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翻译人员: 碎碎 雨
校对人员: Chaoran Yu
00:15
It's a bit funny to be
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能够来参加这次大会是件很有趣的事,
00:17
at a conference dedicated to things not seen,
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因为这是一个致力于还未出现的事物的会议,
00:19
and present my proposal to build
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而且我将呈现一个创意,
00:22
a 6,000-kilometer-long wall
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一个将可在非洲大陆上筑起全长
00:24
across the entire African continent.
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6000公里的城墙的建议。
00:27
About the size of the Great Wall of China,
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这就形同中国长城的规模,
00:30
this would hardly be an invisible structure.
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因此它将成为令人难以忽视的建筑。
00:32
And yet it's made from parts that are invisible, or near-invisible, to the naked eye:
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然而构成它的部件却是不显眼的,或者说对肉眼几乎是不可见的,
00:37
bacteria and grains of sand.
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那就是细菌和沙粒。
00:40
Now, as architects we're trained to solve problems.
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如今,作为建筑师我们被教以解决问题。
00:43
But I don't really believe in architectural problems;
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但是我不太相信建筑学上的问题,
00:45
I only believe in opportunities.
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我只相信机遇。
00:47
Which is why I'll show you a threat,
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这就是为什么我要向你们展现一个恶兆,
00:49
and an architectural response.
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和一个建筑学上的回答。
00:51
The threat is desertification.
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这个恶兆就是沙漠化。
00:55
My response is a sandstone wall
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而我的回答
00:58
made from bacteria and solidified sand,
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是一条由细菌和固化沙粒建筑而成的城墙,
01:00
stretching across the desert.
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它将横穿整个沙漠。
01:04
Now, sand is a magical material
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在如今,沙子是一种不可思议的材料,
01:06
of beautiful contradictions.
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它充满着各种美丽的矛盾。
01:08
It is simple and complex.
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它简单却又复杂。
01:11
It is peaceful and violent.
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和平却也暴力。
01:13
It is always the same, never the same,
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它虽为永恒却也无常,
01:15
endlessly fascinating.
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它有着无穷尽的迷人魅力。
01:17
One billion grains of sand
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这个世界,时时刻刻都有
01:19
come into existence in the world each second.
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成千上万的沙粒在产生。
01:23
That's a cyclical process.
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那是一个循环过程。
01:25
As rocks and mountains die,
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岩石和山脉消逝之时,
01:27
grains of sand are born.
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沙粒于焉诞生。
01:29
Some of those grains may then cement naturally into sandstone.
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一些沙粒随后又自然粘结形成岩石。
01:32
And as the sandstone weathers, new grains break free.
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随着岩石风化,新的沙粒形成。
01:36
Some of those grains may then accumulate
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其中一些沙粒
01:38
on a massive scale,
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会大规模积聚,
01:40
into a sand dune.
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形成沙丘。
01:43
In a way, the static, stone mountain
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从某种程度上来说,静态的岩石山脉
01:46
becomes a moving mountain of sand.
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变成了移动的沙粒山脉。
01:49
But, moving mountains can be dangerous. Let me try and explain why.
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但是,移动的山脉是危险的。我来试着解释一下原因。
01:53
Dry areas cover more than one third of the Earth's land surfaces.
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地球表面超过三分之一的陆地处于干旱地区。
01:57
Some are already deserts;
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其中一些是荒漠,
01:59
others are being seriously degraded by the sand.
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其它的则被沙完全覆盖。
02:02
Just south of the Sahara we find the Sahel.
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就在撒哈拉沙漠的南边我们发现了沙赫尔。
02:05
The name means "edge of the desert."
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这个名字的意思是“沙漠的边缘”。
02:08
And this is the region most closely associated with desertification.
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这是和沙漠化联系最紧密的地区。
02:12
It was here in the late '60s and early '70s
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也就是在这,在六十年代晚期和七十年代早期,
02:15
that major droughts brought three million people
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干旱让三百万人民
02:18
to become dependent upon emergency food aid,
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只能依靠应急救援食品来生存,
02:21
with about up to 250,000 dying.
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并夺去了总计大约250000人的生命。
02:23
This is a catastrophe waiting to happen again.
