演讲MP3+双语文稿:一个就在我们脚下的气候变化解决方案
听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:一个就在我们脚下的气候变化解决方案，希望你会喜欢！
【演讲者及介绍】Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Asmeret是一位土壤科学家，也是研究土壤和全球变化的科学家和教育家，对与土壤之美的科学相关的一切事物都充满了热情。
【演讲主题】一个就在我们脚下的气候变化解决方案
【中英文字幕】
翻译者Li Ying (Amelia) Hu 校对者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.
气候变化带来了全球性的挑战，而应对这一挑战的一个最重要的解决方案，每天都在我们的脚下。土壤。虽然土壤只是浅浅地覆盖着地球表面的那一层，但它却能决定我们地球的命运。一片厚度6英尺左右的土壤，即覆盖着地球表面松松的土料，可意味着在这地球上有无生命之别，只要我们不视之如粪土，它还可以帮助我们应对气候变化。
00:54
(Laughter)
（笑声）
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.
气候正在发生变化，地球的大气层正在变暖，因为我们不断向大气层释放越来越多的温室气体。这是众所周知的。但我猜想你们可能还没听说过，为应对气候变化，我们人类社会可以做的最重要事情之一就在这土壤里。
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.
我是一名土壤学家，我从 18 岁起就开始研究土壤，因为我有兴趣揭开土壤的秘密，并帮助人们了解这个十分重要的气候变化解决方案。
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.
我来讲一下有关气候的实际情况。就在过去大约 150 年期间，地球大气中的二氧化碳浓度增加了 40%。人类活动现正向大气释放 94 亿吨碳，这些活动包括燃烧化石燃料、进行密集的农业生产活动，以及我们改变土地用途的其他方法，包括砍伐森林。但大气中的二氧化碳浓度只约增加了一半，这是因为我们不断释放到大气中的碳，目前有一半正被陆地和海洋吸收，我们称这个过程为碳封存。所以从根本上来说，不管你认为我们现正面临气候变化带来的后果是什么，我们只遭受了 50% 的污染所产生的后果，因为自然生态系统在拯救我们。
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.
但是不要太过于掉以轻心了，因为现在有两件事对我们不利。第一：除非我们采取大规模且快速的行动，否则排放量将持续上升。第二：自然生态系统有能力从大气中吸收二氧化碳并将其隔离在自然栖息地，而它的这一能力目前正受到损害，因为人类的活动，这种能力正经历严重退化。因此，如果我们继续像往常一样行动，是否会继续得到这些自然生态系统的帮助而摆脱困境，还尚不明确。
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.
下面我来说说土壤的作用：土壤里约含有三万亿吨的碳，这大约是我们目前释放到大气中碳量的 315 倍，土壤中的碳含量超出植被和空气中的碳含量两倍多。我们就此来想一下，土壤中的碳量大于世界上所有植被中的含量，这些植被包括茂密的热带雨林和巨大的红杉、广阔的草原、所有的耕地，以及你能想到在地球表面的每一种植物群，加上目前在大气中的所有的碳，全部加起来，还多出两倍。因此，土壤中所储存的碳量有点小变化就能对维持地球大气产生很大的影响。
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.
但是土壤不只是一个碳储存箱，它的运作更像是个银行账户，在任何时候，土壤中的碳量都跟进出土壤的碳量密切相关。碳通过光合作用进入土壤，绿色植物从大气中吸收二氧化碳，并用它来生长植物体，植物死亡时，就会进入土壤，这些原来活着的生物体死后，由于微生物的活动使其在土壤中腐烂，这时碳离开土壤，再回到大气层。腐烂分解释放出二氧化碳进入大气，还有其他温室气体如甲烷和一氧化二氮，但它还会释放出我们生存所需的所有营养。
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.
土壤之所以是任何减缓气候变化战略的基本组成部分，原因之一就是因为它代表着长期的碳储存。如果碳被留在土壤表面，它可能会在腐烂的残渣中留存一两年，但碳在土壤里则可以保存数百年，甚至数千年以上。
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.
