Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean

Translator: Manuel Meixide Reviewer: Nuria Cobelo Cal

I'm an ecologist,

Eu son un ecólogo,

mostly a coral reef ecologist.

sobre todo, un ecólogo de arrecifes de coral.

I started out in Chesapeake Bay

Comecei na Bahia de Chesapeake

and went diving in the winter

a mergullar no inverno

and became a tropical ecologist overnight.

e de repente torneime un ecólogo tropical.

And it was really a lot of fun

E foi moi divertido

for about 10 years.

durante uns 10 anos.

I mean, somebody pays you

É dicir, alguén te paga

to go around and travel

para viaxar polo mundo

and look at some of the most

e ver algúns dos lugares

beautiful places on the planet.

máis fermosos do planeta.

And that was what I did.

E iso foi o que fixen eu.

And I ended up in Jamaica,

Acabei en Xamaica,

in the West Indies,

nas Antillas,

where the coral reefs were really

onde os arrecifes de coral estaban

among the most extraordinary, structurally,

entre as estruturas máis extraordinarias

that I ever saw in my life.

que nunca vin na miña vida.

And this picture here,

Esta foto

it's really interesting, it shows two things:

é moi interesante e amósanos dúas cousas.

First of all, it's in black and white

A primeira é en branco e negro

because the water was so clear

porque a auga era tan clara

and you could see so far,

que podías ver tan lonxe.

and film was so slow

Ademais, os carretes eran tan lentos

in the 1960s and early 70s,

nos anos 60 e principios dos 70,

you took pictures in black and white.

que se facían as fotos en branco e negro.

The other thing it shows you

A outra cousa que mostra

is that, although there's this beautiful

é que aínda que haxa ese fermoso

forest of coral,

bosque de coral,

there are no fish in that picture.

non hai peixes na foto.

Those reefs at Discovery Bay, Jamaica

Estes corais en Discovery Bay en Xamaica

were the most studied coral reefs

foron os máis estudados do mundo

in the world for 20 years.

durante uns 20 anos.

We were the best and the brightest.

Éramos os mellores e máis brillantes.

People came to study our reefs from Australia,

Viu xente da Australia para estudar os nosos arrecifes,

which is sort of funny

o que non deixa de ser gracioso

because now we go to theirs.

porque agora nós imos aos deles.

And the view of scientists

A opinión dos científicos

about how coral reefs work, how they ought to be,

de como funcionan os arrecifes de coral

was based on these reefs

baseouse nestes arrecifes

without any fish.

sen ningún peixe.

Then, in 1980,

Entón, en 1980,

there was a hurricane, Hurricane Allen.

houbo un furacán, o furacán Allen.

I put half the lab

Coloquei a metade do laboratorio

up in my house.

na miña casa.

The wind blew very strong.

O vento foi moi forte.

The waves were 25

As ondas eran de 8 metros

to 50 feet high.

a 16 metros de altura.

And the reefs disappeared, and new islands formed,

Os arrecifes desapareceron e formáronse novas illas.

and we thought, "Well, we're real smart.

E pensamos, "Somos moi listos.

We know that hurricanes

Sabemos que os furacáns

have always happened in the past."

aconteceron de sempre no pasado".

And we published a paper in Science,

Publicamos un artigo na revista Science,

the first time that anybody ever

a primeira vez que alguén

described the destruction

describía a destrución

on a coral reef by a major hurricane.

dun arrecife de coral por un gran furacán.

And we predicted what would happen,

Predecimos o que ía acontecer.

and we got it all wrong.

E fixémolo todo mal.

And the reason was

O motivo foi

because of overfishing,

a sobrepesca

and the fact that a last common grazer,

e o feito de que o último herbívoro,

a sea urchin, died.

un ourizo de mar, morreu.

And within a few months

Uns poucos meses

after that sea urchin dying, the seaweed started to grow.

despois da morte dos ourizos, as algas comezaron a medrar.

And that is the same reef;

Este é o mesmo arrecife.

that's the same reef 15 years ago;

Este é o mesmo arrecife de hai 15 anos.

that's the same reef today.

Este é o mesmo arrecife hoxe.