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这样的大灾难正伺机卷土重来。
02:26
And it's one that gets very little attention.
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但它却很少受到人们的注意。
02:29
In our accelerated media culture,
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在我们日益加速的媒体文化中,
02:31
desertification is simply too slow
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沙漠化是如此缓慢
02:34
to reach the headlines.
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而难以登上头版头条。
02:36
It's nothing like a tsunami or a Katrina:
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它一点也不像海啸或卡特里娜(飓风):
02:39
too few crying children and smashed up houses.
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很少有哭泣的孩子和被摧毁的房屋。
02:44
And yet desertification
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然而,沙漠化
02:46
is a major threat on all continents,
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对所有国家都是一个主要的威胁。
02:48
affecting some 110 countries
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大约110个国家
02:51
and about 70 percent of the world's agricultural drylands.
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和全球70%左右的农用旱地都受其影响。
02:56
It seriously threatens the livelihoods
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它严重地威胁了数以万计的人
03:00
of millions of people,
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的生计问题,
03:02
and especially in Africa and China.
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尤其是在非洲和中国。
03:05
And it is largely an issue that we've created for ourselves
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很大程度上这个问题是我们人类自找的,
03:08
through unsustainable use of scarce resources.
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源于我们对稀有资源的滥用。
03:12
So, we get climate change.
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为此,我们得到了气候变化。
03:14
We get droughts,
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我们得到了干旱,
03:15
increased desertification,
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日益严重的沙漠化、
03:17
crashing food systems, water scarcity,
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食物系统崩溃、水资源短缺、
03:20
famine, forced migration,
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饥荒、被迫的移民、
03:24
political instability, warfare, crisis.
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政治动荡、战争和危机。
03:28
That's a potential scenario
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如果我们不严肃对待,
03:30
if we fail to take this seriously.
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那一切的不幸将在现实上演。
03:32
But, how far away is it?
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那么,它现在离我们有多远呢?
03:34
I went to Sokoto in northern Nigeria
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我试着去尼日利亚南部的索科托州
03:36
to try and find out how far away it is.
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寻找答案。
03:39
The dunes here move southward at a pace of around 600 meters a year.
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这的沙丘以每年大约600米的速度向南移动。
03:44
That's the Sahara eating up almost [two meters] a day of the arable land,
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撒哈拉沙漠每天几乎要吞噬掉一米的可耕地,
03:47
physically pushing people away from their homes.
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把人赶出他们的房屋。
03:51
Here I am -- I'm the second person on the left --
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我在这——左边第二个——
03:54
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:56
with the elders in Gidan-Kara,
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和Gidan-Kara的长老一起。
03:59
a tiny village outside of Sokoto.
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那是索科托州外的一个小村庄。
04:02
They had to move this village in 1987
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1987年他们不得不搬离了这个村子,
04:04
as a huge dune threatened to swallow it.
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因为一座巨大的沙丘正威胁着将它吞没。
04:07
So, they moved the entire village, hut by hut.
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所以,他们一间屋子一间屋子地搬走了整个村庄。
04:10
This is where the village used to be.
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这是他们村子曾经所在的地方。
04:12
It took us about 10 minutes to climb up to the top of that dune,
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爬到那座沙丘的顶部大约花掉了我们10分钟时间。
04:17
which goes to show why they had to move to a safer location.
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这说明了他们为什么不得不搬到一个更安全的地方。
04:20
That's the kind of forced migration
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那就是沙漠化所导致的
04:22
that desertification can lead to.
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被迫的迁移。
04:25
If you happen to live close to the desert border,
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如果你碰巧住在离沙漠边界很近的地方,
04:27
you can pretty much calculate how long it will be
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你几乎能计算还有多久
04:29
before you have to carry your kids away,
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你就得带着你的孩子离开,
04:31
and abandon your home and your life as you know it.
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遗弃你的房屋和生活,正如你所知道的。
04:36
Now, sand dunes cover only about one fifth of our deserts.
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现在,沙丘只覆盖了我们大约五分之一的荒漠。
04:40
And still, those extreme environments are very good places
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但是,如果我们想要阻止流沙的话
04:43
if we want to stop the shifting sands.
