How you can help save the bees, one hive at a time | Noah Wilson-Rich

翻译人员: mingli wen 校对人员: yiming ma

Pollinator decline is a grand challenge in the modern world.

授粉者减少是现代世界 所面临的一个巨大挑战。

Of the 200,000 species of pollinators,

在20万种传粉物种中，

honeybees are the most well-understood,

我们对蜜蜂最为了解，

partly because of our long history with them dating back 8,000 years ago

部分原因是我们人类与蜜蜂的 悠长历史可以追溯到8000年前，

to our cave drawings in what is now modern-day Spain.

在如今的西班牙发现的洞穴壁画中。

And yet we know that this indicator species is dying off.

然而，我们知道蜜蜂 这一关键物种正面临灭绝。

Last year alone, we lost 40 percent of all beehives in the United States.

仅去年一年，我们在美国境内 就失去了40%的蜂巢。

That number is even higher in areas with harsh winters,

这个数据在严冬地区甚至更高，

like here in Massachusetts,

比如在马萨诸塞州这里，

where we lost 47 percent of beehives

我们在一年内就损失了

in one year alone.

47%的蜂巢。

Can you imagine if we lost half of our people last year?

你能想象如果去年人类数量 减少了一半会怎样吗？

And if those were the food-producing people?

如果这些人都是负责食品生产的呢？

It's untenable.

这是无法承受的状况。

And I predict that in 10 years,

我预测在10年后，

we will lose our bees.

蜜蜂将会灭绝。

If not for the work of beekeepers replacing these dead beehives,

如果不是养蜂人替换掉 这些无用的蜂巢的话，

we would be without foods that we rely upon:

我们将失去赖以生存的食物：

fruits, vegetables,

水果，蔬菜，

crunchy almonds and nuts,

松脆的杏仁和坚果，

tart apples,

苹果派，

sour lemons.

酸柠檬。

Even the food that our cattle rely upon to eat, hay and alfalfa -- gone,

即使是牛所依赖的食物， 如干草和苜蓿，也都将消失，

causing global hunger,

导致全球饥荒，

economic collapse,

经济崩溃，

a total moral crisis across earth.

道德危机席卷全球。

Now, I first started keeping bees here in Cape Cod

我开始在科德角这里养蜂，

right after I finished my doctorate in honeybee immunology.

是在我刚获得了 蜜蜂免疫学的博士学位之后。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

（掌声）

(Applause)

Imagine getting such a degree in a good economy --

想象一下，在良好的经济环境下， 拿到这么一个学位——

and it was 2009:

那是在2009年：

the Great Recession.

经济大萧条时期。

And I was onto something.

我要准备做点什么，

I knew that I could find out how to improve bee health.

我知道我可以找到改善 蜂群生存状况的方法。

And so the community on Cape Cod here in Provincetown

在普罗温斯敦的科德角社区，

was ripe for citizen science,

公民科学的时机已经成熟，

people looking for ways to get involved and to help.

人们都在想办法参与并提供帮助。

And so we met with people in coffee shops.

因此我们在咖啡店与一些人会面。

A wonderful woman named Natalie got eight beehives at her home in Truro,

一位叫娜塔莉的了不起的女士， 她在特鲁罗的家里有8个蜂箱，

and she introduced us to her friend Valerie,

她还把我们介绍给 一位叫瓦莱利的朋友，

who let us set up 60 beehives at an abandoned tennis court on her property.

瓦莱利允许我们在她名下的 一个废弃网球场上搭建了60个蜂箱。

And so we started testing vaccines for bees.

于是，我们开始测试蜜蜂疫苗。

We were starting to look at probiotics.

我们开始研究益生菌。

We called it "bee yogurt" --

我们叫它“蜜蜂酸奶”——

ways to make bees healthier.

让蜜蜂更健康的方法。

And our citizen science project started to take off.

我们的公民科学计划开始启动。

Meanwhile, back in my apartment here,

与此同时，回到我所住的公寓，

I was a bit nervous about my landlord.

我有点担心房东的态度。

I figured I should tell him what we were doing.

我觉得我应该告诉他 我们正在做的事情。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I was terrified; I really thought I was going to get an eviction notice,

我忐忑不安；我真以为会收到驱逐令，

which really was the last thing we needed, right?

这真是我们最不想要的，对吧？

I must have caught him on a good day, though,

我一决定要在美好的 一天逮住他说话，

because when I told him what we were doing

不过当我告诉他我们在做什么

and how we started our nonprofit urban beekeeping laboratory,

以及我们是如何建立 非盈利城市养蜂实验室的时候，

he said, "That's great! Let's get a beehive in the back alley."

