How an obese town lost a million pounds | Mick Cornett

翻译人员: Zhiting Chen 校对人员: Sile Li

How many of you have been to Oklahoma City?

在座的各位有多少人去过俄克拉荷马城?

Raise your hand. Yeah?

请举手。

How many of you have not been to Oklahoma City

又有多少人没去过，

and have no idea who I am? (Laughter)

而且从来没听说过我？（笑声）

Most of you. Let me give you a little bit of background.

看来大多数都没有。 我来提供点背景知识吧。

Oklahoma City started in the most

俄克拉何荷城是在一种我们所能想像到的

unique way imaginable.

最独特的方式中建立起来的。

Back on a spring day in 1889,

那是在1889年的一个春天，

the federal government held what they called

联邦政府掀起了一场他们称为

a land run.

“大地奔跑”的廉价土地抢占热潮。

They literally lined up the settlers

他们将想要在这里定居的男女老少们

along an imaginary line,

排成一列，

and they fired off a gun,

然后鸣枪作为信号，

and the settlers roared across the countryside

于是人群吼叫着冲过乡村

and put down a stake,

在土地上插置木桩以抢占土地，

and wherever they put down that stake,

这样一来，他们便可将新家安在

that was their new home.

他们所插置木桩的土地上。

And at the end of the very first day,

在“大地奔跑”的第一天结束后，

the population of Oklahoma City

俄克拉荷马城的人口

had gone from zero to 10,000,

从零飙升至一万，

and our planning department

我们的规划部门甚至直到今天

is still paying for that.

都还在为这些土地支付费用。

The citizens got together on that first day

市民们在那一天聚集在一起，

and elected a mayor.

并且选出了自己的市长。

And then they shot him.

然后，他们枪毙了他。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

That's not really all that funny

这其实真的没有那么好笑。

-- (Laughter) --

--（笑声）--

but it allows me to see what type of audience

但是这可以让我看到我正在

I'm dealing with, so I appreciate the feedback.

和什么样的观众打交道， 所以我很感谢你们这样的反馈。

The 20th century was fairly kind to Oklahoma City.

二十世纪对待俄克拉荷马城的方式 真是相当宽厚。

Our economy was based on commodities,

我们的经济以商品为基石，

so the price of cotton or the price of wheat,

故而棉布抑或小麦的价格也是这基石的一部分，

and ultimately the price of oil and natural gas.

并且，最终以石油与天然气的价格为基础。

And along the way, we became a city

随着时间的推移，我们发展成为了一个

of innovation.

具有革新意义的城市。

The shopping cart was invented in Oklahoma City.

购物车是在俄克拉何马城发明的。

(Applause)

（掌声）

The parking meter, invented in Oklahoma City.

停车计时器，也诞生于俄克拉何马城。

You're welcome.

不用客气！

Having an economy, though,

然而，依赖于大宗商品的经济体

that relates to commodities can give you some ups and some downs,

会时常起伏不定，

and that was certainly the case in Oklahoma City's history.

这确实也是俄克拉何马城在历史上所经历过的。

In the 1970s, when it appeared

二十世纪七十年代，当能源的价格

that the price of energy would never retreat,

不再下跌的时候，

our economy was soaring,

我们的经济飞速发展，

and then in the early 1980s, it cratered quickly.

而后来在二十世纪八十年代早期，它迅速地崩溃。

The price of energy dropped.

能源价格狂跌。

Our banks began to fail.

我们本地的银行开始破产。

Before the end of the decade,

那十年中，

100 banks had failed in the state of Oklahoma.

俄克拉何马州的一百家银行宣告破产。

There was no bailout on the horizon.

而当时又没有可以即刻实施的救市政策。

Our banking industry, our oil and gas industry,

我们的银行业，石油与天然气工业，

our commercial real estate industry,

还有商业地产业，

were all at the bottom of the economic scale.

