Michael Pollan: A plant's-eye view

215,286 views ・ 2008-02-07

TED


请双击下面的英文字幕来播放视频。

翻译人员: Bo Wang 校对人员: Tony Yet
00:18
It's a simple idea about nature.
0
18330
2000
这是关于自然界的一个简单想法
00:20
I want to say a word for nature
1
20330
2000
我想为自然界说几句话
00:22
because we haven't talked that much about it the last couple days.
2
22330
2000
因为在最近几天我们并没有太多谈到它。
00:24
I want to say a word for the soil and the bees and the plants and the animals,
3
24330
5000
我想为土地、蜜蜂以及一切的植物和动物说几句话。
00:29
and tell you about a tool, a very simple tool that I have found.
4
29330
5000
告诉大家一个工具,我发现的非常简单的工具。
00:34
Although it's really nothing more than a literary conceit; it's not a technology.
5
34330
5000
尽管事实上它只不过是一个文学的幻想--并非技术--
00:39
It's very powerful for, I think, changing our relationship to the natural world
6
39330
6000
但是对于改善我们和自然界的关系来讲,我认为它非常有效
00:45
and to the other species on whom we depend.
7
45330
3000
并且对于我们所依赖的其他物种的关系也是一样。
00:48
And that tool is very simply, as Chris suggested,
8
48330
3000
这个工具就是,非常简单,如同Chris建议的那样,
00:51
looking at us and the world from the plants' or the animals' point of view.
9
51330
5000
从植物或者动物的视角去看待我们和世界。
00:56
It's not my idea, other people have hit on it,
10
56330
4000
这不是我的主意,其他人也想到了。
01:00
but I've tried to take it to some new places.
11
60330
3000
不过我试着将这个想法延伸和发展。
01:04
Let me tell you where I got it.
12
64330
2000
现在告诉大家我是如何领悟的。
01:06
Like a lot of my ideas, like a lot of the tools I use,
13
66330
3000
如同我的许多想法一样,如同许多我使用的工具,
01:09
I found it in the garden; I'm a very devoted gardener.
14
69330
4000
我在花园中想到了它。我是一个很勤恳的园丁。
01:13
And there was a day about seven years ago: I was planting potatoes,
15
73330
4000
大概是七年前的一天,我正在种马铃薯。
01:17
it was the first week of May --
16
77330
2000
五月的第一周。
01:19
this is New England, when the apple trees are just vibrating with bloom;
17
79330
5000
在新英格兰,正是苹果树花开旺盛的季节。
01:24
they're just white clouds above.
18
84330
2000
天空中白云朵朵。
01:26
I was here, planting my chunks,
19
86330
3000
我就在这里,种着这些大块头,
01:29
cutting up potatoes and planting it,
20
89330
2000
切割、种植。
01:31
and the bees were working on this tree;
21
91330
3000
蜜蜂飞来飞去。
01:34
bumblebees, just making this thing vibrate.
22
94330
2000
大黄蜂,使树上的花摇动。
01:36
And one of the things I really like about gardening
23
96330
3000
我非常喜欢园艺的一点就是
01:39
is that it doesn't take all your concentration,
24
99330
3000
你不必全神贯注。
01:42
you really can't get hurt -- it's not like woodworking --
25
102330
2000
你不会受伤。不像木匠活那样。
01:44
and you have plenty of kind of mental space for speculation.
26
104330
4000
而且你可以--你有很多思考的空间。
01:48
And the question I asked myself that afternoon in the garden,
27
108330
4000
那个下午我问自己--
01:52
working alongside that bumblebee,
28
112330
3000
和大黄蜂一同园艺--
01:55
was: what did I and that bumblebee have in common?
29
115330
4000
我问自己:我和大黄蜂有什么相同点?
01:59
How was our role in this garden similar and different?
30
119330
4000
我们在这个花园中的角色又是如何相似和不同?
02:03
And I realized we actually had quite a bit in common:
31
123330
2000
然后我发现我们事实上确实有一点相同。
02:05
both of us were disseminating the genes of one species and not another,
32
125330
6000
我们都在散播一个物种的基因而非另一个。
02:11
and both of us -- probably, if I can imagine the bee's point of view --
33
131330
5000
我们两者,也许,如果我能从蜜蜂的角度去想象,
02:16
thought we were calling the shots.
