For more wonder, rewild the world | George Monbiot

翻译人员: Zhiting Chen 校对人员: Geoff Chen

When I was a young man, I spent six years

我年轻的时候，有六年时间

of wild adventure in the tropics

待在热带 过着野外冒险生活

working as an investigative journalist

我担任调查记者

in some of the most bewitching parts of the world.

在世界上那些特别迷人的地方工作

I was as reckless and foolish as only young men can be.

我有着只有在年轻男子身上你才会看到的 年少无知，年轻气盛

This is why wars get fought.

这也就是战争为什么会打响的原因

But I also felt more alive than I've ever done since.

但我也感受到从未有过的活力

And when I came home, I found the scope of my existence

而当我回到家的时候 我发现自我存在感

gradually diminishing

正在慢慢减少

until loading the dishwasher seemed like an interesting challenge.

直到某天我发现往洗碗机里装餐盘 竟是一个有趣的挑战

And I found myself sort of

然后我感到自己

scratching at the walls of life,

像被困在生活的围墙内

as if I was trying to find a way out

试图找到出路

into a wider space beyond.

逃向墙外宽阔的天地

I was, I believe, ecologically bored.

从生态学角度看 我坚信我曾经很无趣

Now, we evolved in rather more challenging times than these,

如今，身处充满竞争的年代

in a world of horns and tusks and fangs and claws.

和在充斥着尖角，獠牙 利齿，坚爪的原始社会相比

And we still possess the fear and the courage

我们仍拥有恐惧和勇气

and the aggression required to navigate those times.

以及掌控这个时代所需要的野心

But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands,

但在安稳且拥挤的土地上

we have few opportunities to exercise them

在不伤害他人的前提下

without harming other people.

我们几乎没什么机会去发挥这些品性

And this was the sort of constraint that I found myself

这就是我发现自己遇到的

bumping up against.

一个瓶颈

To conquer uncertainty,

为了征服这种不确定性

to know what comes next,

对接下来的事物有所预知

that's almost been the dominant aim of industrialized societies,

这几乎是工业社会一直以来的主导目标

and having got there, or almost got there,

就在达成目标，或快接近的时候

we have just encountered a new set of unmet needs.

我们又遭遇了一系列新的需求

We've privileged safety over experience

我们看重安全甚于经验

and we've gained a lot in doing so,

从中我们获益匪浅

but I think we've lost something too.

但我认为我们也有所损失

Now, I don't romanticize evolutionary time.

我并不是理想化进化期

I'm already beyond the lifespan of most hunter-gatherers,

我已经比那些狩猎者长命很多了

and the outcome of a mortal combat between me

并且，如果是有着近视眼的我

myopically stumbling around with a stone-tipped spear

拿着石尖矛，跌跌撞撞地

and an enraged giant aurochs

和被激怒的巨型欧洲野牛搏斗

isn't very hard to predict.

其结果并不是很难预测

Nor was it authenticity that I was looking for.

它也不是我一直在寻找的真实性

I don't find that a useful or even intelligible concept.

这不是个有用且明了的概念

I just wanted a richer and rawer life

我只是想要一个更丰富更自然的生活

than I've been able to lead in Britain, or, indeed,

相较于在英国，或者，事实上

that we can lead in most parts of the industrialized world.

世界上绝大部分工业化国家的生活

And it was only when I stumbled across an unfamiliar word

我偶然发现了一个陌生的词

that I began to understand what I was looking for.

我开始理解，我要找的是什么

And as soon as I found that word,

当我找到了那个词

I realized that I wanted to devote

我意识到我想要

much of the rest of my life to it.

将我的余下的大部分时间精力投入其中

The word is "rewilding,"

这个词是"野化" (rewilding)

and even though rewilding is a young word,

虽然野化是个年轻的词

it already has several definitions.

它已经有好几个定义

But there are two in particular that fascinate me.

但有两个特别让我着迷

The first one is the mass restoration

一个是大规模恢复

of ecosystems.

生态系统

One of the most exciting scientific findings

在过去的半个世纪

of the past half century

最让人振奋的科学发现之一

has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades.