在当时都完全不具有一定的经济规模。

Young people were leaving Oklahoma City in droves

年轻人成群结队地离开俄克拉何马城

for Washington and Dallas and Houston and New York and Tokyo,

前往华盛顿、达拉斯、休斯顿、纽约和东京，

anywhere where they could find a job that measured up

前往任何一个他们可以得到一份符合自己

to their educational attainment,

教育程度的工作的地方，

because in Oklahoma City, the good jobs just weren't there.

因为俄克拉何马城已无他们的容身之地。

But along at the end of the '80s

然而，在八十年代末期

came an enterprising businessman

一位有事业心的商人来到了这里，并且成为市长。

who became mayor named Ron Norick.

他的名字叫罗恩·诺里克。

Ron Norick eventually figured out

罗恩·诺里克最终发现

that the secret to economic development

经济发展的诀窍并不是

wasn't incentivizing companies up front,

去激励那些处于先锋地位的公司，

it was about creating a place where businesses wanted to locate,

而是要开创出一个企业们愿意植根、投资的地方，

and so he pushed an initiative called MAPS

于是他推动了一项名为“MAPS”的倡议。

that basically was a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax

这项倡议主要是以低额销售税为中心

to build a bunch of stuff.

来建立大量的各类设施。

It built a new sports arena,

依照这个发展计划，我们建成了一个崭新的体育竞技场，

a new canal downtown,

一条新的位于市中心的运河，

it fixed up our performing arts center,

并且修缮了我们的表演艺术中心，

a new baseball stadium downtown,

还建起了一个中心棒球场，

a lot of things to improve the quality of life.

以及其他许多提高市民生活品质的事物。

And the economy indeed seemed to start

这样一来，经济似乎开始发展，

showing some signs of life.

并且确实展现出了一些复苏的迹象。

The next mayor came along.

接着，下一任市长就任。

He started MAPS for Kids,

他发起了为孩子们设立的“MAPS”倡议，

rebuilt the entire inner city school system,

重建了整个旧城区的学制，

all 75 buildings either built anew or refurbished.

总共重建、翻新了七十五栋建筑。

And then, in 2004,

然后，在2004年，

in this rare collective lack of judgment

在这难得一见的近乎于非暴力反抗的

bordering on civil disobedience,

对判断力的集体缺失中，

the citizens elected me mayor.

市民们选我为市长。

Now the city I inherited

现在我所继任的这座城市

was just on the verge

正蠢蠢欲动，

of coming out of its slumbering economy,

从它沉眠的经济中苏醒过来，

and for the very first time,

而且头一次，

we started showing up on the lists.

我们开始在排名表中崭露头角。

Now you know the lists I'm talking about.

你们知道我所说的排名表。

The media and the Internet

媒体与网络

love to rank cities.

向来喜好为城市排名。

And in Oklahoma City,

在此之前，在俄克拉何马城，

we'd never really been on lists before.

我们从来没有登上过这些排名表。

So I thought it was kind of cool

所以我认为

when they came out with these positive lists and we were on there.

当这些具有肯定意味的排名中出现了我们的城市时，真是挺酷的。

We weren't anywhere close to the top,

我们的排名并不靠前，

but we were on the list, we were somebody.

但是我们在列表上面，我们有分量。

Best city to get a job,

最佳工作地，

best city to start a business,

最佳创业地，

best downtown --

最出色的商业区——

Oklahoma City.

俄克拉何马城。

And then came the list

然后，又有了

of the most obese cities in the country.

全国最“肥胖”城市的排名。

And there we were.

我们也在其中。

Now I like to point out that we were on that list

现在我很乐意指出一点：有很多

with a lot of really cool places.

很酷的城市和我们一起登上了这个排名。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Dallas and Houston and New Orleans

达拉斯、休斯顿、新奥尔良、

and Atlanta and Miami.

亚特兰大和迈阿密。

You know, these are cities that, typically,

你们知道，这些城市是那种典型的

you're not embarrassed to be associated with.