The coral reefs of the north coast of Jamaica

Os arrecifes do norte de Xamaica

have a few percent live coral cover

teñen unha pequena porcentaxe de coral vivo

and a lot of seaweed and slime.

e moitas algas e lama.

And that's more or less the story

Esta é máis ou menos a historia

of the coral reefs of the Caribbean,

dos arrecifes de coral no Caribe,

and increasingly, tragically,

e cada vez máis, traxicamente,

the coral reefs worldwide.

dos arrecifes de todo o mundo.

Now, that's my little, depressing story.

Agora, esa é a miña pequena historia depresiva.

All of us in our 60s and 70s

Todos nós temos historias tristes

have comparable depressing stories.

parecidas aos dos anos 60 e 70.

There are tens of thousands

Hai decenas de miles

of those stories out there,

destas historias.

and it's really hard to conjure up

E é realmente difícil imaxinar

much of a sense of well-being,

que todo acabará ben,

because it just keeps getting worse.

porque vai a peor.

And the reason it keeps getting worse

A razón de que se agrave,

is that after a natural catastrophe,

é que, despois dun desastre natural

like a hurricane,

como un furacán,

it used to be that there was

adoitaba acontecer

some kind of successional sequence of recovery,

algún tipo de sucesión secuencial de recuperación.

but what's going on now is that

O que sucede agora é que

overfishing and pollution and climate change

a sobrepesca, a contaminación e o cambio climático

are all interacting

están a interactuar

in a way that prevents that.

de xeito que evitan que iso aconteza.

And so I'm going to sort of go through

Entón, dalgunha maneira,

and talk about those three

vou falar sobre estes tres

kinds of things.

tipos de cousas.

We hear a lot about

Escoitouse falar moito sobre

the collapse of cod.

o colapso do bacallau.

It's difficult to imagine that

É difícil imaxinar que

two, or some historians would say three world wars

dúas, ou algúns historiadores dirían tres, guerras mundiais,

were fought during the colonial era

que tiveron lugar durante a era colonial,

for the control of cod.

foron polo control do bacallau.

Cod fed most of the people of Western Europe.

O bacallau alimentou á maioría dos pobos de Europa Occidental

It fed the slaves

e aos escravos

brought to the Antilles,

traídos para as Antillas.

the song "Jamaica Farewell" --

A canción "Jamaica Farewell"--

"Ackee rice salt fish are nice" --

"Arroz e peixe salgado son bos" --

is an emblem of the importance

é un emblema da importancia

of salt cod from northeastern Canada.

do bacallau salgado do nordeste do Canadá.

It all collapsed in the 80s and the 90s:

Todo foi abaixo nas décadas dos 80 e 90.

35,000 people lost their jobs.

Unhas 35.000 persoas perderon o emprego.

And that was the beginning

Ese foi o principio

of a kind of serial depletion

dun deterioro en serie,

from bigger and tastier species

que vai de especies grandes e saborosas,

to smaller and not-so-tasty species,

a especies máis pequenas e non tan saborosas,

from species that were near to home

de especies que se pescaban perto de casa,

to species that were all around the world,

a especies espalladas por todo o mundo,

and what have you.

e as tes ao teu alcance.

It's a little hard to understand that,

É un pouco difícil entender todo isto,

because you can go to a Costco in the United States

porque podes ir a Costco nos E.E.U.U.

and buy cheap fish.

e mercar peixe barato.

You ought to read the label to find out where it came from,

Tes que ler o rótulo para saber de onde ven,

but it's still cheap,

mais aínda é barato,

and everybody thinks it's okay.

e todo o mundo pensa que está ben.

It's hard to communicate this,

É difícil transmitir isto.

and one way that I think is really interesting

Así, un xeito que eu creo que é interesante,

is to talk about sport fish,

é falar da pesca deportiva,

because people like to go out and catch fish.

porque á xente gústalle saír e coller peixe.

It's one of those things.

É unha desas cousas.

