和其他資源是我們所需的，也是生存于地球上的每一種生物所需的。第二：在過去的200年里，土壤的利用和退化，向大氣中釋放的碳是我們現(xiàn)在向大氣中釋放碳的速度的12倍。

08:50

I'm afraid there's even more bad news. Thisis a story of soils at high latitudes. Peatlands in polar environments storeabout a third of the global soil carbon reserves. These peatlands have apermanently frozen ground underneath, the permafrost, and the carbon was ableto build up in these soils over long periods of time because even though plantsare able to photosynthesize during the short, warm summer months, theenvironment quickly turns cold and dark, and then microbes are not able toefficiently break down the residue. So the soil carbon bank in these polar environmentsbuilt up over hundreds of thousands of years.

我得說還有更多壞消息，這是高緯度土壤的情況。在極地環(huán)境中的泥炭地儲存著約三分之一的全球土壤碳儲量。在這些泥炭地下面，有一層永久凍結(jié)的土，即永久凍土，這些碳能夠在這些土壤中長期累積，因為即使植物能夠在短暫且溫暖的夏季進行光合作用，那里的環(huán)境會迅速地變冷，天色變黑，這樣微生物就不能有效地分解殘留物。因此，在過去的幾十萬年間，在極地環(huán)境中的土壤碳庫存得以日積月累。

09:36

But right now, with atmospheric warming,the permafrost is thawing and draining. And when permafrost thaws and drains,it makes it possible for microbes to come in and rather quickly decompose allthis carbon, with the potential to release hundreds of billions of metric tonsof carbon into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. And this releaseof additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will only contribute tofurther warming that makes this predicament even worse, as it starts aself-reinforcing positive feedback loop that could go on and on and on,dramatically changing our climate future.

但是現(xiàn)在，隨著大氣變暖，永久凍土正在融化和流失，而當(dāng)永凍層融化并流失時，微生物就有可能進入并快速地分解所有這些碳，有可能以溫室氣體的形式向大氣釋放數(shù)千億噸碳。而這些向大氣層釋放的額外溫室氣體只會導(dǎo)致進一步暖化，使這種困境更加惡化，因為它開始了一個自我增強的正反饋循環(huán)，它會持續(xù)不斷地循環(huán)，極大地改變我們的氣候未來。

10:23

Fortunately, I can also tell you that thereis a solution for these two wicked problems of soil degradation and climatechange. Just like we created these problems, we do know the solution, and thesolution lies in simultaneously working to address these two things together,through what we call climate-smart land management practices. What do I meanhere? I mean managing land in a way that's smart about maximizing how muchcarbon we store in soil. And we can accomplish this by putting in placedeep-rooted perennial plants, putting back forests whenever possible, reducingtillage and other disturbances from agricultural practices, includingoptimizing the use of agricultural chemicals and grazing and even adding carbonto soil, whenever possible, from recycled resources such as compost and evenhuman waste.

所幸的是，我們有一個辦法，來解決這兩個糟糕的問題，即土壤退化和氣候變化。就像我們制造了這些問題一樣，我們的確知道解決的辦法，那就是要通過我們稱之為氣候智能土地管理辦法來同時處理這兩個問題。這是什么意思呢？意思是要以明智的方式來管理土地，使土壤中的碳存量最大化。我們可以通過以下方式來實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)，種植深根性的多年生植物，盡可能恢復(fù)森林，減少耕作和其他農(nóng)業(yè)活動的干擾，包括優(yōu)化使用農(nóng)用化學(xué)品和放牧，甚至盡可能地用可循環(huán)利用的資源，如堆肥，甚至人類的排泄物，給土壤添加碳。

11:24

This kind of land stewardship is not aradical idea. It's what made it possible for fertile soils to be able tosupport human civilizations since time immemorial. In fact, some are doing itjust right now. There's a global effort underway to accomplish exactly thisgoal. This effort that started in France is known as the "4 per 1000"effort, and it sets an aspirational goal to increase the amount of carbonstored in soil by 0.4 percent annually, using the same kind of climate-smartland management practices I mentioned earlier. And if this effort's fullysuccessful, it can offset a third of the global emissions offossil-fuel-derived carbon into the atmosphere.

這種土地管理并不是一個激進的想法，這是自古以來，讓土壤肥沃，使之能夠撫育人類文明的方法。事實上，現(xiàn)在有人正是這么做的。目前在全球范圍內(nèi)，人們正在采取一項措施要實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)，這項措施始于法國，它被稱為“千分之四”措施，它設(shè)定了一個雄心勃勃的目標(biāo)，每年將土壤中的碳存量增加 0.4%，運用我前面提到的同樣的氣候智能土地管理辦法。如果這項措施大獲成功，那它可以抵消三分之一全球排放到大氣層中的化石燃料碳。

12:19

But even if this effort is not fullysuccessful, but we just start heading in that direction, we still end up withsoils that are healthier, more fertile, are able to produce all the food andresources that we need for human populations and more, and also soils that arebetter capable of sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and helpingwith climate change mitigation. I'm pretty sure that's what politicians call awin-win solution.

但即使不完全成功，我們只是開始朝著那個方向邁進，我們最終還是會獲得更健康、更肥沃的土壤，生產(chǎn)出我們所需的所有食物和資源，滿足人類的需求，甚至土壤也能更好地將大氣中的二氧化碳隔離，幫助緩解氣候變化。我很肯定，這就是政客們所說的雙贏解決方案。

12:51

And we all can have a role to play here. Wecan start by treating the soil with the respect that it deserves: respect forits ability as the basis of all life on earth, respect for its ability to serveas a carbon bank and respect for its ability to control our climate.

我們大家都可以在此盡一份力，我們可以從尊重土壤開始，讓其獲得應(yīng)有的尊重：尊重其作為地球上所有生命基礎(chǔ)的能力，尊重其作為碳庫的能力，尊重其控制氣候的能力。

13:15

And if we do so, we can then simultaneouslyaddress two of the most pressing global challenges of our time: climate changeand soil degradation. And in the process, we would be able to provide food andnutritional security to our growing human family.

如果我們這么做，我們就可以同時應(yīng)對我們這個時代最緊迫的兩個全球性的挑戰(zhàn)：氣候變化和土壤退化。在這個過程中，我們將能夠為我們?nèi)祟惣彝サ某砷L提供足夠的食物和營養(yǎng)保障。

13:35

Thank you.

謝謝。

13:36

(Applause)

（掌聲）