没人会羞于与它们有什么联系的城市。

But nonetheless, I didn't like being on the list.

但尽管如此，我并不喜欢被登在这样一个排名上。

And about that time, I got on the scales.

也差不多是在那时，我称了称体重。

And I weighed 220 pounds.

我重约220磅。

And then I went to this website

然后我去了那个

sponsored by the federal government,

由联邦政府赞助的网站，

and I typed in my height, I typed in my weight,

我输入了自己的身高、体重，

and I pushed Enter,

然后我按下“输入”键，

and it came back and said "obese."

结果显示：“肥胖。”

I thought, "What a stupid website."

我想，“这网站太蠢了。”

(Laughter)

--（笑声）--

"I'm not obese. I would know if I was obese."

“我不胖。我要是胖的话我早知道了。”

And then I started getting honest with myself

然后我开始试着对我与肥胖一直都在斗争的事实

about what had become my lifelong struggle with obesity,

诚实一些。

and I noticed this pattern,

而且，我还注意到了一个模式，

that I was gaining about two or three pounds a year,

那就是我几乎每年都要增重两到三磅，

and then about every 10 years, I'd drop 20 or 30 pounds.

然后大概每十年，我都能瘦二十到三十磅。

And then I'd do it again.

然后再循环。

And I had this huge closet full of clothes,

我还有一个装满衣服的大衣柜，

and I could only wear a third of it at any one time,

但是我每次只能穿其中三分之一的衣服，

and only I knew which part of the closet I could wear.

而且只有我知道衣柜中的哪一部分是我可以穿的。

But it all seemed fairly normal, going through it.

但是经历这些，在当时对于我似乎都相当平常。

Well, I finally decided I needed to lose weight,

好吧，我最后终于决定我得减肥，

and I knew I could because I'd done it so many times before,

而且我知道我能做到，因为我以前已经尝试过许多次了，

so I simply stopped eating as much.

于是我就开始不再吃那么多。

I had always exercised.

我那时一直都坚持锻炼。

That really wasn't the part of the equation

我其实真的不必

that I needed to work on.

坚持那样做。

But I had been eating 3,000 calories a day,

但是我曾经一天摄入三千卡热量，

and I cut it to 2,000 calories a day,

然后我将它削减到了一天两千卡，

and the weight came off. I lost about a pound a week

最后我的体重恢复了正常。我每周大约瘦一磅，

for about 40 weeks.

持续了大概四十周。

Along the way, though,

然而，通过这种方式，

I started examining my city,

然后 我开始评估这座城市，

its culture, its infrastructure,

它的文化，它的基础设施，

trying to figure out why our specific city

我努力去寻找我们这座特定的城市

seemed to have a problem with obesity.

之所以有肥胖问题的原因。

And I came to the conclusion

然后我得出了结论，

that we had built an incredible quality of life

那就是如果你碰巧是一辆车的话，

if you happen to be a car.

你的生活水平会达到难以置信地高。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But if you happen to be a person,

但是如果你碰巧是个人类，

you are combatting the car seemingly at every turn.

那么你似乎正处处与车斗争。

Our city is very spread out.

我们的城市四通八达。

We have a great intersection of highways,

我们拥有庞杂的交错的公路，

I mean, literally no traffic congestion in Oklahoma City to speak of.

我是说，俄克拉何马城确实没有什么值得注意的交通拥塞。

And so people live far, far away.

因此人们住得非常远。

Our city limits are enormous, 620 square miles,

我们的城市范围很广大，620平方英里，

but 15 miles is less than 15 minutes.

但是十五英里的路程花费要比十五分钟少。

You literally can get a speeding ticket

在俄克拉何马城的交通高峰期间，

during rush hour in Oklahoma City.

你都能接到超速行驶的传票。

And as a result, people tend to spread out.

结果，人们就倾向于散开来。

Land's cheap.

地产很便宜。

We had also not required developers

我们也已经很长时间没有再要求开发商们

to build sidewalks on new developments for a long, long time.