34
136330
2000
认为我们正在发号施令。
02:18
I had decided what kind of potato I wanted to plant --
35
138330
4000
我自己决定我想要种植什么样的马铃薯。
02:22
I had picked my Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn, or whatever it was --
36
142330
4000
我选择了Yukon Gold或者Yellow Finn,或者其他的任何(品种)。
02:26
and I had summoned those genes from a seed catalog across the country,
37
146330
5000
然后我在种子编目中找到它们,走遍全国将这些基因的品种收集在一起。
02:31
brought it, and I was planting it.
38
151330
2000
买下,然后种植。
02:33
And that bee, no doubt, assumed that it had decided,
39
153330
4000
而蜜蜂,毫无疑问,假设它已经决定了,
02:37
"I'm going for that apple tree, I'm going for that blossom,
40
157330
3000
我要去那颗苹果树,我要采那朵花,
02:40
I'm going to get the nectar and I'm going to leave."
41
160330
3000
采到蜂蜜然后我就离开。
02:43
We have a grammar that suggests that's who we are;
42
163330
5000
我们用一套语法,暗示着我们是谁,
02:48
that we are sovereign subjects in nature, the bee as well as me.
43
168330
5000
我们是自然界中的主宰,蜜蜂以及我。
02:53
I plant the potatoes, I weed the garden, I domesticate the species.
44
173330
6000
我种植马铃薯,替花园除草,驯养各种动植物。
02:59
But that day, it occurred to me:
45
179330
2000
但是那一天,我想到,
03:01
what if that grammar is nothing more than a self-serving conceit?
46
181330
3000
如果那个语法只不过是一个自私自利的幻觉呢?
03:04
Because, of course, the bee thinks he's in charge or she's in charge,
47
184330
4000
因为,毫无疑问,蜜蜂认为他/她在控制一切。
03:08
but we know better.
48
188330
2000
而且--但是我们知道的更清楚。
03:10
We know that what's going on between the bee and that flower
49
190330
4000
我们知道蜜蜂和花之间的关系
03:14
is that bee has been cleverly manipulated by that flower.
50
194330
4000
就是蜜蜂被花聪明的控制了。
03:18
And when I say manipulated, I'm talking about in a Darwinian sense, right?
51
198330
3000
我讲的这个“控制”,是指从达尔文学说的角度,对吧?
03:21
I mean it has evolved a very specific set of traits --
52
201330
3000
是指它进化形成了一系列专有的特点--
03:24
color, scent, flavor, pattern -- that has lured that bee in.
53
204330
5000
颜色,气味,滋味,样式--诱惑了蜜蜂。
03:29
And the bee has been cleverly fooled into taking the nectar,
54
209330
4000
蜜蜂就这样巧妙的被愚弄,采走了花蜜,
03:33
and also picking up some powder on its leg,
55
213330
3000
同时也在腿上沾上了一些花粉,
03:36
and going off to the next blossom.
56
216330
2000
然后飞向下一朵花。
03:38
The bee is not calling the shots.
57
218330
3000
蜜蜂并不是主宰。
03:41
And I realized then, I wasn't either.
58
221330
2000
然后我意识到,我也不是。
03:43
I had been seduced by that potato and not another
59
223330
3000
我被那种马铃薯诱惑,而非另一种,
03:46
into planting its -- into spreading its genes, giving it a little bit more habitat.
60
226330
5000
去种植它们--去传播它们的基因,给予它们多一点的栖息之地。
03:51
And that's when I got the idea, which was, "Well, what would happen
61
231330
4000
那时候我就想到,也就是,如果我们换一种角度去看待我们自己
03:55
if we kind of looked at us from this point of view of these other species who are working on us?"
62
235330
3000
也就是其他作用于我们的物种的角度,那么结果会怎样?
03:58
And agriculture suddenly appeared to me not as an invention, not as a human technology,
63
238330
5000
突然间,农艺对我来说已经不是一个发明,不是一项人类技术,
04:03
but as a co-evolutionary development
64
243330
2000
而是一种共同演化的发展
04:05
in which a group of very clever species, mostly edible grasses, had exploited us,
65
245330
6000
其中有一组非常聪明的物种,大多数是可实用的禾草类,利用了我们,
04:11
figured out how to get us to basically deforest the world.
66
251330
5000
知道如何使我们大致的采伐地球。
04:16
The competition of grasses, right?
67
256330
3000
禾草类植物之间的竞争,对吧?
04:19
And suddenly everything looked different.
68
259330
2000
因此突然间一切看起来都不同了。
04:21
And suddenly mowing the lawn that day was a completely different experience.