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那些极端的环境会是很好的地方。
04:46
Four years ago, 23 African countries
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四年前,23个非洲国家
04:49
came together to create the Great Green Wall Sahara.
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联合起来建造撒哈拉沙漠长城。
04:52
A fantastic project, the initial plan
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一个项不可思议的工程,它最初的计划
04:55
called for a shelter belt of trees to be planted
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是种植一条西起毛里塔尼亚东至吉布提
04:57
right across the African continent,
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贯穿非洲大陆的
04:59
from Mauritania in the west, all the way to Djibouti in the east.
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防护林带。
05:03
If you want to stop a sand dune from moving,
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如果你想要停止沙丘移动
05:05
what you need to make sure to do is to stop the grains
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你就必须确保能够阻止沙粒
05:07
from avalanching over its crest.
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从沙丘顶部崩塌下来。
05:10
And a good way of doing that, the most efficient way,
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有一个很好的也是最有效的方法
05:12
is to use some kind of sand catcher.
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就是用某种沙子捕手。
05:14
Trees or cacti are good for this.
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树或者仙人掌就不错。
05:17
But, one of the problems with planting trees is that
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但是种树面临着一个问题,
05:20
the people in these regions are so poor
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那个地区的人太穷,
05:22
that they chop them down for firewood.
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他们把树砍倒当柴火了。
05:24
Now there is an alternative to just planting trees
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现在,除了种树然后指望着它们别被砍掉
05:28
and hoping that they won't get chopped down.
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我们有了另一种选择。
05:31
This sandstone wall that I'm proposing essentially does three things.
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我所提倡的岩石长城从本质上做了三件事。
05:34
It adds roughness to the dune's surface,
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它增加了沙丘表面纹理的粗糙度,
05:37
to the texture of the dune's surface, binding the grains.
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把沙粒粘结在一起。
05:40
It provides a physical support structure for the trees,
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它为树木的生存提供了物理支撑结构,
05:43
and it creates physical spaces,
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它还在沙丘的内部创造了
05:46
habitable spaces inside of the sand dunes.
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可供居住的空间。
05:48
If people live inside of the green barrier
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如果人们居住在这道绿色的屏障内,
05:51
they can help support the trees, protect them from humans,
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他们就能帮着照料这些树,保护它们免受人类
05:54
and from some of the forces of nature.
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和一些自然力量的破坏。
05:56
Inside of the dunes we find shade.
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在沙丘里我们能找到阴凉的地方。
05:59
We can start harvesting condensation,
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我们开始收获(沙粒的)凝结,
06:02
and start greening the desert from within.
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并开始从内部将沙漠绿化。
06:04
Sand dunes are almost like ready-made buildings in a way.
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沙丘已经差不多有点像现成的建筑了,
06:07
All we need to do is solidify the parts that we need to be solid,
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我们需要做的只是固化所需的部分,
06:11
and then excavate the sand,
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然后挖掘沙子,
06:13
and we have our architecture.
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构筑我们的建筑。
06:15
We can either excavate it by hand
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我们既可以用手挖掘
06:17
or we can have the wind excavate it for us.
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也能让风来帮我们。
06:19
So, the wind carries the sand onto the site
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风把沙粒搬运上来
06:21
and then it carries the redundant sand away from the structure for us.
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再把多余的沙从我们的建筑上搬走。
06:26
But, by now, you're probably asking,
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但是,到现在,你们或许会问
06:28
how am I planning to solidify a sand dune?
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我打算怎样把一座沙丘固化呢?
06:31
How do we glue those grains of sand together?
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我们又怎样把沙粒粘合在一起?
06:34
And the answer is, perhaps, that you use these guys,
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答案就是,或许,你可以用这些家伙,
06:37
Bacillus pasteurii,
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巴氏芽孢杆菌,
06:39
a micro-organism that is readily available in wetlands
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一种能从湿地和沼泽中
06:41
and marshes, and does precisely that.
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轻松获取的微生物。
06:44
It takes a pile of loose sand
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它带着一堆疏松砂岩
06:46
and it creates sandstone out of it.
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并能用它们制造砂岩。
06:49
These images from the American Society for Microbiology show us the process.