像我这样的土壤生物地球化学家就在研究土壤系统是如何使这成为可能的，通过将碳锁在与矿物的物理联系中，锁在土壤矿物的内部聚集物中，并形成牢固的化学键，将碳与矿物表面结合在一起。当碳被包裹在土里，与土壤矿物相结合，即使是最狡猾的微生物也难以轻易地分解它。而无法快速降解的碳是不会作为温室气体返回大气的。
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，碳封存的好处不只是限于缓解气候变化，储存大量碳的土壤会很健康、肥沃、柔软，它具有适应性，适合耕种。碳让土壤变得像海绵，它能保持大量的水分和营养。像这样健康肥沃的土壤为我们所知的地球上任何地方的生物都提供了最具活力、最丰富和最多样的栖息地。它使得各种生命得以维持，从最微小的微生物，如细菌和真菌，一直到更高等的植物，并满足所有动物，包括你和我，对食物、饲料和纤维的需要。
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.
说到这儿，你可能会认为我们应该将土壤视为宝贵资源，不幸的是，事实并非如此。世界各地的土壤正在经历前所未有的退化率，这是人类各种行为所导致的，包括砍伐森林、密集的农业生产系统、过度放牧、过度使用农用化学品、腐蚀和类似的行为。目前世界上有一半的土壤被视为退化了。
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.
从很多方面来说，土壤退化都不是好事，我来跟大家讲几个原因。第一：退化了的土壤降低了支持植物生长的潜力。因此，人类的行为导致土壤退化，同时也危及了我们自己提供食物和其他资源的能力，这些食物和其他资源是我们所需的，也是生存于地球上的每一种生物所需的。第二：在过去的200年里，土壤的利用和退化，向大气中释放的碳是我们现在向大气中释放碳的速度的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.
我得说还有更多坏消息，这是高纬度土壤的情况。在极地环境中的泥炭地储存着约三分之一的全球土壤碳储量。在这些泥炭地下面，有一层永久冻结的土，即永久冻土，这些碳能够在这些土壤中长期累积，因为即使植物能够在短暂且温暖的夏季进行光合作用，那里的环境会迅速地变冷，天色变黑，这样微生物就不能有效地分解残留物。因此，在过去的几十万年间，在极地环境中的土壤碳库存得以日积月累。
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.
但是现在，随着大气变暖，永久冻土正在融化和流失，而当永冻层融化并流失时，微生物就有可能进入并快速地分解所有这些碳，有可能以温室气体的形式向大气释放数千亿吨碳。而这些向大气层释放的额外温室气体只会导致进一步暖化，使这种困境更加恶化，因为它开始了一个自我增强的正反馈循环，它会持续不断地循环，极大地改变我们的气候未来。
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，我们有一个办法，来解决这两个糟糕的问题，即土壤退化和气候变化。就像我们制造了这些问题一样，我们的确知道解决的办法，那就是要通过我们称之为气候智能土地管理办法来同时处理这两个问题。这是什么意思呢？意思是要以明智的方式来管理土地，使土壤中的碳存量最大化。我们可以通过以下方式来实现这一目标，种植深根性的多年生植物，尽可能恢复森林，减少耕作和其他农业活动的干扰，包括优化使用农用化学品和放牧，甚至尽可能地用可循环利用的资源，如堆肥，甚至人类的排泄物，给土壤添加碳。
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.
这种土地管理并不是一个激进的想法，这是自古以来，让土壤肥沃，使之能够抚育人类文明的方法。事实上，现在有人正是这么做的。目前在全球范围内，人们正在采取一项措施要实现这一目标，这项措施始于法国，它被称为“千分之四”措施，它设定了一个雄心勃勃的目标，每年将土壤中的碳存量增加 0.4%，运用我前面提到的同样的气候智能土地管理办法。如果这项措施大获成功，那它可以抵消三分之一全球排放到大气层中的化石燃料碳。
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，我们只是开始朝着那个方向迈进，我们最终还是会获得更健康、更肥沃的土壤，生产出我们所需的所有食物和资源，满足人类的需求，甚至土壤也能更好地将大气中的二氧化碳隔离，帮助缓解气候变化。我很肯定，这就是政客们所说的双赢解决方案。
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.
我们大家都可以在此尽一份力，我们可以从尊重土壤开始，让其获得应有的尊重：尊重其作为地球上所有生命基础的能力，尊重其作为碳库的能力，尊重其控制气候的能力。
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.
如果我们这么做，我们就可以同时应对我们这个时代最紧迫的两个全球性的挑战：气候变化和土壤退化。在这个过程中，我们将能够为我们人类家庭的成长提供足够的食物和营养保障。
13:35
Thank you.
谢谢。
13:36
(Applause)
（掌声）