就是广泛存在于自然界的营养级联

A trophic cascade is an ecological process

营养级联是一个生态过程

which starts at the top of the food chain

从食物链的顶层开始

and tumbles all the way down to the bottom,

自上而下到达底层

and the classic example is what happened

最经典的例子是

in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States

美国黄石国家公园

when wolves were reintroduced in 1995.

1995 年重新放归狼群

Now, we all know that wolves kill various species of animals,

我们都知道，狼会猎杀很多不同种类的动物

but perhaps we're slightly less aware

但或许我们有些不太清楚

that they give life to many others.

它们也给许多其他的物种带来了生机

It sounds strange, but just follow me for a while.

这听起来很奇怪，但请听我说

Before the wolves turned up,

在狼放归之前

they'd been absent for 70 years.

它们缺席已有 70 年了

The numbers of deer, because there was nothing to hunt them,

因为没有天敌追逐它们

had built up and built up in the Yellowstone Park,

黄石公园里鹿的数量不断增加

and despite efforts by humans to control them,

尽管人类作出努力想去控制它们

they'd managed to reduce much of the vegetation there

但它们已经将很多植被

to almost nothing, they'd just grazed it away.

食用殆尽

But as soon as the wolves arrived,

可是，一旦狼群出现

even though they were few in number,

即便数量不多

they started to have the most remarkable effects.

却产生了显著的效果

First, of course, they killed some of the deer,

当然，它们猎杀了一些鹿

but that wasn't the major thing.

但那不是最重要的

Much more significantly,

更重要的是

they radically changed the behavior of the deer.

它们从根本上改变了鹿群的行为方式

The deer started avoiding certain parts of the park,

鹿群开始回避黄石公园里的某些部分

the places where they could be trapped most easily,

那些它们最容易被困住的地方

particularly the valleys and the gorges,

特别是山谷和峡谷

and immediately those places started to regenerate.

植物在那里再度生长起来

In some areas, the height of the trees

在一些地区，树木的高度

quintupled in just six years.

在短短六年里增加了五倍

Bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen

光秃秃的山谷没多久 就有了大片树木

and willow and cottonwood.

长满了山杨树，柳树和杨木

And as soon as that happened,

树木的种类数量多了起来

the birds started moving in.

鸟儿就开始加入

The number of songbirds, of migratory birds,

鸣禽和候鸟类的数量

started to increase greatly.

开始快速增加

The number of beavers started to increase,

海狸的数量开始增加

because beavers like to eat the trees.

因为树木为它们提供食物

And beavers, like wolves, are ecosystem engineers.

海狸，和狼一样，都是生态系统工程师

They create niches for other species.

它们为其他物种创造生态龛位

And the dams they built in the rivers

在河里住建水坝

provided habitats for otters and muskrats

水坝是水獭，麝鼠

and ducks and fish and reptiles and amphibians.

鸭子，鱼类， 爬行动物和两栖动物的栖息地

The wolves killed coyotes, and as a result of that,

狼捕杀郊狼

the number of rabbits and mice began to rise,

因此兔子和老鼠的数量开始上升

which meant more hawks, more weasels,

这意味着出现了更多的鹰，黄鼠狼

more foxes, more badgers.

更多的狐狸、 獾

Ravens and bald eagles came down to feed

乌鸦和秃鹰食用

on the carrion that the wolves had left.

狼群离开后留下的腐尸

Bears fed on it too, and their population began to rise as well,

熊的数量也增加了

partly also because there were more berries

部分因为有了更多的浆果

growing on the regenerating shrubs,

出现在新生的灌木上

and the bears reinforced the impact of the wolves

熊进一步加强了狼群的作用

by killing some of the calves of the deer.

它们也猎杀一些幼鹿

But here's where it gets really interesting.

但是更有趣的地方在于

The wolves changed the behavior of the rivers.

狼群改变了河流的行为习惯

They began to meander less.

河流的迂回减少了

There was less erosion. The channels narrowed.

侵蚀减弱，河道收窄

More pools formed, more riffle sections,

形成了更多的池塘和浅滩

all of which were great for wildlife habitats.

这些都是非常适合野生动物的栖息地

The rivers changed

河流因为

in response to the wolves,

狼群的再出现而改变

and the reason was that the regenerating forests

因为新生长出的大片树林

stabilized the banks so that they collapsed less often,

使河岸稳固，于是滑坡减少

so that the rivers became more fixed in their course.

