环球英语 — 669：Preserving Nature with Art
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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Robin Basselin.
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And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Every day people all over the world visit museums. Museums are places where people protect, care for, show, and study things that have lasting value. There are museums of history, museums of art, museums of science and many more. There are museums all over the world. But did you think there could be a museum under the water?
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Often, under-water museums protect ship wrecks or other human history. In early 2009, China opened the world’s first underwater museum in the Yangtze River. This museum protects an edge of rock that people used to mark the water levels for many centuries. There are pictures and poems on the rock that are thousands of years old.
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Today’s Spotlight is on a new underwater museum in Mexico. It shows the environmental art of Jason deCaires Taylor.
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Jason deCaires Taylor creates sculptures of people and things from everyday life. But he places these statues in unusual places, like under the water. He talked about his underwater work with Miranda Krestovnikoff, a reporter for The Underwater Television Channel.
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“I have had a love for the sea for a long time. I have also been a sculptor for a while. So I wanted to combine these two areas of my life.”
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Taylor’s first major underwater project was a group of 65 sculptures. He placed these statues under the water off the coast of the island country Grenada. He chose to place his sculptures around the coral reef.
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Coral is colorful and exists in many different shapes. Many fish, plants, and other small sea creatures live in coral reefs. Coral often looks like stone. But it is a living sea creature. When it is harmed, it dies. If too much coral dies, it changes the ocean environment. When coral dies, other sea life loses safe spaces to live. For this reason, it is important to protect coral reefs around the world.
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There are other important reasons for protecting coral reefs. Coral is rare. Less than one percent of the ocean floor is made of coral reefs. But these reefs protect the coast. They also provide food and income for about five hundred million people around the world.
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In Grenada, the coral reef had suffered severe damage from a storm. So Taylor designed his underwater sculptures to help rebuild the area. Taylor used materials that are safe for the ocean environment. He also designed his sculptures to be like the natural coral reef. The ocean plants and animals can use the sculptures to create new homes, replacing what was damaged by the storms.
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Taylor placed his sculptures in low waters. They are easily seen by swimmers, divers, and people in boats with glass bottoms. Taylor’s dream is that his sculptures would give a future to the coral reef environment. He hopes his work will provide a way for the life of the coral reef to continue.
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Taylor also hopes he can show the positive effects of human involvement in the environment. He wants people to see that human involvement can improve nature, not just destroy it. Miranda Krestovnikoff asked him about this hope. She asked him what he wanted people to think about and remember when they see his work.
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“Many things. First, the different ways we can look at the world and see how we fit into it. Also, our place in the development--you know, we are just a small part in this whole world. Everything is continually changing. Nature is so powerful and wonderful. You just have to be amazed by it.”
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Now Taylor is working on a new project in Mexico. This series of sculptures will be like a museum. But this museum is different from the Chinese underwater museum in the Yangtze River. And it is not protecting a ship or other human history. Instead, it is like his project in Grenada. It is designed to protect and show natural ocean life.
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For this project, Taylor is working with the National Marine Park of Cancun. Storms have also damaged the coral reefs in this national park. But that is not all that is damaging these reefs. Jaime Gonzalez is the director of the park. He told the BBC that about 750,000 visit the park each year. These people enjoy seeing and exploring the coral reef. The large amount of human activity is also damaging the natural environment.
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About 450,000 of those people visit Punta Nizuc. This is the area where Taylor will put his sculptures. But Punta Nizuc is not a large area. Gonzalez hopes that the sculptures will reduce the pressure on the natural environment. This would give it a greater chance of surviving future storm damage.
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Taylor is making these sculptures with a special kind of concrete. This material will be pH-neutral. Because the hydrogen activity in the concrete will be similar to the hydrogen activity in water, it will not affect the natural environment. Taylor, Gonzalez, and others hope this will bring new plant and animal life to Punta Nizuc. They also hope it will improve the ocean environment in the whole National Marine Park. Taylor explained how this should work.
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"It all happens quickly - within two weeks, we will see green algae, a plant-like organism. Then within a few months, young algae will appear and the project will progress from there."
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Taylor bases his sculptures on real people. He also uses symbols from everyday life, like tables and bicycles. His goal is to speak to many different groups of people through his art. He hopes his work will do more than just show people art. He hopes it will also make them think about environmental issues.
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The first sculpture for the National Marine Park of Cancun is about four meters below the surface of the water. It is called La Jardinera de la Esperanza, or The Gardener of Hope. This sculpture shows a young girl lying on the ground. She is growing and caring for plants. The sculpture will include growing coral. This coral is expected to grow well in its new environment.
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Dr. Paul Jepson teaches about environmental protection at the University of Oxford. He welcomed the idea of Taylor’s underwater sculpture museum. He told the BBC,
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"People who support protecting and caring for nature need to find different ways of getting involved with the world. Artists should get involved in environmental matters so it is not just scientists trying to get the message out there."
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The writer and producer of this program was Courtney Schutt. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can find this program and others on our website This program is called “Preserving Nature with Art.”
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