This picture here shows the trophy fish,

Esta foto mostra o peixe premiado,

the biggest fish caught

o maior peixe capturado

by people who pay a lot of money

por xente que paga moito diñeiro

to get on a boat,

para embarcar nunha lancha,

go to a place off of Key West in Florida,

ir a un lugar de Caio Oeste, na Florida,

drink a lot of beer,

beber moita cervexa,

throw a lot of hooks and lines into the water,

largar moitas liñas e anzois na auga,

come back with the biggest and the best fish,

e retornar cos mellores e maiores peixes,

and the champion trophy fish

e os peixes campións

are put on this board, where people take a picture,

son colocados neste panel, onde lles fan fotos,

and this guy is obviously

e obviamente este tipo está

really excited about that fish.

moi satisfeito con ese peixe.

Well, that's what it's like now,

Ben, agora iso é así,

but this is what it was like in the 1950s

pero na década de 1950 xa era así:

from the same boat in the same place

o mesmo barco no mesmo lugar,

on the same board on the same dock.

no mesmo panel do mesmo peirao.

The trophy fish

Os peixes campións

were so big

eran tan grandes

that you couldn't put any of those small fish up on it.

que non podían poñer ningún deses peixes pequenos nel.

And the average size trophy fish

Eses peixes pesaban

weighed 250 to 300 pounds, goliath grouper,

de media 100-150 kg, eran meros.

and if you wanted to go out and kill something,

Se alguén quería saír e matar algo,

you could pretty much count on

case podería estar seguro de que

being able to catch one of those fish.

ía pescar un daqueles peixes.

And they tasted really good.

Estaban deliciosos.

And people paid less in 1950 dollars

A xente pagaba menos, en dólares de 1950,

to catch that

por pescalos

than what people pay now

do que pagan agora

to catch those little, tiny fish.

por pescar peixiños pequenos.

And that's everywhere.

E iso pasa en todas partes.

It's not just the fish, though,

Non son os peixes que

that are disappearing.

están desaparecendo.

Industrial fishing uses big stuff,

A pesca industrial utiliza cousas grandes,

big machinery.

maquinaria grande.

We use nets that are 20 miles long.

Redes de 40 km de extensión.

We use longlines

Palangres ("o pincho")

that have one million or two million hooks.

que teñen un millón ou dous de anzois.

And we trawl,

E o arrastre,

which means to take something

que significa coller algo do tamaño

the size of a tractor trailer truck

dun camión con remolque

that weighs thousands and thousands of pounds,

que pesa miles e miles de quilos,

put it on a big chain,

colgalo nunha gran cadea

and drag it across the sea floor

e arrastralo polo fondo mariño

to stir up the bottom and catch the fish.

para axitar o fondo e capturar o peixe.

Think of it as

Pensade niso como

being kind of the bulldozing of a city

unha escavadora demolendo unha cidade

or of a forest,

ou arrasando un bosque,

because it clears it away.

porque o elimina todo.

And the habitat destruction

E a destrución do hábitat

is unbelievable.

é incrible.

This is a photograph,

Esta é a fotografía,

a typical photograph,

unha foto típica

of what the continental shelves

do aspecto que teñen

of the world look like.

as plataformas continentais do mundo.

You can see the rows in the bottom,

Pódense ver os regos no fondo,

the way you can see the rows

do mesmo xeito que se poden ver os regos

in a field that has just been plowed

nun campo arado recentemente

to plant corn.

para sementar millo.

What that was, was a forest of sponges and coral,

Isto era antes un bosque de esponxas e coral,

which is a critical habitat

que é un hábitat crítico

for the development of fish.

para o desenvolvemento dos peixes.

What it is now is mud,

Agora é lama.

and the area of the ocean floor

A área do fondo do océano

that has been transformed from forest

que se transformou desde o bosque

to level mud, to parking lot,

ata o nivel da lama, como un estacionamento,

is equivalent to the entire area

é equivalente a toda a área

of all the forests

de todos os bosques

that have ever been cut down

que algunha vez foron cortados

on all of the earth

en toda a terra

in the history of humanity.

na historia da humanidade.

We've managed to do that

E logramos facelo

in the last 100 to 150 years.

nos últimos 100 ou 150 anos.

We tend to think of oil spills

Tendemos a pensar nos derrames de petróleo

and mercury

e no mercurio,

and we hear a lot about plastic these days.

e fálase moito do plástico nestes días.