因此河道就更为稳固

Similarly, by driving the deer out of some places

另外，由于鹿群被赶出了某些区块

and the vegetation recovering on the valley sides,

河谷坡上的植被得以恢复

there was less soil erosion,

水土流失也少了

because the vegetation stabilized that as well.

因为植被使得土壤更稳固

So the wolves, small in number,

总之，尽管狼的数量不多

transformed not just the ecosystem

不但改变了黄石国家公园

of the Yellowstone National Park, this huge area of land,

这面积巨大的土地上的生态系统

but also its physical geography.

还改变了其自然地貌

Whales in the southern oceans

南部海域的鲸鱼

have similarly wide-ranging effects.

也有着同样广泛的影响

One of the many post-rational excuses

其中一个日本政府用来

made by the Japanese government for killing whales

正当化捕鲸行为的后理性借口是

is that they said, "Well, the number of fish and krill will rise

他们说，"鲸鱼被捕杀后 该海域鱼和磷虾的数量将上升

and then there'll be more for people to eat."

为人类提供更多的食物。”

Well, it's a stupid excuse, but it sort of

这是一个愚蠢的借口

kind of makes sense, doesn't it,

但它听起来似乎还是有点儿道理的

because you'd think that whales eat huge amounts

因为你会想当然地认为，鲸鱼吃掉

of fish and krill, so obviously take the whales away,

大量的鱼和磷虾，很明显，把鲸鱼去除

there'll be more fish and krill.

鱼和磷虾数量会增加

But the opposite happened.

但情况正好相反

You take the whales away,

把鲸鱼去除后

and the number of krill collapses.

磷虾的数量剧减

Why would that possibly have happened?

为什么会这样呢?

Well, it now turns out that the whales are crucial

人们发现，原来鲸鱼对于维持

to sustaining that entire ecosystem,

这一整个生态系统至关重要

and one of the reasons for this

其中一个原因是

is that they often feed at depth

鲸鱼在较深的水下进食

and then they come up to the surface and produce

然后到水面上排泄

what biologists politely call large fecal plumes,

生物学家礼貌地称之为大型粪便羽

huge explosions of poop right across the surface waters,

大量的粪便在水面

up in the photic zone, where there's enough light

在海洋透光层，那里有足够的光照量

to allow photosynthesis to take place,

可以进行光合作用

and those great plumes of fertilizer

那些大量的羽毛状的肥料

stimulate the growth of phytoplankton,

刺激了浮游植物的增殖

the plant plankton at the bottom of the food chain,

处于食物链的底端的浮游植物

which stimulate the growth of zooplankton,

刺激了浮游动物的增殖

which feed the fish and the krill and all the rest of it.

作为食物供给了鱼类磷虾等其他生物

The other thing that whales do is that,

鲸鱼的另一个重要任务是

as they're plunging up and down through the water column,

它们在水中上下穿梭游动

they're kicking the phytoplankton

它们把浮游植物

back up towards the surface

重新搅动回水面

where it can continue to survive and reproduce.

让它们继续存活和繁殖

And interestingly, well, we know

有趣的是，我们知道

that plant plankton in the oceans

在海洋中的浮游植物

absorb carbon from the atmosphere --

能吸收大气中的碳

the more plant plankton there are,

浮游植物越多

the more carbon they absorb --

它们吸收的碳也就越多

and eventually they filter down into the abyss

它们最终深入海底

and remove that carbon from the atmospheric system.

带走了大气系统中的碳

Well, it seems that when whales were at their historic populations,

在鲸鱼数量繁盛的历史时期

they were probably responsible for sequestering

它们估计每年

some tens of millions of tons of carbon

从大气中

every year from the atmosphere.

带走数千万吨的碳

And when you look at it like that, you think,

综合这些例子，你想想看

wait a minute, here are the wolves

等一下，狼群能够

changing the physical geography of the Yellowstone National Park.

改变黄石国家公园的自然地理

Here are the whales changing

鲸鱼能够改变

the composition of the atmosphere.