他说，“太棒了！ 我们在后巷也弄一个蜂箱吧。”

I was shocked.

我很震惊。

I was completely surprised.

我完全惊呆了。

I mean, instead of getting an eviction notice,

我是说，不但没有收到驱逐令，

we got another data point.

还增加了一个数据点。

And in the back alley of this image,

在这张照片中的后巷，

what you see here, this hidden beehive --

你在这里看到的，这个隐藏的蜂箱——

that beehive produced more honey that first year

那个蜂箱第一年产的蜜

than we have ever experienced in any beehive we had managed.

比我们管理的任何蜂箱的蜜都要多。

It shifted our research perspective forever.

这永远改变了我们的研究视角。

It changed our research question away from "How do we save the dead and dying bees?"

它把我们的研究问题 从“如何拯救死去的和垂死的蜜蜂？”

to "Where are bees doing best?"

转变成“哪里最适合蜜蜂生长？”

我们开始能够把地图拼起来，

And we started to be able to put maps together,

looking at all of these citizen science beehives

看看所有这些公民科学家的蜂箱，

from people who had beehives at home decks,

从在阳台放蜂箱的，

gardens, business rooftops.

到在花园，商业屋顶放蜂箱的。

We started to engage the public,

我们开始让公众参与进来，

and the more people who got these little data points,

越多的人参与，提供越多的数据点

the more accurate our maps became.

我们的地图就越精确。

And so when you're sitting here thinking, "How can I get involved?"

如果在座的各位正在思考， “我怎样才能参与其中？”

you might think about a story of my friend Fred,

你可以听一听我朋友弗雷德的故事，

who's a commercial real estate developer.

他是一名商业地产开发商。

He was thinking the same thing.

他也在想着同样的事情。

He was at a meeting,

有一天他正在开会，

thinking about what he could do for tenant relations

考虑要如何改善跟租客的关系

and sustainability at scale.

和规模化的可持续性。

And while he was having a tea break,

当他在茶歇的时候，

he put honey into his tea and noticed on the honey jar

他把蜂蜜放进茶里， 注意到了在蜂蜜罐上

a message about corporate sustainability from the host company of that meeting.

一则会议主办方关于 企业可持续性的信息。

And it sparked an idea.

这激发了一个想法。

He came back to his office.

他回到办公室。

An email, a phone call later, and -- boom! --

发了一封电子邮件， 又打了一个电话，就这么简单——

we went national together.

我们的计划在他的帮助下走向了全国。

We put dozens of beehives on the rooftops of their skyscrapers

我们放了几十个蜂箱 在他们摩天大楼的屋顶上，

across nine cities nationwide.

横跨全国九个城市。

Nine years later --

九年以后——

(Applause)

（掌声）

Nine years later, we have raised over a million dollars for bee research.

九年以后，我们为蜜蜂研究 筹集了一百多万美元的资金。

We have a thousand beehives as little data points across the country,

我们在全国有一千个蜂箱 作为小数据点，

18 states and counting,

遍布18个州和郡，

where we have created paying jobs for local beekeepers, 65 of them,

我们为当地的养蜂业 创造了有偿工作，一共有65个人

to manage beehives in their own communities,

得以在自己的社区管理蜂箱，

to connect with people, everyday people,

积极动员普通民众，

who are now data points together making a difference.

这些民众现在也成为了数据点， 一起发挥作用。

So in order to explain what's actually been saving bees,

为了说明究竟是什么拯救了蜜蜂，

where they're thriving,

它们正在什么地方蓬勃发展，

I need to first tell you what's been killing them.

我首先要告诉你的是： 什么杀死了它们。

The top three killers of bees

蜜蜂的三大杀手

are agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, fungicides;

是农药，比如杀虫剂，除草剂和杀菌剂；

diseases of bees, of which there are many;

大量种类的疾病；

and habitat loss.

以及栖息地的丧失。

So what we did is we looked on our maps

所以我们做的是研究地图

and we identified areas where bees were thriving.

以及识别蜜蜂繁盛的地区。

This was mostly in cities, we found.

我们发现这些地区大多位于城市中。

Data are now showing that urban beehives produce more honey

目前数据显示，城市蜂箱生产的蜂蜜

than rural beehives and suburban beehives.

比乡村和郊区的多。

Urban beehives have a longer life span than rural and suburban beehives,

城市蜂箱比乡村和 郊区的蜂箱寿命更长，

and bees in the city are more biodiverse;

城市蜜蜂更具有生物多样性；

there are more bee species in urban areas.