在新建住宅区修建人行道了。

We had fixed that, but it had been relatively recently,

我们曾经修缮过人行道，但是这个问题是最近才出现的，

and there were literally 100,000

并且有超过十万个

or more homes into our inventory

出现在我们清单上的家庭

in neighborhoods that had virtually no level of walkability.

都居住在事实上没有任何可步行性的社区中。

And as I tried to examine

在我尽最大努力斟酌

how we might deal with obesity,

我们将怎样对待肥胖症的问题，

and was taking all of these elements into my mind,

并且在脑中考虑着这所有的要素的时候，

I decided that the first thing we need to do

我认为我们的首要任务

was have a conversation.

就是进行一场对话。

You see, in Oklahoma City,

你们知道，在俄克拉何马城，

we weren't talking about obesity.

我们不讨论关于肥胖症的问题。

And so, on New Year's Eve of 2007,

因此，在2007年的除夕夜，

I went to the zoo,

我去了动物园，

and I stood in front of the elephants,

站在大象们的身前，

and I said, "This city is going on a diet,

并且说：“这座城市将要实行节食，

and we're going to lose a million pounds."

而且我们还要减掉一百万磅。”

Well, that's when all hell broke loose.

咳，那就是一切开始变得一团糟的时候。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The national media

国内媒体

gravitated toward this story immediately,

立刻被这个故事吸引住了，

and they really could have gone with it one of two ways.

他们其实本来可以用一到两天来报道它。

They could have said,

他们本来可以说：“

"This city is so fat

这座城市太‘胖’了

that the mayor had to put them on a diet."

以至于市长不得不让市民们来节食。“

But fortunately, the consensus was,

不过幸运的是，舆论却是这样的：”

"Look, this is a problem in a lot of places.

看，这个问题在很多城市中都很普遍。

This is a city that's wanting to do something about it."

然而这个城市想要做些什么来改变这个现状。”

And so they started helping us

因此他们开始帮助我们

drive traffic to the website.

为网站增加流量。

Now, the web address was

现在，这个网址是

thiscityisgoingonadiet.com.

thiscityisgoingonadiet（意为‘这座城市要节食了’）.com。

And I appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show"

一个工作日的早晨

one weekday morning to talk about the initiative,

我去了谈话节目“艾伦秀”并且谈了谈这个方案，

and on that day, 150,000 visits

在那一天，十五万个访问者

were placed to our website.

来到了我们的网站。

People were signing up,

人们开始注册，

and so the pounds started to add up,

因此我们网站的分量开始增长，

and the conversation that I thought

那场我认为很重要的谈话

was so important to have was starting to take place.

开始进行。

It was taking place inside the homes,

它在人们的家庭中进行，

mothers and fathers talking about it with their kids.

父母与孩子们讨论肥胖症的问题。

It was taking place in churches.

它同样也在教堂中进行。

Churches were starting their own running groups

教堂开始为想要解决肥胖问题的人

and their own support groups

组建他们自己的跑步小组

for people who were dealing with obesity.

和支持团队。

Suddenly, it was a topic worth discussing at schools

突然，它成为了一个值得在

and in the workplace.

学校和工作单位讨论的问题。

And the large companies, they typically have

那些大公司

wonderful wellness programs,

都拥有完善的健康项目，

but the medium-sized companies

但是那些中等规模的公司

that typically fall between the cracks on issues like this,

忽略了像这样的问题，

they started to get engaged and used our program

于是他们签署协定并且开始加入我们的计划，

as a model for their own employees

以此作为员工们的模范。

to try and have contests to see

他们尝试，并且发起竞赛，以此来见证

who might be able to deal with their obesity situation

谁有可能以一种于他人而言也积极有效的方式

in a way that could be proactively beneficial to others.

解决他们自己的肥胖问题。

And then came the next stage of the equation.

然后，我们步入了下一阶段。

It was time to push what I called MAPS 3.

