From the top of the food chain down: Rewilding our world - George Monbiot

从食物链的顶端到低端：让我们的世界重现荒野 - 乔治·蒙比约特

翻译人员: Max Wang 校对人员: Geoff Chen

We all know about the dinosaurs

我们都知道

that once roamed the planet,

恐龙曾经一度称霸这个星球

but long after they went extinct,

不过在它们灭绝很久之后

great beasts we call the megafauna

仍然有我们称之为“巨型动物”的大怪物

lived on every continent.

遍布每一块大陆

In the Americas, ground sloths the size of elephants

在美洲，跟大象一般大的地獭

pulled down trees with their claws.

能用它们的爪子拉倒大树

Saber-toothed cats the size of brown bears

像棕熊一样大的剑齿虎

hunted in packs,

能成群结队地狩猎

but they were no match for short-faced bears,

不过跟巨型短面熊比起来它们都弱爆了

which stood thirteen feet on their hind legs,

这些熊站起来有十三英尺高 (注：约四米）

and are likely to have driven these cats

而且它们很容易就能把剑齿虎

away from their prey.

从它们的猎物旁边吓走

There were armadillos as big as small cars,

还有像汽车一样大的犰狳

an eight foot beaver,

八尺长的海狸（注：约2.5米）

and a bird with a 26 foot wingspan.

还有翼展为26尺（注：约八米）的大鸟

Almost everywhere, the world's megafauna

不过几乎世界各地所有的巨型动物

were driven to extinction, often by human hunters.

都已经绝种了，这通常 要归咎于人类的狩猎

Some species still survive in parts of Africa and Asia.

不过在亚洲和非洲还有一些得以幸存

In other places, you can still see the legacy of these great beasts.

但在其他地方 你只能看到这些巨兽留下的遗迹

Most trees are able to resprout

树木如果被折断的话

where their trunk is broken

往往会再次发出新芽

to withstand the loss of much of their bark

从而弥补造成的损失

and to survive splitting, twisting and trampling,

这样可以经受各种灾难的考验

partly because they evolved to survive attacks by elephants.

也许这是因为树木为了经受 大象的摧残而进化出来的功能

The American pronghorn can run so fast

美洲麋鹿跑得很快

because it evolved to escape the American cheetah.

因为它们得逃出美洲猎豹的魔爪

The surviving animals live in ghost ecosystems

这些得以存活的动物生活 在幽灵创造的生态系统中

adapted to threats from species that no longer exist.

因为这个生态系统 是由已经灭绝的物种开创的

Today, it may be possible to resurrect those ghosts,

如今，我们有可能使这些幽灵复活

to bring back lost species using genetic material.

用基因材料让它们重归于世

For instance, there's been research in to

比如说，有研究已经着眼于

cloning woolly mammoths from frozen remains.

利用猛犸象被冰封的遗体碎片复活它

But even if it's not possible,

不过就算最终难以成行

we can still restore many of the ecosystems

我们还是能重现当时世界上的

the world has lost.

生态系统

How? By making use of abandoned farms.

怎么弄？ 利用废弃的农场

As the market for food is globalized,

目前的食物市场已经全球化

infertile land becomes uncompetitive.

贫瘠的土地已经没啥用了

Farmers in barren places can't compete

不毛之地的农民们无法和

with people growing crops on better land elsewhere.

在富饶土地上耕种的农民去竞争

As a result, farming has started to retreat from many regions,

结果就是，很多地方的农耕退化

and trees have started to return.

森林重现

One estimate claims that two-thirds of land in the US

一项研究表明，美国三分之二

that was once forested but was cleared for farming

由森林变耕地的土壤

has become forested again.

现在又重新变回森林了

Another estimate suggests that by 2030,

另一项研究提出，可能在2030年时

an area in Europe the size of Poland

一块有欧洲波兰那么大的农场

will be vaccated by farmers.

可能将被荒废

So even if we can't use DNA to bring back

所以就算我们不能用DNA去复原

ground sloths and giant armadillos,

那些巨型地獭和巨型犰狳

we can restore bears, wolves, pumas

我们仍然可以找回熊、狼、美洲狮

lynx, moose and bison

山猫、驼鹿和北美野牛

to the places where they used to live.

让它们回到曾经生存过的地方

Some of these animals can reshape their surroundings,

这些动物会重塑它们的生存环境

creating conditions that allow other species to thrive.

创造出得以让 它们种族繁衍生息的环境

When wolves were reintroduced to

1995年，当狼群再次出现在

the Yellowstone National Park in 1995,

黄石国家公园时

they quickly transformed the ecosystem.