大气的构成

You begin to see that possibly,

你开始看到这样一种可能性

the evidence supporting James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis,

就像詹姆斯 · 洛夫洛克的盖亚假说

which conceives of the world as a coherent,

设想世界是一个整体的

self-regulating organism,

是能够自我调节的有机体

is beginning, at the ecosystem level, to accumulate.

在生态系统这个层面 累积了一个能够证明盖亚假说的证据

Trophic cascades

营养级联

tell us that the natural world

告诉我们，自然界

is even more fascinating and complex than we thought it was.

比我们想得更为神奇和复杂

They tell us that when you take away the large animals,

它告诉我们，当你移除了大型动物

you are left with a radically different ecosystem

你剩下的将是一个完全不同的生态系统

to one which retains its large animals.

这个系统和保留大型动物的系统是不同的

And they make, in my view, a powerful case

在我看来，这些都是强有力的案例

for the reintroduction of missing species.

用以支持再引入缺失物种

Rewilding, to me,

野化，于我

means bringing back some of the missing plants and animals.

意味着带回那些已消失的植物和动物

It means taking down the fences,

意味着卸除藩篱

it means blocking the drainage ditches,

意味着塞住排水渠

it means preventing commercial fishing in some large areas of sea,

意味着制止某些 大面积海域的商业捕鱼行为

but otherwise stepping back.

除此以外，人类只需后退一步

It has no view as to what a right ecosystem

野化对什么是一个正确的生态系统

or a right assemblage of species looks like.

或物种组合的正确与否不做评论

It doesn't try to produce a heath or a meadow

野化不是试图建造荒地或牧场

or a rain forest or a kelp garden or a coral reef.

或雨林或海藻园或珊瑚礁

It lets nature decide,

它让大自然做出决定

and nature, by and large, is pretty good at deciding.

一般情况下，大自然很擅长做决定

Now, I mentioned that there are two definitions

我提到野化的

of rewilding that interest me.

两个定义让我对此感兴趣

The other one

我要说的另一个定义是

is the rewilding of human life.

人类生活方式的野化

And I don't see this as an alternative

我并不认为

to civilization.

这是文明的替代品

I believe we can enjoy the benefits of advanced technology,

我相信我们可以 享受高新科技带来的好处

as we're doing now, but at the same time, if we choose,

就像现在这样，但同时，如果我们选择

have access to a richer and wilder life of adventure

去获得更丰富和野性的冒险生活

when we want to because

只要我们想，就能去

there would be wonderful, rewilded habitats.

那些精彩的野化生态栖息地

And the opportunities for this

这样的机会

are developing more rapidly than you might think possible.

比你想象的增长速度要快得多

There's one estimate which suggests that in the United States,

有一项研究估计，在美国

two thirds of the land which was once forested and then cleared

原本森林被砍伐的土地中，有三分之二

has become reforested as loggers and farmers have retreated,

已经重新造林，伐木工人和农民离开了

particularly from the eastern half of the country.

这样的现象尤其在美国东部较为常见

There's another one which suggests

另一种研究表示

that 30 million hectares of land in Europe,

欧洲有三千万公顷的土地

an area the size of Poland,

其面积大小相当于波兰的领土面积

will be vacated by farmers

农民将会在

between 2000 and 2030.

2000 至 2030 年间撤离

Now, faced with opportunities like that,

现在，面对这样的机会

does it not seem a little unambitious

我们是否能更有野心

to be thinking only of bringing back wolves, lynx,

难道只是想着带回狼、 猞猁、

bears, beavers, bison, boar, moose,

熊、 海狸、 野牛、 野猪、 麋

and all the other species which are already beginning

和那些已经开始

to move quite rapidly across Europe?

横跨欧洲快速迁徙的物种吗？

Perhaps we should also start thinking

或许我们也应该开始思考

about the return of some of our lost megafauna.

让那些我们驱逐的巨型动物的回来

What megafauna, you say?

你说的是那种巨型动物？

Well, every continent had one,

每个大陆的曾经有一个

apart from Antarctica.

除了南极

When Trafalgar Square in London was excavated,

当伦敦的特拉法加广场挖地基时

the river gravels there were found

在那里河到砂砾中发现

to be stuffed with the bones of hippopotamus,

满满的动物尸骨，有河马

rhinos, elephants, hyenas, lions.