到了推行我所说的“MAPS”3倡议的时候。

Now MAPS 3, like the other two programs,

现在，“MAPS”3，就像其他两个方案一样，

had had an economic development motive behind it,

有在其背后助推的经济动机，

but along with the traditional economic development tasks

但是连同那些传统的经济发展工作一起，

like building a new convention center,

比如说建立一座新的会议中心，

we added some health-related infrastructure

我们在这个过程中加入了一些健康相关的

to the process.

基础设施。

We added a new central park, 70 acres in size,

我们在俄克拉何马城的市中心

to be right downtown in Oklahoma City.

新建了一个七十英亩的中心公园。

We're building a downtown streetcar

我们致力建设市中心的有轨电车，

to try and help the walkability formula

以便帮助解决住在市中心的人们

for people who choose to live in the inner city

的步行问题

and help us create the density there.

并且提升中心城区的人口密度。

We're building senior health and wellness centers

我们也在整个社区建设高标准的

throughout the community.

保健与健康中心。

We put some investments on the river

我们同样也对原来“MAPS”协议在当初

that had originally been invested upon

投资开发过的河流

in the original MAPS,

进行了一些投资，

and now we are currently in the final stages

目前我们已经步入了

of developing the finest venue in the world

发展世界上最佳的皮划艇、赛艇运动场所的

for the sports of canoe, kayak and rowing.

最后阶段。

We hosted the Olympic trials last spring.

我们去年春天举办了奥运会的选拔赛。

We have Olympic-caliber events coming to Oklahoma City,

俄克拉何马城迎来了奥林匹克水准的赛事，

and athletes from all over the world moving in,

来自世界各地的运动员们随着市中心改造项目的进行

along with inner city programs

一起来到这里，从而促进孩子们

to get kids more engaged in these types of recreational activities

更加积极地投身这些有点打破传统的

that are a little bit nontraditional.

休闲活动中去。

We also, with another initiative that was passed,

我们也同另外一个已通过的提案一起

are building hundreds of miles of new sidewalks

在都会区修建

throughout the metro area.

数百英里的新人行道。

We're even going back into some

我们甚至回到了一些

inner city situations

已经建设了居民区

where we had built neighborhoods

与学校，

and we had built schools

但是我们还没有把二者连接起来的

but we had not connected the two.

中心城区去。

We had built libraries and we had built neighborhoods,

我们在此之前已经建立了图书馆与社区，

but we had never really connected the two

但是我们从来没有真正地以任何可步行的方式

with any sort of walkability.

将这二者连接起来。

Through yet another funding source,

我们还通过其他的筹资渠道

we're redesigning all of our inner city streets

来重新设计市中心的所有街道

to be more pedestrian-friendly.

来使得它们更加适合步行。

Our streets were really wide,

我们的街道曾经确实很宽，

and you'd push the button to allow you to walk across,

可是你必须立刻动身来确保自己能够步行穿过街道，

and you had to run in order to get there in time.

然后不得不飞奔才能及时到达街道的另一边。

But now we've narrowed the streets,

不过现在我们将街道缩窄了，

highly landscaped them, making them more pedestrian-friendly,

对它们进行了高度的美化，使它们更加适于步行，

really a redesign, rethinking the way

并且进行了真正意义上的重设计，重新考虑了我们

we build our infrastructure,

建设基础设施的方式，

designing a city around people and not cars.

建立起了一个以人而非车辆为中心的城市。

We're completing our bicycle trail master plan.

我们同时也在完成“自行车远足者”的计划。

We'll have over 100 miles

通过达成这一计划，

when we're through building it out.

我们将达到超过一百英里的成绩。

And so you see this culture starting to shift

因此，你们可以看到俄克拉何马城的文化

in Oklahoma City.

开始转变。

And lo and behold, the demographic changes

而且你们可以看到，随之而来的人口结构的变化

that are coming with it are very inspiring.