And all of that stuff is really disgusting,

Todo este material é realmente noxento,

but what's really insidious

pero o que é realmente insidioso

is the biological pollution that happens

é a contaminación biolóxica que ocorre

because of the magnitude of the shifts

debido á magnitude dos cambios

that it causes

que provoca

to entire ecosystems.

a ecosistemas enteiros.

And I'm going to just talk very briefly

Só vou falar brevemente sobre

about two kinds of biological pollution:

dous tipos de contaminación biolóxica.

one is introduced species

Un deles son as especies introducidas,

and the other is what comes from nutrients.

e o outro é o que vén dos nutrientes.

So this is the infamous

Entón esta é a infame

Caulerpa taxifolia,

Caulerpa taxifolia,

the so-called killer algae.

a chamada alga asesina.

A book was written about it.

Escribiron un libro sobre ela.

It's a bit of an embarrassment.

É un pouco embarazoso.

It was accidentally released

Liberáronna accidentalmente

from the aquarium in Monaco,

do acuario, en Mónaco.

it was bred to be cold tolerant

Foi criada para ser tolerante ao frío,

to have in peoples aquaria.

para tela nos acuarios.

It's very pretty,

É moi bonita

and it has rapidly started

e axiña empezou

to overgrow

a encher de maleza

the once very rich

a, en tempos moi rica,

biodiversity of the

biodiversidade do

northwestern Mediterranean.

Mediterráneo noroccidental.

I don't know how many of you remember the movie

Non sei cantos se lembran da película

"The Little Shop of Horrors,"

"A Pequena Tenda dos Horrores",

but this is the plant of "The Little Shop of Horrors."

pero esta é a planta que aparecía na película.

But, instead of devouring the people in the shop,

Mais, no canto de devorar á xente na tenda,

what it's doing is overgrowing

o que está a facer é encher de maleza

and smothering

e sufocar

virtually all of the bottom-dwelling life

practicamente toda a vida do fondo

of the entire northwestern

de toda a rexión noroeste

Mediterranean Sea.

do Mar Mediterráneo.

We don't know anything that eats it,

Non sabemos de ninguén que a coma.

we're trying to do all sorts of genetics

Estamos a tentar facer todo tipo de xenética

and figure out something that could be done,

e pensar nalgunha solución.

but, as it stands, it's the monster from hell,

Pero, tal como está, é o monstro do inferno

about which nobody knows what to do.

sobre o que ninguén sabe o que facer.

Now another form of pollution

Agora outra forma de contaminación

that's biological pollution

é a contaminación biolóxica:

is what happens from excess nutrients.

é o que pasa co exceso de nutrientes.

The green revolution,

A revolución verde,

all of this artificial nitrogen fertilizer, we use too much of it.

os fertilizantes artificiais de nitróxeno, usamos demasiado diso.

It's subsidized, which is one of the reasons we used too much of it.

Están subvencionados, unha das razóns do uso excesivo.

It runs down the rivers,

Percorren os ríos

and it feeds the plankton,

e alimentan o plancto,

the little microscopic plant cells

as pequenas células vexetais microscópicas

in the coastal water.

nas augas costeiras.

But since we ate all the oysters

Pero desde que comemos todas as ostras

and we ate all the fish that would eat the plankton,

e comemos os peixes que comerían o plancto,

there's nothing to eat the plankton

non hai ninguén que coma o plancto.

and there's more and more of it,

E hai máis e máis,

so it dies of old age,

así que morre de vello,

which is unheard of for plankton.

algo que é inaudito para o plancto.

And when it dies, it falls to the bottom

E cando morre, cae ao fondo

and then it rots,

e entón apodrece,

which means that bacteria break it down.

o que significa que as bacterias o descompoñen.

And in the process

E nese proceso

they use up all the oxygen,

empregan todo o osíxeno.

and in using up all the oxygen

E ao consumir todo o osíxeno,

they make the environment utterly lethal

fan o ambiente totalmente letal

for anything that can't swim away.

para calquera cousa que non pode escapar nadando.

So, what we end up with

Así acabamos tendo

is a microbial zoo

un zoolóxico microbiano,

dominated by bacteria

dominado por bacterias

and jellyfish, as you see

e medusas, como se ve

on the left in front of you.

á esquerda diante de vostedes.

