A burial practice that nourishes the planet | Caitlin Doughty

翻译人员: xinyu liu 校对人员: Junyi Sha

When I die,

当我死去时，

I would like for my body to be laid out to be eaten by animals.

我希望我的尸体能在荒野中 被动物果腹。

Having your body laid out to be eaten by animals is not for everyone.

不过我知道这不是人人皆能承受的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Maybe you have already had the end-of-life talk with your family

也许你已经与你的家人 交代过后事

and decided on, I don't know, cremation.

并选择了，我不知道，火葬。

And in the interest of full disclosure,

说实在话，

what I am proposing for my dead body is not strictly legal at the moment,

我准备处理尸体的方案 暂时还不算完全合法

but it's not without precedent.

不过这种方法并不算原创。

We've been laying out our dead for all of human history;

我们在整个人类历史中 一直都是如此处理我们的尸体的

it's call exposure burial.

学名天葬。

In fact, it's likely happening right now as we speak.

事实上，天葬正在此时此刻发生着

In the mountainous regions of Tibet,

在西藏的高原，

they practice "sky burial,"

人们举行天葬，

a ritual where the body is left to be consumed by vultures.

一种把尸体供给秃鹰吞食的葬礼。

In Mumbai, in India, those who follow the Parsi religion

在印度孟买，

拜火教徒将他们的尸体存入 “寂静之塔”

put their dead in structures called "Towers of Silence."

These are interesting cultural tidbits,

这些都是有意思的文化趣闻，

but they just haven't really been that popular in the Western world --

可它们在西方世界 却并不怎么受欢迎 --

they're not what you'd expect.

它们并不在大众的预期内。

In America, our death traditions have come to be chemical embalming,

在美国，我们的死亡传统 已成为了化学防腐，

followed by burial at your local cemetery,

接着在地方墓园下葬，

or, more recently, cremation.

或是最近流行的火葬。

I myself, am a recent vegetarian,

我自己，最近开始成为了素食主义者，

which means I spent the first 30 years or so of my life

换句话说我花了 接近30年的人生

frantically inhaling animals --

疯狂地食用动物－

as many as I could get my hands on.

不放过任何我能获取到的。

Why, when I die, should they not have their turn with me?

我死后为何不能轮到它们来吃我呢？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Am I not an animal?

我不是动物么？

Biologically speaking, are we not all, in this room, animals?

从生物角度来讲， 在座的每一位不应该都是动物么？

Accepting the fact that we are animals

接受我们是动物的事实

has some potentially terrifying consequences.

可能会造成可怕的后果。

It means accepting that we are doomed to decay and die,

它意味着接受我们无法逃避生老病死，

just like any other creature on earth.

如世上其他所有生物一般。

For the last nine years, I've worked in the funeral industry,

在过去的九年时间里， 我一直在从事殡葬行业，

first as a crematory operator,

从火葬场营运员

then as a mortician

到丧事承办人

and most recently, as the owner of my own funeral home.

再到最近拥有我自己的殡仪馆。

And I have some good news:

我有一些好消息：

if you're looking to avoid the whole "doomed to decay and die" thing:

如果你想逃避“死亡并腐烂”这种结局

you will have all the help in the world in that avoidance

殡葬产业能为你的逃避

from the funeral industry.

提供一切帮助。

It's a multi-billion-dollar industry,

这是一个几十亿的产业，

and its economic model is based on the principle

它的经济模式是建立在

of protection, sanitation and beautification of the corpse.

对尸体的保护，整洁与美化的准则之上。

Whether they mean to or not,

不管这是不是故意为之的，

the funeral industry promotes this idea of human exceptionalism.

殡葬业将人类例外主义发扬光大。

It doesn't matter what it takes,

不管付出任何代价，

how much it costs,

付出多少金钱，

how bad it is for the environment,

承受多少环境的破坏，

we're going to do it because humans are worth it!

我们都将要这样做，因为我们是人类 这是应得的待遇。

It ignores the fact

此类想法忽略了

that death can be an emotionally messy and complex affair,

死亡是一件让人情绪混乱的复杂事物 这一基本事实

and that there is beauty in decay --

忽略了腐朽之美 --

beauty in the natural return to the earth from whence we came.