城市地区的蜜蜂种类较多。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Right?

有点奇怪吧？

Why is this?

为什么呢？

That was our question.

这正是我们思考的问题。

So we started with these three killers of bees,

我们先研究了这三种蜜蜂杀手，

and we flipped it:

并进行逆向思考：

Which of these is different in the cities?

这些在城市里有哪些不同之处？

So the first one, pesticides.

第一，杀虫剂。

We partnered up with the Harvard School of Public Health.

我们与哈佛大学公共卫生学院合作，

We shared our data with them.

与他们分享了数据。

We collected samples from our citizen science beehives

我们从人们家里和商业建筑屋顶的 公民科学蜂箱

收集了很多样本，

at people's homes and business rooftops.

We looked at pesticide levels.

研究了杀虫剂水平。

我们认为，蜜蜂生长得更好的 地区杀虫剂可能会更少。

We thought there would be less pesticides in areas where bees are doing better.

但事实并非如此。

That's not the case.

So what we found here in our study is -- the orange bars are Boston,

我们的研究发现—— 橙色柱状表示波士顿，

and we thought those bars would be the lowest,

我们以为这些柱状代表的应该是

there would be the lowest levels of pesticides.

杀虫剂含量最低的地方。

事实上，城市中杀虫剂使用量最多。

And, in fact, there are the most pesticides in cities.

So the pesticide hypothesis for what's saving bees --

因此关于拯救蜜蜂的杀虫剂假说——

less pesticides in cities --

城市的杀虫剂更少——

is not it.

不成立。

And this is very typical of my life as a scientist.

这样的结论对于 一个科学家来说是很平常的。

Anytime I've had a hypothesis,

很多时候，我的假设

不仅得不到证据支撑， 反倒相反的假设才是正确的。

not only is it not supported, but the opposite is true.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Which is still an interesting finding, right?

但这仍然是一个有趣的发现，对吧？

We moved on.

于是我们继续前进，提出了

The disease hypothesis.

疾病假说。

We looked at diseases all over our beehives.

我们研究了所有蜂箱中出现的疾病。

And what we found in a similar study to this one with North Carolina State is:

我们在对北卡罗来纳州的 类似研究中发现：

there's no difference between disease in bees

无论是在城市，郊区，还是乡村地区，

in urban, suburban and rural areas.

蜜蜂疾病都没有表现出任何区别。

疾病无处不在； 蜜蜂都在陆续生病和死亡。

Diseases are everywhere; bees are sick and dying.

In fact, there were more diseases of bees in cities.

事实上，城市里有更多的蜜蜂疾病。

This was from Raleigh, North Carolina.

这是北卡罗来纳州罗利市的照片。

So again, my hypothesis was not supported. The opposite was true.

所以，我又得出了恰好相反的假设。

We're moving on.

我们又继续研究。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

The habitat hypothesis.

栖息地假说。

This said that areas where bees are thriving have a better habitat --

这张图说的是蜜蜂生命旺盛的地区， 栖息地环境更好——

more flowers, right?

应该有更多的花朵，对吗？

But we didn't know how to test this.

但是我们不知该 如何对这一假设进行检验。

So I had a really interesting meeting.

所以我们召开了一次有趣的会议。

An idea sparked with my friend and colleague Anne Madden,

我与朋友兼同事安娜·麦登， 她也是TED演讲人，

fellow TED speaker.

提出了这个想法。

We thought about genomics, kind of like AncestryDNA or 23andMe.

我们想到了基因组技术，比如 “AncestryDNA”或者“23andMe”的那种。

Have you done these?

你们做过这种检测吗？

就是往管子里吐痰，然后发现， “我是德国人（的后裔）！”

You spit in a tube and you find out, "I'm German!"

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Well, we developed this for honey.

我们为蜜蜂也开发了类似的技术。

So we have a sample of honey and we look at all the plant DNA,

取一份蜂蜜样本， 比对所有植物的DNA，

and we find out, "I'm sumac!"

然后我们发现，“这是漆树（的花蜜）！”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And that's what we found here in Provincetown.

这是我们在普罗温斯敦发现的。

So for the first time ever, I'm able to report to you

所以我们有史以来第一次可以证明

what type of honey is from right here in our own community.

哪一种蜂蜜来自我们这一社区。

HoneyDNA, a genomics test.

我们运用的是“蜂蜜DNA”， 一个基因组检测技术。

Spring honey in Provincetown is from privet.