它们很快地就改变了生态系统

Where they reduced the numbers of overpopulated deer,

它们降低了鹿过多的种群数量

vegetation began to recover.

植物又重新长出来了

The height of some trees quintupled in just six years.

有一些树木的高度 在六年内增长了五倍

As forests returned, so did songbirds.

跟随森林一起回来的，还有唱歌的小鸟

Beavers, which eat trees, multiplied in the rivers,

以树木为食的海狸 其数量在河流中成倍增长

and their dams provided homes

它们筑起的水坝

for otters, muskrats, ducks, frogs and fish.

也养育了水獭、麝鼠、青蛙和鱼

The wolves killed coyotes, allowing rabbits

野狼杀死了郊狼

and mice to increase,

让兔子和老鼠的数量得以增长

providing more food for hawks, weasels,

因此老鹰、鼬鼠、狐狸，和臭鼬

foxes and badgers.

有了更多的食物

Bald eagles and ravens fed on the carrion

秃鹫和乌鸦吃被狼遗弃了的腐肉

that the wolves abandoned.

秃鹫和乌鸦吃被狼遗弃了的腐肉

So did bears, which also ate the berries

熊呢，可以从重新回来的灌木丛里

on the returning shrubs.

找到更多野莓

Bison numbers rose as they browsed

越来越多的穿梭的北美野牛

the revitalized forests.

让森林重现活力

The wolves changed almost everything.

狼群改变了几乎所有的东西

This is an example of a trophic cascade,

这只是营养级联方面的一个例子而已

a change at the top of the food chain

食物链顶端的某个改变

that tumbles all the way to the bottom,

会一路影响到食物链的最底端

affecting every level.

会一路影响到食物链的最底端

The discovery of widespread trophic cascades

这个关于营养级联的发现

may be one of the most exciting scientific findings

可能是过去半个世纪里

of the past half century.

最令人兴奋地科学发现之一了

They tell us that ecosystems that have lost

这个发现证明了我们的生态系统

just one or two species of large animals

其实只丢失了一两种 非常不同的大型动物

can behave in radically different ways

其他的大部分行为方式

from those that retain them.

其实跟现在的这些都差不多

All over the world, new movements are trying

世界各地都有被称为 “重现荒野”的运动

to catalyze the restoration of nature

催化了大自然的复苏

in a process called rewilding.

催化了大自然的复苏

This means undoing some of the damage we've caused,

这说明对于我们 曾经造成的破坏进行补救

reestablishing species which have been driven out,

事实上重新唤回了 曾被我们赶走的许多物种

and then stepping back.

让他们重回自然舞台

There is no attempt to create an ideal ecosystem,

这并非是尝试重建一个理想的生态系统

to produce a heath, a rainforest or a coral reef.

比如重建荒野、雨林，或珊瑚礁

Rewilding is about bringing back the species

“重现荒野”只是把曾经被驱逐的物种

that drive dynamic processes

带回来的一个动态过程

and then letting nature take its course.

剩下的就靠大自然天然去造化了

But it's essential that rewilding must never be used

不过重点是“重现荒野”不是一个

as an excuse to push people off the land.

驱逐人类的借口

It should happen only with the consent

它应当得到当地人的默许和支持

and enthusiasm of the people who work there.

它应当得到当地人的默许和支持

Imagine standing on a cliff in England,

想象一下，直到18世纪的时候

watching sperm whales attacking shoals of herring

你还能站在英格兰的海边悬崖

as they did within sight of the shore

看到抹香鲸捕食鲱鱼群的景象

until the 18th century.

看到抹香鲸捕食鲱鱼群的景象

By creating marine reserves

通过建立不允许 商业捕捞的海洋保护区

in which no commerical fishing takes place,

通过建立不允许 商业捕捞的海洋保护区

that can happen again.

这景象还能重现

Imagine a European Serengeti

想象一下，曾经的欧洲草原上

full of the animals that used to live there:

曾经遍布着各种各样的动物

hippos, rhinos, elephants, hyenas and lions.

河马、犀牛、大象、鬣狗和狮子

What rewilding reintroduces,

“重现荒野”带回的

alongside the missing animals and plants,

不仅仅是丢失的动物和植物

is that rare species called hope.

还有一种稀有物种叫“希望”

It tells us that ecological change

它告诉了我们生态变迁

need not always proceed in the same direction.

并不一定总是朝着一个方向的

The silent spring could be followed by a wild summer.

寂静的春天之后 也可能是狂野的夏天