生灵自然回归大地之美 回到我们来的地方。

Now, I don't want you to get me wrong --

别误会我 --

I absolutely understand the importance of ritual,

我完全理解仪式的重要性，

especially when it comes to the people that we love.

特别是为了我们所爱之人。

But we have to be able to create and practice this ritual

可我们应当在不对环境造成 伤害的基础上

without harming the environment,

创造并延续这类仪式。

which is why we need new options.

这便是为何我们需要新的选择。

So let's return to the idea of protection, sanitation and beautification.

让我们回到保护，整洁与 美化的概念。

We'll start with a dead body.

我们从尸体开始。

The funeral industry will protect your dead body

殡葬业通过

向你的家人兜售一个 带有密封橡胶的硬木

by offering to sell your family a casket made of hardwood or metal

with a rubber sealant.

或者金属棺材来保护你的尸体。

At the cemetery, on the day of burial, that casket will be lowered

下葬那天那个棺材将会被放置到

into a large concrete or metal vault.

一个巨大的混凝土或是金属的墓室里。

We're wasting all of these resources -- concretes, metal, hardwoods --

我们浪费了所有这些资源： 混凝土，金属，硬木，

hiding them in vast underground fortresses.

把它们藏到一个宽阔的地下墓穴里。

When you choose burial at the cemetery,

当你选择在墓地土葬的时候，

your dead body is not coming anywhere near the dirt that surrounds it.

你的尸体不会接近 它周围的任何脏的东西

Food for worms

虫子的食物？

you are not.

你不是。

Next, the industry will sanitize your body through embalming:

接下来，这个产业将会 对你的尸体进行防腐处理

the chemical preservation of the dead.

化学保存尸体。

This procedure drains your blood

这个过程会排干你的血液

and replaces it with a toxic, cancer-causing formaldehyde.

并且用有毒的， 致癌的甲醛来替代它。

They say they do this for the public health

他们说他们做这所有的一切 是为了公众的健康

because the dead body can be dangerous,

因为死尸很危险。

but the doctors in this room will tell you

但是这个屋子里的医生会告诉你

that that claim would only apply

那个说法只适用于

if the person had died of some wildly infectious disease, like Ebola.

人死于一些传染性的疾病， 例如埃博拉病毒。

Even human decomposition, which, let's be honest,

甚至腐烂的尸体，让我们诚实地说

is a little stinky and unpleasant,

会有一点发臭和不美妙，

is perfectly safe.

但是是绝对安全的。

The bacteria that causes disease is not the same bacteria

那些致病的细菌并非这些

that causes decomposition.

腐败细菌。

Finally, the industry will beautify the corpse.

最后，这个产业将会对尸体进行美化。

They'll tell you that the natural dead body of your mother or father

他们会告诉你你母亲 或者父亲尸体的自然状态

is not good enough as it is.

是不足够好的。

They'll put it in makeup.

他们会对尸体进行化妆。

They'll put it in a suit.

他们会给尸体穿上套装。

They'll inject dyes so the person looks a little more alive --

他们会注射染料 好让尸体看起来有一点生气--

just resting.

好像只是在休息一样。

Embalming is a cheat code,

防腐是一个带有欺骗性的名词，

providing the illusion that death and then decay are not the natural end

提供了一种对死亡的错觉 就好像对这个星球上所有

原生的生命来说 腐败并不是自然的结局一样。

for all organic life on this planet.

Now, if this system of beautification, sanitation, protection

现在，如果这套美化，规划和保护

doesn't appeal to you,

没有打动你，

you are not alone.

你不是唯一一个。

There is a whole wave of people --

有一大波人，

funeral directors, designers, environmentalists --

葬礼的指导和设计者，环保主义者

trying to come up with a more eco-friendly way of death.

试着找出对一个对生态环境 更加友好的处理尸体的方式。

For these people, death is not necessarily

对这些人来说，死亡并不需要

a pristine, makeup, powder-blue tuxedo kind of affair.