普罗温斯敦的春蜜来自于女贞【植】。

What's privet? Hedges.

什么是女贞？就是树篱。

What's the message?

这意味着什么？

Don't trim your hedges to save the bees.

为了拯救蜜蜂，不要修剪你的篱笆。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I know we're getting crunchy and it's controversial,

我知道这有点尴尬， 也会存在争议，

所以在你朝我扔西红柿之前，

so before you throw your tomatoes,

we'll move to the summer honey, which is water lily honey.

我们来聊一聊夏蜜，即睡莲蜜。

If you have honey from Provincetown right here in the summer,

如果你在夏天吃普罗温斯敦的蜂蜜，

you're eating water lily juice;

你喝的就是睡莲汁；

in the fall, sumac honey.

秋天，是漆树蜂蜜。

We're learning about our food for the first time ever.

我们有史以来第一次深入研究蜂蜜。

And now we're able to report, if you need to do any city planning:

如果你要做城市规划， 现在我们可以想你汇报:

What are good things to plant?

种什么植物好？

What do we know the bees are going to that's good for your garden?

我们知道的关于 蜜蜂对花园的好处有哪些？

For the first time ever for any community, we now know this answer.

对于任何一个社区来说， 我们现在终于知道答案了。

What's more interesting for us is deeper in the data.

对我们来说更有趣的是更深层次的数据。

So, if you're from the Caribbean and you want to explore your heritage,

如果你来自加勒比海，想探索 自己继承的一片土地，

Bahamian honey is from the laurel family,

巴哈马蜜是来自月桂科【植】，

cinnamon and avocado flavors.

含肉桂和鳄梨风味。

But what's more interesting is 85 different plant species

但是更有趣的是一茶匙蜂蜜里

in one teaspoon of honey.

包含85种不同的植物品种。

That's the measure we want, the big data.

这就是我们需要的测量方式，大数据。

Indian honey: that is oak.

印度蜂蜜来自橡树。

Every sample we've tested from India is oak,

我们测试的每一个印度样品 都是来自橡树，

and that's 172 different flavors in one taste of Indian honey.

一口能尝出来印度蜂蜜里 含有172种不同风味。

Provincetown honey goes from 116 plants in the spring

普罗温斯敦的蜂蜜 在春天采自116种植物，

to over 200 plants in the summer.

夏天则超过200种植物。

These are the numbers that we need to test the habitat hypothesis.

这是就我们需要检验栖息地假说的数据。

In another citizen science approach,

在另一种公民科学方法中，

you find out about your food and we get some interesting data.

你发现了食物的秘密， 而我们也获得了一些有趣的数据。

We're finding out now that in rural areas,

我们现在发现在农村地区，

there are 150 plants on average in a sample of honey.

一种蜂蜜样本平均含有150种植物。

That's a measure for rural.

这是农村地区的数据。

Suburban areas, what might you think?

那么郊区呢，你认为结果如何？

Do they have less or more plants in suburban areas with lawns

在对民众友好但是不利于 花粉传播的郊区草坪上采集的

that look nice for people but they're terrible for pollinators?

蜂蜜会包含多少植物？

Suburbs have very low plant diversity,

结果是郊区的植物多样性很低，

so if you have a beautiful lawn,

所以如果你的草坪很漂亮，

good for you, but you can do more.

很不错，但你可以做更多的改善。

You can have a patch of your lawn that's a wildflower meadow

你可以在草坪上开辟一片野花草地

to diversify your habitat,

使你的栖息地多样化，

to improve pollinator health.

从而改善传粉者的健康。

Anybody can do this.

任何人都能做到这一点。

Urban areas have the most habitat, best habitat,

城市地区拥有最多和最好的栖息地，

as you can see here: over 200 different plants.

正如你在这里看到的： 超过200种不同的植物。

We have, for the first time ever, support for the habitat hypothesis.

我们的栖息地假说 有史以来第一次得到认可。

We also now know how we can work with cities.

我们现在也知道该如何与城市合作。

The City of Boston has eight times better habitat

波士顿市的栖息地比周边的郊区

than its nearby suburbs.

要优越8倍。

And so when we work with governments, we can scale this.

当我们与政府合作的时候， 我们可以扩大这一规模。

You might think on my tombstone, it'll say,

你可能会想，在我的墓碑上会刻着，

"Here lies Noah. Plant a flower." Right?

“诺亚长眠于此。请种一朵花吧。” 对吧？

I mean -- it's exhausting after all of this.