69
261330
4000
突然间那天的割草经历也完全不同了。
04:25
I had thought always -- and in fact, had written this in my first book;
70
265330
3000
我经常想到,实际上,在我的第一本书里也写道--
04:28
this was a book about gardening --
71
268330
1000
这是本关于园艺的书--
04:29
that lawns were nature under culture's boot,
72
269330
5000
草坪是被文明践踏的自然
04:34
that they were totalitarian landscapes,
73
274330
2000
它们是带有极权色彩的风景。
04:36
and that when we mowed them we were cruelly suppressing the species
74
276330
4000
当我们修割它们时,我们残忍的压制着这些物种
04:40
and never letting it set seed or die or have sex.
75
280330
4000
从不让它们结籽,或死亡,或交配。
04:44
And that's what the lawn was.
76
284330
2000
这就是草坪。
04:46
But then I realized, "No, this is exactly what the grasses want us to do.
77
286330
4000
但是之后我觉察到,“不,这恰恰是草类希望我们做的。
04:50
I'm a dupe. I'm a dupe of the lawns, whose goal in life is to outcompete the trees,
78
290330
7000
我这个笨蛋。我是草坪的傻瓜,它们的终生目标就是战胜树类,
04:57
who they compete with for sunlight."
79
297330
3000
它们的竞争者--和它们争夺阳光的对手。”
05:00
And so by getting us to mow the lawn, we keep the trees from coming back,
80
300330
4000
这样通过使我们修割草坪,我们就一直抑制树木。
05:04
which in New England happens very, very quickly.
81
304330
3000
这种情况在新英格兰发展的十分快。
05:07
So I started looking at things this way
82
307330
3000
于是我开始以这种方法看待事物,
05:10
and wrote a whole book about it called "The Botany of Desire."
83
310330
2000
并且写了一整本关于它的书,即《植物的欲望》
05:12
And I realized that in the same way you can look at a flower
84
312330
4000
然后我意识到用同样的方法去看待花朵
05:16
and deduce all sorts of interesting things about the taste and the desires of bees --
85
316330
5000
继而推理出各种有关于蜜蜂的欲望和口味的趣事,
05:21
that they like sweetness, that they like this color and not that color, that they like symmetry --
86
321330
6000
比如它们喜欢甜味,它们钟情这种颜色而非另一种,它们喜欢对称。
05:27
what could we find out about ourselves by doing the same thing?
87
327330
3000
如果同样去思考,那么关于我们自身,能挖掘到什么?
05:30
That a certain kind of potato, a certain kind of drug,
88
330330
3000
某种马铃薯,某种药物,
05:33
a sativa-indica Cannabis cross has something to say about us.
89
333330
6000
某种漂白印度大麻与我们之间的丝丝缕缕。
05:39
And that, wouldn't this be kind of an interesting way to look at the world?
90
339330
5000
所以--难道这不是一种看待世界的有趣方法吗?
05:44
Now, the test of any idea -- I said it was a literary conceit --
91
344330
4000
那么,任何想法的检验--我讲过这是文学色彩的幻想--
05:48
is what does it get us?
92
348330
3000
就是它能为我们带来什么?
05:51
And when you're talking about nature, which is really my subject as a writer,
93
351330
4000
作为一个作家,自然是我的研究主题,当你谈论它时,
05:55
how does it meet the Aldo Leopold test?
94
355330
3000
它是如何满足Aldo Leopold的理论的?
05:58
Which is, does it make us better citizens of the biotic community?
95
358330
4000
也就是,它能使我们在这个生物群体中变的更好吗?
06:02
Get us to do things that leads to the support and perpetuation of the biota,
96
362330
7000
使我们正确的做事,以换来生物群的维系和永存,
06:09
rather than its destruction?
97
369330
1000
而不是它的毁灭吗?
06:10
And I would submit that this idea does this.
98
370330
2000
我认为这个想法确实能做到这一点。
06:12
So, let me go through what you gain when you look at the world this way,
99
372330
3000
所以让我直接来说明用这种看待世界的方式能获得什么,
06:15
besides some entertaining insights about human desire.
100
375330
5000
除了,你知道,关于人类欲望的有趣洞察。
06:20
As an intellectual matter, looking at the world from other species' points of view
101
380330
7000
作为一个智能体,从其他物种的角度看世界
06:27
helps us deal with this weird anomaly,
102
387330
3000
帮助我们处理这种怪异的偏差,
06:30
which is -- and this is in the realm of intellectual history --
103
390330
4000
也就是说--在思想文化史的领域里--
06:34
which is that we have this Darwinian revolution 150 years ago ...