And the only fishery left --

A única pesca que queda

and it is a commercial fishery --

é a comercial,

is the jellyfish fishery

a pesca de medusas

you see on the right, where there used to be prawns.

que se ve á dereita, onde adoitaba haber gambas.

Even in Newfoundland

Mesmo na Terranova,

where we used to catch cod,

onde adoitabamos capturar bacallau,

we now have a jellyfish fishery.

agora temos pesca de medusas.

And another version of this sort of thing

Outra versión deste tipo de cousas

is what is often called red tides

é o que se chama a miúdo mareas vermellas

or toxic blooms.

ou floracións tóxicas.

That picture on the left is just staggering to me.

Esa foto é sorprendente para min.

I have talked about it a million times,

Falei sobre iso millóns de veces,

but it's unbelievable.

pero é incrible.

In the upper right of that picture on the left

Na esquina superior dereita da imaxe da esquerda

is almost the Mississippi Delta,

é case o Delta do Mississippi,

and the lower left of that picture

e a parte inferior esquerda da imaxe

is the Texas-Mexico border.

é a fronteira de Texas con México.

You're looking at the entire

Pódese ver

northwestern Gulf of Mexico;

todo o noroeste do Golfo de México.

you're looking at one toxic

Pódese ver unha floración

dinoflagellate bloom that can kill fish,

de dinoflaxelados tóxicos que poden matar peixes,

made by that beautiful little creature

feita pola bonita e pequena criatura

on the lower right.

no ángulo inferior dereito.

And in the upper right you see this

E na esquina superior dereita vese

black sort of cloud

este tipo de nube negra

moving ashore.

que se move cara á costa.

That's the same species.

Esa é a mesma especie.

And as it comes to shore and the wind blows,

A medida que se vai achegando á costa e o vento sopra,

and little droplets of the water get into the air,

e pequenas gotiñas de auga entran no aire,

the emergency rooms of all the hospitals fill up

as urxencias de todos os hospitais énchense

with people with acute respiratory distress.

de xente con insuficiencia respiratoria aguda.

And that's retirement homes

Son casas de xubilados

on the west coast of Florida.

na costa oeste da Florida.

A friend and I did this thing in Hollywood

Un amigo e eu fixemos isto en Hollywood,

we called Hollywood ocean night,

chamámoslle noite do océano de Hollywood.

and I was trying to figure out how to

Eu estaba tentando pensar

explain to actors what's going on.

como explicar aos actores o que está a suceder.

And I said,

E dixen: "Entón, imaxinen

"So, imagine you're in a movie called 'Escape from Malibu'

que están nunha película chamada 'Fuxindo de Malibú",

because all the beautiful people have moved

porque todas as persoas bonitas mudáronse

to North Dakota, where it's clean and safe.

a Dakota do Norte, onde está limpo e seguro.

And the only people who are left there

E as únicas persoas que están alí

are the people who can't afford

son as persoas que non se poden permitir

to move away from the coast,

afastarse da costa,

because the coast, instead of being paradise,

porque a costa, no canto de ser un paraíso,

is harmful to your health."

é prexudicial para a saúde."

And then this is amazing.

E logo isto é incrible.

It was when I was on holiday last early autumn in France.

Foi cando estaba de vacacións a principios do outono pasado, en Francia.

This is from the coast of Brittany,

Esta é da costa da Bretaña,

which is being enveloped

que está a ser envolvida

in this green, algal slime.

neste lodo verde de algas.

The reason that it attracted so much attention,

O motivo que atraeu tanta atención,

besides the fact that it's disgusting,

ademais do feito de que é repugnante,

is that sea birds flying over it

é que as aves mariñas que a sobrevoan

are asphyxiated by the smell and die,

son asfixiadas polo cheiro e morren.

and a farmer died of it,

Tamén morreu un labrego,

and you can imagine the scandal that happened.

imaxinade o escándalo que causou.

And so there's this war

E por todo iso hai

between the farmers

esta guerra entre

and the fishermen about it all,

labregos e mariñeiros.

and the net result is that

O resultado é que

the beaches of Brittany have to be bulldozed of this stuff

téñense que limpar as praias da Bretaña para quitar este material

on a regular basis.

con maquinaria e regularmente.

And then, of course, there's climate change,

E logo, naturalmente, está o cambio climático,

and we all know about climate change.

e todos sabemos do cambio climático.