我是说，在经历了 这一切之后，我已筋疲力尽。

But when we scale together,

但当我们一起扩大规模时，

when we go to governments and city planners --

当我们去找政府和城市规划者的时候——

like in Boston, the honey is mostly linden trees,

就像在波士顿，蜂蜜树源主要是椴树，

and we say, "If a dead tree needs to be replaced, consider linden."

我们会说，“如果需要 替换一棵枯树，考虑用椴树。”

When we take this information to governments, we can do amazing things.

当我们把这些信息递交给政府， 就相当于开展了一次壮举。

这是弗雷德公司的屋顶。

This is a rooftop from Fred's company.

We can plant those things on top of rooftops worldwide

我们可以在全世界的屋顶上种植那些植物，

to start restoring habitat and securing food systems.

开始恢复栖息地，以及保障食物系统。

We've worked with the World Bank

我们还与世界银行合作，

and the presidential delegation from the country of Haiti.

以及与海地总统代表团合作。

We've worked with wonderful graduate students at Yale University and Ethiopia.

我们与耶鲁大学以及 埃塞尔比亚的优秀毕业生合作。

在这些国家， 我们可以通过确定蜂蜜的种类

In these countries, we can add value to their honey

by identifying what it is,

来为他们的蜂蜜增值，

but informing the people of what to plant

告诉人们该种植什么植物，

to restore their habitat and secure their food systems.

从而恢复栖息地以及 保障他们的食物系统。

But what I think is even more important is when we think about natural disasters.

我认为这对应对自然灾害来说更重要。

有史以来，我们第一次

For the first time,

we now know how we can have a baseline measure of any habitat

知道如何在任何栖息地有可能被摧毁前，

before it might be destroyed.

做基线测量。

Think about your hometown.

回想一下你的家乡。

What risks does the environment pose to it?

环境面临着哪些风险？

This is how we're going to save Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

这是玛利亚飓风过境后， 我们拯救波多黎各的方法。

We now have a baseline measure of honey,

现在我们有了蜂蜜的基线测量，

honey DNA from before and after the storm.

飓风前后蜂蜜的DNA。

We started in Humacao.

我们从乌马考市开始。

This is right where Hurricane Maria made landfall.

这正是玛利亚飓风登陆的地点。

And we know what plants to replace and in what quantity and where

我们通过三角测量法分析蜂蜜的 DNA样本，搞清了该复原哪些植物

by triangulating honey DNA samples.

以及需要的数量和地点。

You might even think about right here,

你可能会想，

the beautiful land that connected us, that primed us,

这一片连接和哺育我们的美丽大地，

all the citizen science to begin with,

所有公民科学开始的地方，

the erosion, the winter storms

侵蚀，冬季风暴

that are getting more violent every year.

正在逐年恶化。

What are we going to do about this,

我们该采取什么措施，

our precious land?

来保护如此珍贵的土地呢？

Well, looking at honey DNA,

我们通过观测蜂蜜DNA，

we can see what plants are good for pollinators that have deep roots,

就可以找出哪些植物的根 长得很深，可以保持水土，

that can secure the land,

又对授粉者有益，

and together, everybody can participate.

我们所有人都可以参与进来，

And the solution fits in a teaspoon.

一起拯救这一茶匙的蜂蜜。

If your hometown might get swept away or destroyed by a natural disaster,

如果你的家乡可能会 被自然灾害卷走或者摧毁，

we now have a blueprint suspended in time

我们现在就有了一份如何在地球上，

for how to restore that on Earth,

甚至在火星上的温室里

or perhaps even in a greenhouse on Mars.

重建家园的蓝图。

I know it sounds crazy, but think about this:

我明白，这听起来 太不可思议，但是想想看：

a new Provincetown,

在未来可能会是这样一番景象：

a new hometown,

一个全新的普罗温斯敦，

a place that might be familiar that's also good for pollinators

一个全新的家乡，

for a stable food system,

一个似曾相识且对授粉者有利的地方，

when we're thinking about the future.

拥有稳定的食物系统，

Now, together, we know what's saving bees --

团结协作让我们懂得了 如何拯救蜜蜂——

by planting diverse habitat.

通过拥有植物多样性的栖息地。

Now, together, we know how bees are going to save us --

团结协作让我们懂得了 蜜蜂将如何拯救人类——

by being barometers for environmental health,

通过作为环境健康的标记，

by being blueprints, sources of information,

作为信息源泉的蓝图，

little data factories suspended in time.

成为小数据工厂只是时间问题。

Thank you.

谢谢各位。

(Applause)

（掌声）