104
394330
5000
我们在150年前发生了达尔文革命--
06:39
Ugh. Mini-Me. (Laughter)
105
399330
3000
呃。我太小了(和大屏幕的相比)--
06:44
We have this intellectual, this Darwinian revolution in which, thanks to Darwin,
106
404330
6000
我们有这种智慧的,达尔文革命,这要感谢他,
06:50
we figured out we are just one species among many;
107
410330
2000
使我们是到我们只是众多物种中的一员。
06:52
evolution is working on us the same way it's working on all the others;
108
412330
4000
我们和其他物种一样也遵循进化论的规律。
06:56
we are acted upon as well as acting;
109
416330
2000
我们在作用的同时也被反作用。
06:58
we are really in the fiber, the fabric of life.
110
418330
4000
我们的确是在纤维构造的世界中。
07:02
But the weird thing is, we have not absorbed this lesson 150 years later;
111
422330
4000
但是奇怪的是,我们没有--我们在150以后并没有真正接受。
07:06
none of us really believes this.
112
426330
2000
没有人真的相信。
07:08
We are still Cartesians -- the children of Descartes --
113
428330
5000
我们仍然是笛卡尔主义--笛卡尔的信徒--
07:13
who believe that subjectivity, consciousness, sets us apart;
114
433330
5000
我们相信主观性,意识使我们不同。
07:18
that the world is divided into subjects and objects;
115
438330
3000
世界被分成主体与客体。
07:21
that there is nature on one side, culture on another.
116
441330
3000
自然是一回事,文化是另一回事。
07:24
As soon as you start seeing things from the plant's point of view or the animal's point of view,
117
444330
5000
直到你开始从植物或者动物的角度开始看待事物,
07:29
you realize that the real literary conceit is that --
118
449330
4000
你会发觉这才是真正的幻想。
07:33
is the idea that nature is opposed to culture,
119
453330
4000
是--认为自然和文化是对立的(看法)。
07:37
the idea that consciousness is everything --
120
457330
4000
认为意识就是一切。
07:41
and that's another very important thing it does.
121
461330
3000
并且另外一个很重要的方面是。
07:44
Looking at the world from other species' points of view
122
464330
3000
从其他物种的角度看待世界
07:47
is a cure for the disease of human self-importance.
123
467330
4000
是治愈人类自负弱点的良方。
07:51
You suddenly realize that consciousness --
124
471330
5000
你突然间发觉,意识,
07:56
which we value and we consider
125
476330
4000
我们所重视和理解为,你知道,至高无上--
08:00
the crowning achievement of nature,
126
480330
2000
自然成就的顶峰,
08:02
human consciousness -- is really just another set of tools for getting along in the world.
127
482330
5000
人类意识真的仅仅是和世界和睦相处的另一套工具而已。
08:07
And it's kind of natural that we would think it was the best tool.
128
487330
4000
而且比较自然的,我们会认为这是最好的工具。
08:11
But, you know, there's a comedian who said,
129
491330
2000
不过,你知道--有位笑星说过,
08:13
"Well, who's telling me that consciousness is so good and so important?
130
493330
4000
“谁跟我说意识是如此的美好和重要?
08:17
Well, consciousness."
131
497330
2000
哦,意识使然。”
08:19
So when you look at the plants, you realize that there are other tools
132
499330
4000
因此当你看到植物时,你会发觉它们是其它工具,
08:23
and they're just as interesting.
133
503330
2000
而且它们也一样有趣。
08:25
I'll give you two examples, also from the garden:
134
505330
4000
我举出两个例子,也是来自园艺。
08:29
lima beans. You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites?
135
509330
5000
青豆。你知道当它被红叶螨袭击时青豆会怎么反应吗?
08:34
It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world
136
514330
3000
它释放一种挥发性成分,使之散布开来
08:37
and summons another species of mite
137
517330
3000
召集其他类的螨虫
08:40
that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean.
138
520330
4000
它们来到继而攻击红叶螨,保护青豆。
08:44
So what plants have -- while we have consciousness, tool making, language,
139
524330
6000
因此植物所拥有的,我们拥有意识,工具制造,语言,
08:50
they have biochemistry.
140
530330
2000
它们拥有生物化学。
08:52
And they have perfected that to a degree far beyond what we can imagine.
141
532330
5000
并且它们将其完善到我们远远不能想象的境界。
08:57
Their complexity, their sophistication, is something to really marvel at,
142
537330
5000
它们的复杂程度,精密程度,真的令人叹为观止。
09:02
and I think it's really the scandal of the Human Genome Project.