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这些来自美国微生物学会的照片向我们展示了这一过程。
06:53
What happens is, you pour Bacillus pasteurii onto a pile of sand,
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所发生的是,你把巴氏芽孢杆菌倒在一堆沙上,
06:57
and it starts filling up the voids in between the grains.
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它开始填充沙粒间的间隙。
07:00
A chemical process produces calcite,
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由一个化学过程产生方解石,
07:02
which is a kind of natural cement
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方解石是一种天然的水泥,
07:04
that binds the grains together.
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能把沙粒粘结在一起。
07:06
The whole cementation process takes about 24 hours.
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整个粘结过程大概需要24个小时。
07:10
I learned about this from a professor at U.C. Davis called Jason DeJong.
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我从加州大学一个叫Jason DeJong的教授那里学到了这些。
07:14
He managed to do it in a mere 1,400 minutes.
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他成功地在1400分钟里完成了这个实验。
07:18
Here I am, playing the part of the mad scientist,
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在这,我扮演起了这位疯狂的科学家的角色,
07:20
working with the bugs at UCL in London,
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和这个疯子一起在伦敦的伦敦大学学院工作,
07:24
trying to solidify them.
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尝试着固化它们。
07:26
So, how much would this cost?
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那么,这个项目要花费多少呢?
07:29
I'm not an economist, very much not,
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我一点也不像个经济学家,
07:31
but I did, quite literally, a back of the envelope calculation --
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但是,我做了一个——照字面来说的——封底运算……
07:35
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
07:37
-- and it seems that for a cubic meter of concrete
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看起来一立方米粘结物
07:40
we would have to pay in the region of 90 dollars.
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要耗费我们90美元左右。
07:43
And, after an initial cost of 60 bucks to buy the bacteria,
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最初我们需要用60美元来买细菌,
07:46
which you'll never have to pay again,
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之后你就不用再为细菌花钱了,
07:48
one cubic meter of bacterial sand
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那样算下来的话一立方米带细菌的沙子
07:51
would be about 11 dollars.
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大约是11美元。
07:53
How do we construct something like this?
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我们该怎么构建想这样的东西呢?
07:55
Well, I'll quickly show you two options.
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我这就为你们展示两种选择。
07:57
The first is to create a kind of balloon structure,
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第一是创造一种气球一样的结构,
07:59
fill it with bacteria, then allow the sand to wash over the balloon,
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把它装满细菌,然后用沙子磨洗它,
08:03
pop the balloon, as it were, disseminating the bacteria into the sand and solidifying it.
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冲击它,可以说就是把细菌散播进沙里去固化它。
08:07
Then, a few years afterwards,
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等过几年,
08:09
using permacultural strategies,
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从长远打算,
08:11
we green that part of the desert.
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我们把那部分沙漠绿化。
08:14
The second alternative would be to use injection piles.
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第二种选择是用喷桩。
08:17
So, we pushed the piles down through the dune,
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我们把喷桩插进沙丘里,
08:19
and we create an initial bacterial surface.
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再创造一个原始的细菌表面。
08:22
We then pull the piles up through the dune
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然后把这些喷桩从沙丘里拔出来。
08:25
and we're able to create almost any conceivable shape inside of the sand
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以沙为模子,
08:28
with the sand acting as a mold as we go up.
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我们几乎能在沙丘内部创造任何我们想要的形状。
08:32
So, we have a way of turning sand into sandstone,
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所以,我们有了一个把沙变成砂岩的办法,
08:36
and then creating these habitable spaces inside of the desert dunes.
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能在沙丘内部创造可居住的空间。
08:40
But, what should they look like?
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但是,它们该是什么样子的呢?
08:42
Well, I was inspired, for my architectural form, by tafoni,
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嗯,我的建筑形态让我有些激动,它是依靠风化形成的,
08:47
which look a little bit like this, this is a model representation of it.
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看起来有点像这样,这是它的一个模型。
08:50
These are cavernous rock structures that I found on the site in Sokoto.
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这些是我在索科托州建立的洞穴岩石结构。
08:53
And I realized that if I scaled them up, they would provide me
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我意识到如果我把它们像鱼鳞一样排列起来,它们就能为我提供
08:56
with good spatial qualities,
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很好的空间质量,
08:59
for ventilation, for thermal comfort, and for other things.