犀牛、 大象、 鬣狗、 狮子

Yes, ladies and gentlemen,

是的，女士们先生们

there were lions in Trafalgar Square

在纳尔逊纪念碑修建前

long before Nelson's Column was built.

特拉法加广场就曾有狮子出没了

All these species lived here

这些物种生活在

in the last interglacial period,

上一个间冰期

when temperatures were pretty similar to our own.

那时的气候温度和现在相近

It's not climate, largely,

可以这样说，气候

which has got rid of the world's megafaunas.

并不是造成巨型物种减少的原因

It's pressure from the human population

而是来自人类人口的压力

hunting and destroying their habitats

狩猎和破坏其栖息地的行为

which has done so.

这些才是罪魁祸首

And even so, you can still see the shadows

即便如此，你仍然可以

of these great beasts in our current ecosystems.

在现代生态系统中 看到这些巨型物种的影子

Why is it that so many deciduous trees

为什么有那么多的落叶树木

are able to sprout from whatever point the trunk is broken?

能够从树干断裂的任何地方发出嫩芽？

Why is it that they can withstand the loss

为什么这些树木在失去

of so much of their bark?

大部分树皮的情况下仍能存活？

Why do understory trees,

为什么下层木

which are subject to lower sheer forces from the wind

受到的风小

and have to carry less weight

承受的重量

than the big canopy trees,

比大型乔木轻

why are they so much tougher and harder to break

为什么它们却如此强硬

than the canopy trees are?

难以折断？

Elephants.

大象

They are elephant-adapted.

是因为大象的存在 它们才演化至此的

In Europe, for example,

比如说，在欧洲

they evolved to resist the straight-tusked elephant,

它们进化到能够抵挡直獠牙的大象

elephas antiquus, which was a great beast.

古象，亚洲象属，是一种巨大的野兽

It was related to the Asian elephant,

它和亚洲大象有关系

but it was a temperate animal, a temperate forest creature.

但它是一种温带的动物，一个温带森林生物

It was a lot bigger than the Asian elephant.

比亚洲象健硕很多

But why is it that some of our common shrubs

为什么我们常见的灌木

have spines which seem to be over-engineered

长着看似煞费苦心生出的刺

to resist browsing by deer?

来阻止鹿的进食？

Perhaps because they evolved

或许它们进化至此

to resist browsing by rhinoceros.

是为了阻止犀牛进食

Isn't it an amazing thought

这难道不是一个令人惊叹的想法吗

that every time you wander into a park

每次你在公园漫步

or down an avenue or through a leafy street,

或走过一个绿树成荫的大道

you can see the shadows of these great beasts?

你可以看到这些巨大兽类的影子？

Paleoecology, the study of past ecosystems,

古生态学研究的是 过去的生态系统

crucial to an understanding of our own,

这是理解当今生态系统的关键因素

feels like a portal through which you may pass

感觉就像你可能通过这个入口

into an enchanted kingdom.

穿越到魔法世界

And if we really are looking at areas of land

如果我们看这些重新野化的土地

of the sort of sizes I've been talking about becoming available,

其面积可以达到我们之前所说的规模

why not reintroduce some of our lost megafauna,

为什么不重新引入那些我们失去的巨型动物

or at least species closely related to those

或者至少是与它们有密切关联的物种

which have become extinct everywhere?

那些濒临灭绝的生物？

Why shouldn't all of us

我们为什么不能

have a Serengeti on our doorsteps?

在门前开辟一个塞伦盖提草原？

And perhaps this is the most important thing

也许野化

that rewilding offers us,

能够带给我们最重要的东西

the most important thing that's missing from our lives:

这是我们生活中所丢失的那个最最重要的

hope.

希望

In motivating people to love and defend the natural world,

在激发人们热爱和捍卫自然界的路上

an ounce of hope is worth a ton of despair.

一盎司的希望抵得上一吨的绝望

The story rewilding tells us

野化的故事告诉我们

is that ecological change need not always proceed

生态变化不需要总是

in one direction.

向一个方向进行

It offers us the hope

它为我们带来希望

that our silent spring

寂静的春天

could be replaced by a raucous summer.

可以被一个喧闹的夏天取代

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

（掌声）