真是非常鼓舞人心。

Highly educated twentysomethings

受过高等教育的二十来岁的年轻人们

are moving to Oklahoma City from all over the region

从各个地区，甚至从更远的地方，比如加利福尼亚，

and, indeed, even from further away, in California.

搬往俄克拉何马城。

When we reached a million pounds,

2012年1月，

in January of 2012,

当我们达到了一百万磅的目标时，

I flew to New York with some our participants

我和一些减掉了将近一百磅，

who had lost over 100 pounds,

生活已经因此而改变的参与者们

whose lives had been changed,

一起飞往纽约，

and we appeared on the Rachael Ray show,

并且去了“瑞秋美食秀”，

and then that afternoon, I did a round of media in New York

那天下午，我在纽约的很多媒体

pushing the same messages

发表了，人们已习惯于听到的，肥胖症以及它所带来的危害

that you're accustomed to hearing about obesity and the dangers of it.

的相同的观点。

And I went into the lobby of Men's Fitness magazine,

然后我又走进了男性健康杂志的会客室，

the same magazine that had put us on that list

也就是那家在五年前

five years before.

将我们列入那个肥胖排名表的杂志。

And as I'm sitting in the lobby waiting to talk to the reporter,

当我坐在会客室里，等待与记者谈话的时候，

I notice there's a magazine copy

我注意到一张桌子上正放着

of the current issue right there on the table,

一份现刊的拷贝，

and I pick it up, and I look at the headline

于是我将它拿起来，并且看了看

across the top, and it says,

顶部的头条，上面写着：“

"America's Fattest Cities: Do You Live in One?"

美国最”肥胖“城市：你正身处其中吗？“

Well, I knew I did,

好吧，我知道我确实身处其中，

so I picked up the magazine

所以我翻开杂志

and I began to look,

开始阅读，

and we weren't on it.

然而，上面没有俄克拉何马城的名字。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Then I looked on the list of fittest cities,

然后我看了看最健康城市的排名，

and we were on that list.

我们就在其中。

We were on the list as the 22nd fittest city in the United States.

我们作为美国第二十二个最健康的城市而被列于其中。

Our state health statistics are doing better.

我们的国家卫生统计正在做得越来越好。

Granted, we have a long way to go.

诚然，我们仍有很长的一段路要走。

Health is still not something

我们仍不应该以

that we should be proud of in Oklahoma City,

俄克拉何马城的健康水准而感到骄傲，

but we seem to have turned the cultural shift

但是我们似乎已经完成了使健康具有更高优先权的

of making health a greater priority.

文化转变。

And we love the idea of the demographics

而且，我们真的对于那些受教育程度很高的

of highly educated twentysomethings,

新增的年轻人口，

people with choices, choosing Oklahoma City

那一大批面临着众多选择，而最终选定了俄克拉何马城的

in large numbers.

人们感到无比欣喜。

We have the lowest unemployment in the United States,

我们拥有全美最低的失业率，

probably the strongest economy in the United States.

或许也拥有全美最强的经济。

And if you're like me, at some point

如果你也像我一样，在学习生涯中的

in your educational career,

某一时刻，

you were asked to read a book called

被要求阅读一本名为

"The Grapes of Wrath."

《愤怒的葡萄》的书，

Oklahomans leaving for California

那你就知道那时的俄克拉荷马人大批地前往

in large numbers for a better future.

加利福尼亚去寻求更好的未来。

When we look at the demographic shifts

可当我们目睹那些来自西部的人们

of people coming from the west,

引起的人口变化时，

it appears that what we're seeing now

我们现在正在看见的似乎是

is the wrath of grapes.

”葡萄的愤怒“。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

The grandchildren are coming home.

孙辈们回到了家乡。

You've been a great audience and very attentive.

你们真的是很好的观众，而且还都彬彬有礼。

Thank you very much for having me here.

非常感谢你们今天在这里聆听我的演讲。

(Applause)

（掌声）