I guess the iconic figure of it

Coido que a súa figura emblemática

is the melting of the ice

é a fusión do xeo

in the Arctic Sea.

no Mar Ártico.

Think about the thousands and thousands of people who died

Pensemos nos miles e miles de persoas que morreron

trying to find the Northwest Passage.

tentando atopar o Paso do Noroeste.

Well, the Northwest Passage is already there.

Ben, o Noroeste xa está aí.

I think it's sort of funny;

Paréceme gracioso,

it's on the Siberian coast,

está na costa de Siberia.

maybe the Russians will charge tolls.

Quizais os rusos van cobrar peaxes.

The governments of the world

Os gobernos do mundo están

are taking this really seriously.

tomando isto mesmo en serio.

The military of the Arctic nations

Os militares das nacións do Ártico

is taking it really seriously.

o están tomando mesmo en serio.

For all the denial of climate change

Para todos os que negan o cambio climático

by government leaders,

direi que os líderes de goberno,

the CIA

a CIA

and the navies of Norway

e as Mariñas de Noruega,

and the U.S. and Canada, whatever

E.E.U.U. e Canadá, nembargantes,

are busily thinking about

están ocupados pensando

how they will secure their territory

en como van protexer o seu territorio,

in this inevitability

ante o que é inevitable,

from their point of view.

dende o seu punto de vista.

And, of course, Arctic communities are toast.

E, claro, as comunidades árticas están perdidas.

The other kinds of effects of climate change --

O outro tipo de efectos do cambio climático

this is coral bleaching. It's a beautiful picture, right?

este é o branqueamento do coral. É unha fermosa foto,

All that white coral.

Todos eses son corais brancos.

Except it's supposed to be brown.

Só que se supón que deben ser marróns.

What happens is that

O que acontece é que

the corals are a symbiosis,

os corais son unha simbiose

and they have these little algal cells

e teñen estas pequenas células

that live inside them.

de algas que viven dentro deles.

And the algae give the corals sugar,

As algas dan azucre aos corais

and the corals give the algae

e os corais dan ás algas

nutrients and protection.

nutrientes e protección.

But when it gets too hot,

Mais cando vai máis calor,

the algae can't make the sugar.

as algas non poden producir o azucre.

The corals say, "You cheated. You didn't pay your rent."

Os corais din: "Estafáchesme. Non pagaches o aluguer".

They kick them out, and then they die.

As expulsan, e entón elas morren.

Not all of them die; some of them survive,

Non todas morren, algunhas sobreviven.

some more are surviving,

Algunhas están sobrevivindo,

but it's really bad news.

mais é realmente unha mala noticia.

To try and give you a sense of this,

Para tentar entendelo,

imagine you go camping in July

imaxinade que vai a un campamento en xullo

somewhere in Europe or in North America,

nalgún lugar en Europa ou América do Norte,

and you wake up the next morning, and you look around you,

e espertades pola mañá, mirades ao voso redor

and you see that 80 percent of the trees,

e vedes que ao 80 por cento das árbores,

as far as you can see,

na medida do que podedes ver,

have dropped their leaves and are standing there naked.

caéronlle as follas e están espidos.

And you come home, and you discover

Volvedes á casa e descubrides

that 80 percent of all the trees

que ao 80 por cento de todas as árbores

in North America and in Europe

de América do Norte e Europa

have dropped their leaves.

caéronlle as follas.

And then you read in the paper a few weeks later,

Unhas semanas máis tarde, ledes no xornal

"Oh, by the way, a quarter of those died."

oh, a propósito, un cuarto deles morreu.

Well, that's what happened in the Indian Ocean

Ben, foi iso que pasou no Océano Índico

during the 1998 El Nino,

durante "El Niño" de 1998,

an area vastly greater

nunha superficie moito maior que

than the size of North America and Europe,

o tamaño de América do Norte e Europa,

when 80 percent of all the corals bleached

cando o 80 por cento de todos os corais branquearon

and a quarter of them died.

e un cuarto deles morreron.

And then the really scary thing

O realmente aterrador

about all of this --

de todo isto,

the overfishing, the pollution and the climate change --

da sobrepesca, a contaminación e o cambio climático,

is that each thing doesn't happen in a vacuum.