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无论是通风,温度还是其它事。
09:02
Now, part of the formal control over this structure
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现在,在正常控制范围内,这些结构的一部分
09:05
would be lost to nature, obviously,
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很明显会被自然侵蚀掉。
09:07
as the bacteria do their work.
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那些细菌起作用了。
09:10
And I think this creates a kind of boundless beauty actually.
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我想着确实是创造了一种无尽的美。
09:13
I think there is really something in that articulation
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在这里的确有一些东西
09:16
that is quite nice.
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是非同凡响的。
09:18
We see the result, the traces, if you like,
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我们看到了用巴氏芽孢杆菌来把沙漠
09:22
of the Bacillus pasteurii being harnessed to sculpt the desert
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雕刻成人间乐土的结果,
09:25
into these habitable environments.
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如果你喜欢,也可以说是痕迹。
09:27
Some people believe that
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有人担心
09:30
this would spread uncontrollably,
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这种传播会不会不受控制,
09:32
and that the bacteria would kill everything in its way.
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那些细菌会杀死它们碰到的任何东西。
09:34
That's not true at all.
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那绝对是错误的。
09:36
It's a natural process. It goes on in nature today,
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这是一个自然过程。它现在也在自然界中进行着。
09:38
and the bacteria die as soon as we stop feeding them.
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一旦我们停止喂养细菌,它们就会死去。
09:41
So, there it is --
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所以,这些是——
09:43
architectural anti-desertification structures
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用沙漠本身建造的
09:46
made from the desert itself.
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建筑学上的抵抗沙漠化结构。
09:48
Sand-stopping devices, made from sand.
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来自于沙的阻止沙前进的设备。
09:52
The world is likely to lose one third of its arable land
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到本世纪末,全世界有可能失去
09:55
by the end of the century.
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三分之一的可耕地。
09:57
In a period of unprecedented population growth
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在人口数量空前飞涨
10:01
and increased food demands, this could prove disastrous.
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食物需求日益增加的时期,这几乎是个灾难。
10:03
And quite frankly, we're putting our heads in the sand.
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坦白说我们正把目光投向沙漠。
10:07
If nothing else, I would like for this scheme to initiate a discussion.
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如果没有什么其它的事,我想为这个计划开始一个讨论。
10:12
But, if I had something like a TED wish,
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但是,如果要我在TED许一个愿,
10:14
it would be to actually get it built,
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我希望它能被切实地建造起来,
10:16
to start building this habitable wall,
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开始建造这条可以居住的长城,
10:19
this very, very long, but very narrow city in the desert,
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这座很长很长,但却很窄的沙漠之城,
10:23
built into the dunescape itself.
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建在沙丘自己体内。
10:27
It's not only something that supports trees,
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它不仅能承载树木,
10:30
but something that connects people and countries together.
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更能将人和各个国家联系在一起。
10:34
I would like to conclude by showing you an animation of the structure,
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最后,我想给你们展示一个这个结构的动画,
10:40
and leave you with a sentence by Jorge Luis Borges.
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并送给你们一句博尔赫斯的话。
10:46
Borges said that "nothing is built on stone,
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博尔赫斯说:“没有什么是建筑在岩石上,
10:52
everything is built on sand,
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任何东西都建于沙子之上的,
10:56
but we must build as if the sand were stone."
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但我们必须把沙子当作石头来建筑。”
11:01
Now, there are many details left to explore in this scheme --
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现在,这个计划的许多细节还有待进一步研究,
11:05
political, practical, ethical, financial.
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有政治的,实用性的,道德的,经济的。
11:10
My design, as it takes you down the rabbit hole,
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我的设计——将带领你们深入“兔窝”——
11:15
is fraught with many challenges
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在现实中充满了
11:19
and difficulties in the real world.
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困难和挑战。
11:22
But, it's a beginning, it's a vision.
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但是,这只是一个开始,一个展望。
11:26
As Borges would have it, it's the sand.
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如博尔赫斯所说,这是沙子。
11:30
And I think now is really the time
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我想,现在是把沙子
11:33
to turn it into stone. Thank you.
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变成岩石的时候了。谢谢。
11:36
(Applause)
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(掌声)
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