143
542330
2000
而且我认为“人类基因工程”的一个糗事是,
09:04
You know, we went into it thinking, 40,000 or 50,000 human genes
144
544330
5000
你知道,我们以为拥有4万或5万基因。
09:09
and we came out with only 23,000.
145
549330
4000
实际上只有2万3千个。
09:13
Just to give you grounds for comparison, rice: 35,000 genes.
146
553330
8000
仅仅给大家提供一些对比的依据,稻米:3万5千基因。
09:21
So who's the more sophisticated species?
147
561330
3000
所以到底谁是更精细高级的物种?
09:24
Well, we're all equally sophisticated.
148
564330
1000
好,我们都同样高级。
09:25
We've been evolving just as long,
149
565330
3000
我们只是--进化,
09:28
just along different paths.
150
568330
2000
依据不同的线路进化罢了。
09:31
So, cure for self-importance, way to sort of make us feel the Darwinian idea.
151
571330
8000
因此,自大的治愈方法,在某种程度上使我们感受到达尔文主义的含义。
09:39
And that's really what I do as a writer, as a storyteller,
152
579330
3000
这也真的是我,作为一个作家,一个故事讲述者要做的
09:42
is try to make people feel what we know and tell stories that actually
153
582330
7000
是尝试使人们感觉我们所认知的东西,去讲述能帮助我们更加--
09:49
help us think ecologically.
154
589330
1000
从生态学的角度去思考。
09:50
Now, the other use of this is practical.
155
590330
2000
那么,另外一个用处是很实际的。
09:52
And I'm going to take you to a farm right now,
156
592330
2000
我要谈到--我现在要带大家去一个农场。
09:54
because I used this idea to develop my understanding of the food system
157
594330
4000
因为我就是用这种方法来完善我对事物系统的理解
09:58
and what I learned, in fact, is that we are all, now, being manipulated by corn.
158
598330
5000
而且事实上,我获得的,就是我们目前,全部,都被玉米所操纵。
10:03
And the talk you heard about ethanol earlier today,
159
603330
5000
而且今天早些时候你们听到的关于酒精的演讲,
10:08
to me, is the final triumph of corn over good sense. (Laughter) (Applause)
160
608330
5000
对我来说,是玉米对理智的最终胜利。(笑声)
10:13
It is part of corn's scheme for world domination.
161
613330
8000
部分是--(掌声)玉米统治世界的阴谋。
10:21
(Laughter)
162
621330
1000
(笑声)
10:22
And you will see, the amount of corn planted this year will be up dramatically from last year
163
622330
4000
你将会看到今年种植玉米的数量将会较去年显著提升,
10:26
and there will be that much more habitat
164
626330
2000
这样就会有更多的栖息地,
10:28
because we've decided ethanol is going to help us.
165
628330
2000
因为我们已经决定用酒精去帮助我们。
10:30
So it helped me understand industrial agriculture,
166
630330
4000
所以--不过让我--所以这帮助我理解了工业化的农业,
10:34
which of course is a Cartesian system.
167
634330
2000
显然,是一个笛卡尔系统。
10:36
It's based on this idea that we bend other species to our will
168
636330
3000
基础是其他物种全部以我们的意志为转移,
10:39
and that we are in charge, and that we create these factories
169
639330
3000
是我们掌控一切,我们创造了这些工厂,
10:42
and we have these technological inputs and we get the food out of it
170
642330
3000
我们通过技术输入,继而从中得到食物,
10:45
or the fuel or whatever we want.
171
645330
2000
或燃料,或任何我们想要的东西。
10:48
Let me take you to a very different kind of farm.
172
648330
2000
让我带你来到一个非常与众不同的农场。
10:50
This is a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
173
650330
3000
它位于维吉尼亚的谢南多厄河谷。
10:53
I went looking for a farm where these ideas
174
653330
3000
我去寻找一个能使这些想法
10:56
about looking at things from the species' point of view are actually implemented,
175
656330
4000
即用其它物种的角度看待事情的想法,真正得到应用的农场。
11:00
and I found it in a man. The farmer's name is Joel Salatin.
176
660330
2000
我从一个农夫那里找到了,他的名字是Joel Salatin,
11:02
And I spent a week as an apprentice on his farm,
177
662330
3000
我在他的农场里当了一个星期的学徒。
11:05
and I took away from this some of the most hopeful news about our relationship to nature
178
665330
6000
然后我从那带走了这些信息,也许是关于人与自然关系的最有利的信息
11:11
that I've ever come across in 25 years of writing about nature.
179
671330
3000
在我25年关于大自然写作生涯中无意遇到的。
11:14
And that is this:
180
674330
1000
它就是。
11:15
the farm is called Polyface, which means ...