é que cada cousa non acontece nun baleiro,

But there are these, what we call, positive feedbacks,

senón que hai o que chamamos retroalimentación positiva.

the synergies among them

As sinerxias entre eles

that make the whole vastly greater

fan o todo moito maior

than the sum of the parts.

que a suma das partes.

And the great scientific challenge

O grande reto científico

for people like me in thinking about all this,

para persoas coma min, pensando en todo isto,

is do we know how

é : saberemos recompoñer

to put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

o ovo a partir dos pedazos?

I mean, because we, at this point, we can protect it.

Quero dicir, porque nós, neste momento, podemos protexelo.

But what does that mean?

Mais que significa iso?

We really don't know.

Realmente non o sabemos.

So what are the oceans going to be like

Entón, como van ser os océanos

in 20 or 50 years?

en 20 ou 50 anos?

Well, there won't be any fish

Ben, non haberá ningún peixe

except for minnows,

excepto peixiños,

and the water will be pretty dirty,

e a auga estará moi porca,

and all those kinds of things

e todo ese tipo de cousas,

and full of mercury, etc., etc.

e cheo de mercurio...

And dead zones will get bigger and bigger

As zonas mortas medrarán máis e máis

and they'll start to merge,

e empezarán a fusionarse.

and we can imagine something like

Podemos imaxinar algo como

the dead-zonification

a zona morta costeira

of the global, coastal ocean.

do océano global.

Then you sure won't want to eat fish that were raised in it,

Entón non ides querer comer os peixes nacidos nela,

because it would be a kind of

porque sería unha especie

gastronomic Russian roulette.

de ruleta rusa gastronómica.

Sometimes you have a toxic bloom;

Ás veces tes unha floración tóxica,

sometimes you don't.

ás veces non.

That doesn't sell.

Iso non vende.

The really scary things though

O realmente aterrador, porén,

are the physical, chemical,

son as cousas físicas, químicas

oceanographic things that are happening.

e oceanográficas que están acontecendo.

As the surface of the ocean gets warmer,

A medida que a superficie do océano quéntase cada vez máis

the water is lighter when it's warmer,

e a auga é máis lixeira canto máis quente,

it becomes harder and harder

faise cada vez máis difícil

to turn the ocean over.

mesturar a auga do océano.

We say it becomes

É dicir, faise máis

more strongly stratified.

fortemente estratificado.

The consequence of that is that

A consecuencia diso é que o fluxo

all those nutrients

de todos eses nutrientes

that fuel the great anchoveta fisheries,

que alimentan a gran pesquería da anchoveta

of the sardines of California

e da sardiña de California,

or in Peru or whatever,

ou do Perú, ou onde queira que sexa,

those slow down

desacelera,

and those fisheries collapse.

e as pesquerías se colapsan.

And, at the same time,

E, ao mesmo tempo,

water from the surface, which is rich in oxygen,

a auga da superficie, que é rica en osíxeno,

doesn't make it down

non baixa,

and the ocean turns into a desert.

e o océano se transforma nun deserto.

So the question is: How are we all

Entón a pregunta é: Como é que todos nós

going to respond to this?

imos responder a iso?

And we can do

Podemos facer

all sorts of things to fix it,

todo tipo de cousas para corrixilo,

but in the final analysis,

mais na análise final,

the thing we really need to fix

o único que realmente precisamos corrixir

is ourselves.

é a nós mesmos.

It's not about the fish; it's not about the pollution;

Non se trata do peixe, non se trata da contaminación,

it's not about the climate change.

non se trata do cambio climático.

It's about us

Trátase de nós,

and our greed and our need for growth

da nosa avaricia, da nosa necesidade de crecemento

and our inability to imagine a world

e a nosa incapacidade de imaxinar un mundo

that is different from the selfish world

diferente do mundo egoísta

we live in today.

no que vivimos hoxe.

So the question is: Will we respond to this or not?

Entón a pregunta é: Imos responder a iso ou non?

I would say that the future of life

Eu diría que o futuro da vida

and the dignity of human beings

e da dignidade dos seres humanos

depends on our doing that.

depende do que fagamos.

Thank you. (Applause)

Grazas