181
675330
3000
农场的名字叫Ployface。意思是--
11:18
the idea is he's got six different species of animals, as well as some plants,
182
678330
4000
他有六种不同种类的动物,以及一些植物,
11:22
growing in this very elaborate symbiotic arrangement.
183
682330
3000
在这种精心制作的共生环境中生长。
11:25
It's permaculture, those of you who know a little bit about this,
184
685330
2000
它叫做永久培养,你们中的有些人对此有一些了解,
11:27
such that the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the turkeys and the ...
185
687330
8000
比如牛和猪还有羊,还有火鸡,还有--有--
11:35
what else does he have?
186
695330
2000
还有什么,其他的还有什么来着?
11:37
All the six different species -- rabbits, actually --
187
697330
2000
一共六种不同的物种--还有兔子--
11:39
are all performing ecological services for one another,
188
699330
3000
它们都为彼此在这个生态空间中服务,
11:42
such that the manure of one is the lunch for the other
189
702330
3000
比如说某一个的粪便是另一个的午餐
11:45
and they take care of pests for one another.
190
705330
2000
它们为彼此留心害虫。
11:47
It's a very elaborate and beautiful dance,
191
707330
3000
我不能--这真的是很精密的和美妙的聚会
11:50
but I'm going to just give you a close-up on one piece of it,
192
710330
3000
不过我这是就其中的一点为大家仔细描述。
11:53
and that is the relationship between his cattle and his chickens, his laying hens.
193
713330
6000
是牛和鸡(产卵鸡)之间的关系。
11:59
And I'll show you, if you take this approach, what you get, OK?
194
719330
5000
我要向大家展示,如果你用这种方法,你会得到什么
12:04
And this is a lot more than growing food, as you'll see;
195
724330
2000
而且这绝不仅仅只是种植食物,慢慢你会发觉。
12:06
this is a different way to think about nature
196
726330
2000
这是另一种思考自然的方式,
12:08
and a way to get away from the zero-sum notion,
197
728330
4000
它使我们脱离那种得失所系的观点--
12:12
the Cartesian idea that either nature's winning or we're winning,
198
732330
3000
也就是从笛卡尔的角度,不是自然胜利就是我们胜利
12:15
and that for us to get what we want, nature is diminished.
199
735330
3000
然后,使我们达到目的,削弱自然。
12:19
So, one day, cattle in a pen.
200
739330
2000
有一天,在圈中的牛。
12:21
The only technology involved here is this cheap electric fencing:
201
741330
3000
这里唯一进化的科技就是廉价的电网,
12:24
relatively new, hooked to a car battery;
202
744330
2000
比较新,与一块汽车电池相连。
12:26
even I could carry a quarter-acre paddock, set it up in 15 minutes.
203
746330
4000
即使是我也能够围成一个四分之一亩大小的围场,在15分钟内安置完毕。
12:30
Cows graze one day. They move, OK?
204
750330
4000
一天牛在吃草,它们移动着,
12:34
They graze everything down, intensive grazing.
205
754330
2000
因此所有东西都面目全非--大吃一顿。
12:36
He waits three days,
206
756330
2000
他等待了3天。
12:38
and then we towed in something called the Eggmobile.
207
758330
3000
然后我们拖进了一个叫eggmobile的东西。
12:41
The Eggmobile is a very rickety contraption --
208
761330
3000
eggmobile是一个摇晃的精巧装置。
12:44
it looks like a prairie schooner made out of boards --
209
764330
3000
看起来像用纸板做成的长篷车一样,
12:47
but it houses 350 chickens.
210
767330
2000
但却是350只鸡的栖身之所。
12:49
He tows this into the paddock three days later and opens the gangplank,
211
769330
6000
三天之后他把这个东西拖进了围场,,然后开启踏板,
12:55
turns them down, and 350 hens come streaming down the gangplank --
212
775330
4000
打开门然后350只母鸡如潮流一般涌下--
12:59
clucking, gossiping as chickens will --
213
779330
2000
咯咯叫,喧闹着,丝毫不受约束。
13:01
and they make a beeline for the cow patties.
214
781330
4000
然后它们向牛粪径直走去。
13:06
And what they're doing is very interesting:
215
786330
2000
并且做着很有趣的事情。
13:08
they're digging through the cow patties
216
788330
2000
它们在牛粪中啄来啄去
13:10
for the maggots, the grubs, the larvae of flies.
217
790330
4000
寻找蛆、虫、蝇类的幼虫。
13:14
And the reason he's waited three days
218
794330
2000
而他之所以要等三天
13:16
is because he knows that on the fourth day or the fifth day, those larvae will hatch
219
796330
5000
则是因为他知道在第四天或者第五天,这些幼体将要孵化成虫,
13:21
and he'll have a huge fly problem.
220
801330
2000
到时候麻烦就大了。
13:23
But he waits that long to grow them as big and juicy and tasty as he can
221
803330
6000
不过他要尽可能等久一点使之成长为丰厚、可口、美味的食物
13:29
because they are the chickens' favorite form of protein.
222
809330
3000
因为它们是鸡类最钟爱的蛋白质。
13:32
So the chickens do their kind of little breakdance
223
812330
2000
所以这些小鸡在那忙的不亦乐乎,
13:34
and they're pushing around the manure to get at the grubs,
224
814330
4000
继而拨走粪便寻找它们的虫和蛆,
13:38
and in the process they're spreading the manure out.
225
818330
3000
而在这个过程中,它们刚好把粪便(肥料)散播开来。
13:41
Very useful second ecosystem service.
226
821330
4000
十分有用。二次生态体系方法。
13:45
And third, while they're in this paddock
227
825330
3000
再次,它们在围场中,
13:48
they are, of course, defecating madly
228
828330
3000
它们也必然的大量排便
13:51
and their very nitrogenous manure is fertilizing this field.
229
831330
6000
它们含氮丰富的粪便也成了这片土地良好的肥料。
13:57
They then move out to the next one,
230
837330
2000
然后它们搬向下一个(围场),
13:59
and in the course of just a few weeks, the grass just enters this blaze of growth.
231
839330
8000
仅仅几周的时间这片草地又焕发了勃勃生机。
14:07
And within four or five weeks, he can do it again.
232
847330
2000
然后4或5周之内,他又能如法炮制。
14:09
He can graze again, he can cut, he can bring in another species,
233
849330
3000
再次放牧,收割,再带来另一个物种,
14:12
like the lambs, or he can make hay for the winter.
234
852330
5000
比如羔羊,或者为冬天储备干草。
14:17
Now, I want you to just look really close up onto what's happened there.
235
857330
4000
那么,我希望大家能够好好体会这其中的奥妙。
14:21
So, it's a very productive system.
236
861330
1000
所以这是一个非常高效多产的系统。
14:22
And what I need to tell you is that on 100 acres
237
862330
2000
我只需要告诉大家,在这100英亩的土地上
14:24
he gets 40,000 pounds of beef; 30,000 pounds of pork; 25,000 dozen eggs;
238
864330
5000
他收获了4万磅牛肉,3万磅猪肉,2万5千打鸡蛋,
14:29
20,000 broilers; 1,000 turkeys; 1,000 rabbits --
239
869330
3000
2万只雏烤鸡,1000只火鸡,1000只兔子--
14:32
an immense amount of food.
240
872330
2000
如此丰厚的事物。
14:34
You know, you hear, "Can organic feed the world?"
241
874330
2000
你想想,当你听到,“有机物能喂饱这个世界吗?”
14:36
Well, look how much food you can produce on 100 acres if you do this kind of ...
242
876330
5000
好吧,看看在100英亩的农场上你能收获多少--如果你能--
14:41
again, give each species what it wants,
243
881330
3000
不断的使每个物种各取所需。
14:44
let it realize its desires, its physiological distinctiveness.
244
884330
4000
使它们充分发挥,它们生理上的特殊性。
14:48
Put that in play.
245
888330
2000
将其加以应用。
14:50
But look at it from the point of view of the grass, now.
246
890330
3000
不过现在从草的角度审视这一切。
14:53
What happens to the grass when you do this?
247
893330
2000
当你这么做的时候对于草来说发生了什么呢?
14:55
When a ruminant grazes grass, the grass is cut from this height to this height,
248
895330
6000
当动物啃食草类时,草从这么高被削减到了这么高。
15:01
and it immediately does something very interesting.
249
901330
2000
紧接着十分有趣的事情发生了。
15:03
Any one of you who gardens knows that there is something called the root-shoot ratio,
250
903330
4000
了解园艺的人都知道有一个叫做“根冠比”的概念。
15:07
and plants need to keep the root mass
251
907330
4000
植物都需要保持住根群
15:11
in some rough balance with the leaf mass to be happy.
252
911330
3000
同时和茎群保持大致的平衡以便维系。
15:14
So when they lose a lot of leaf mass, they shed roots;
253
914330
4000
所以当大量的茎叶被吃掉以后,它们也使根脱落。
15:18
they kind of cauterize them and the roots die.
254
918330
3000
就好像腐蚀根群然后使之死亡。
15:21
And the species in the soil go to work
255
921330
3000
这样就给了土壤中的生物用武之地,
15:24
basically chewing through those roots, decomposing them --
256
924330
4000
它们咀嚼着根群,将其分解--
15:28
the earthworms, the fungi, the bacteria -- and the result is new soil.
257
928330
6000
蚯蚓、真菌、细菌--结果就是新的土壤诞生了。
15:34
This is how soil is created.
258
934330
3000
土壤就是这样诞生的。
15:37
It's created from the bottom up.
259
937330
1000
它们从底部向上形成。
15:38
This is how the prairies were built,
260
938330
2000
这也是草原的形成原理,
15:40
the relationship between bison and grasses.
261
940330
2000
野牛和草类的关系。
15:43
And what I realized when I understood this --
262
943330
3000
当我意识到这点的时候我发觉--
15:46
and if you ask Joel Salatin what he is, he'll tell you he's not a chicken farmer,
263
946330
4000
如果你问Joel Salatin他是干什么的,他会说他既不是养鸡的,
15:50
he's not a sheep farmer, he's not a cattle rancher; he's a grass farmer,
264
950330
5000
也不是养羊的,他的农场也并非经营牛,他是一位种草的农夫,
15:55
because grass is really the keystone species of such a system --
265
955330
4000
因为草类的的确确是这类系统的灵魂物种--
15:59
is that, if you think about it, this completely contradicts the tragic idea of nature we hold in our heads,
266
959330
9000
如果你仔细的去思考,这和我们头脑中的悲剧自然论恰恰相反,
16:08
which is that for us to get what we want, nature is diminished.
267
968330
6000
也就是我们予求予取,大自然却被消耗。
16:14
More for us, less for nature.
268
974330
2000
我们得到越来越多,自然越来越少。
16:16
Here, all this food comes off this farm, and at the end of the season
269
976330
5000
在这里,从农场里产出的所有事物,在季末
16:21
there is actually more soil, more fertility and more biodiversity.
270
981330
6000
实际上会有更多的土壤,更多的肥料和更丰富的物种。
16:28
It's a remarkably hopeful thing to do.
271
988330
3000
这是一件十分美好和有前途的事情。
16:31
There are a lot of farmers doing this today.
272
991330
2000
有许多农夫都开始采用这种方法。
16:33
This is well beyond organic agriculture,
273
993330
3000
要远远好于有机农业,
16:36
which is still a Cartesian system, more or less.
274
996330
3000
也就是或多或少仍然是笛卡尔系统。
16:39
And what it tells you is that if you begin to take account of other species,
275
999330
6000
我们从中得到的启发就是如果你考虑到其他的物种,
16:45
take account of the soil, that even with nothing more than this perspectival idea
276
1005330
7000
考虑到土壤,即使仅仅是用这种全局的观点
16:52
-- because there is no technology involved here except for those fences,
277
1012330
4000
--因为在这里几乎没有应用到任何科技,除了那几个栅栏而已,
16:56
which are so cheap they could be all over Africa in no time --
278
1016330
5000
而且它们也,你知道,非常便宜,很快就可以在非洲大范围应用--
17:01
that we can take the food we need from the Earth
279
1021330
4000
这样你就能,我们就可以从地球获取我们需要的食物,
17:05
and actually heal the Earth in the process.
280
1025330
4000
而且实际在这个过程中安抚我们的地球。
17:10
This is a way to reanimate the world,
281
1030330
2000
这是一种可以使地球重现活力的方法。
17:12
and that's what's so exciting about this perspective.
282
1032330
2000
这就是这种方法令人感到兴奋的地方。
17:14
When we really begin to feel Darwin's insights in our bones,
283
1034330
4000
我们可以真正从深处体会到达尔文理论的精髓,
17:18
the things we can do with nothing more than these ideas
284
1038330
5000
我们只需要应用这些观念
17:23
are something to be very hopeful about.
285
1043330
2000
就可以做到非常令人鼓舞的事情。
17:25
Thank you very much.
286
1045330
1000
非常感谢大家。
关于本网站

这个网站将向你介绍对学习英语有用的YouTube视频。你将看到来自世界各地的一流教师教授的英语课程。双击每个视频页面上显示的英文字幕,即可从那里播放视频。字幕会随着视频的播放而同步滚动。如果你有任何意见或要求,请使用此联系表与我们联系。

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7