传统的化妆，浅灰蓝色燕无尾 等等这些琐事来装点。

There's no question

毫无疑问

that our current methods of death are not particularly sustainable,

我们当前处理死亡的方式 是无法长久持续的

what with the waste of resources and our reliance on chemicals.

尤其是在对资源的浪费 和对于化学品的依赖方面

Even cremation,

甚至火葬，

which is usually considered the environmentally friendly option,

通常被认为是一种环保的选择，

uses, per cremation,

每一次火葬都会消耗掉

the natural gas equivalent of a 500-mile car trip.

可以驾车旅行500英里的 等量天然气。

So where do we go from here?

未来我们将何去何从呢？

Last summer, I was in the mountains of North Carolina,

去年夏天，我在北卡罗莱纳州的 一座山上

hauling buckets of wood chips in the summer sun.

在烈日下搬运成桶的碎木。

I was at Western Carolina University at their "Body Farm,"

我在西卡罗莱纳州大学的 “尸体农场”，

more accurately called a "human decomposition facility."

更准确的叫法是“人体腐败设施”上。

Bodies donated to science are brought here,

把捐献给科学的尸体被运到这里，

and their decay is studied to benefit the future of forensics.

对他们尸体的腐烂研究 会助益未来的法医学

On this particular day,

在这个特殊的日子里，

there were 12 bodies laid out in various stages of decomposition.

有12个腐烂程度不同的尸体陈列在一起

Some were skeletonized,

有一些瘦骨嶙峋，

one was wearing purple pajamas,

有一个穿着紫色的睡衣，

one still had blonde facial hair visible.

有一个还保留着金色的胡子，

The forensic aspect is really fascinating,

法医科学的研究很吸引人

but not actually why I was there.

但这其实并不是我在那里的理由。

I was there because a colleague of mine named Katrina Spade

我之所以在那里是因为 我的一个叫Katrina Spade的同事

is attempting to create a system, not of cremating the dead,

正在尝试创建一个系统， 不去火葬这些尸体，

but composting the dead.

而是让他们自然分解成土壤。

She calls the system "Recomposition,"

她命名这个系统为“重构”，

and we've been doing it with cattle and other livestock for years.

我们已经在牛和其他 家畜身上试验了几年了

She imagines a facility

她假想了一个系统，

where the family could come and lay their dead loved one

家人可以把他们死去的亲人

in a nutrient-rich mixture that would, in four-to-six weeks,

放置在一个富营养混合物里，

4到6周后

reduce the body -- bones and all -- to soil.

尸体，骨头和所有的一切 就会被分解成土壤

In those four-to-six weeks,

在这4到6周的时间里，

your molecules become other molecules;

你的分子变成了其他的分子，

you literally transform.

你从某种意义上说转化了。

How would this fit in with the very recent desire

这多么符合最近很多人

a lot of people seem to have

希望被埋在树下的要求

to be buried under a tree,

or to become a tree when they die?

或者当他们死后变成一个棵树？

In a traditional cremation, the ashes that are left over --

在传统的火葬中， 那些被留下的灰烬——

inorganic bone fragments --

无机的骨灰——

form a thick, chalky layer

形成一个厚厚的白垩层，

that, unless distributed in the soil just right,

如果没有被合理的处理 而是直接植入土壤里

can actually hurt or kill the tree.

其实会伤害或者杀死树木。

But if you're recomposed, if you actually become the soil,

但是如果你被重构， 如果你真正的变成土壤，

you can nourish the tree,

你就可以滋养这棵树，

and become the post-mortem contributor you've always wanted to be --

变成你一直想变成的死后贡献者——

that you deserve to be.

你值得成为这样的人。

So that's one option for the future of cremation.

这对火葬的未来是一个机会。

But what about the future of cemeteries?

但是土葬的未来会怎样呢？

There are a lot of people who think we shouldn't even have cemeteries anymore

有很多人认为我们不应该再 执行土葬了，

because we're running out of land.

因为我们的土地已经快耗尽了。

But what if we reframed it,

但是如果我们可以重新改造它呢，

and the corpse wasn't the land's enemy,

尸体并不是土地的敌人，

but its potential savior?

而是它的潜在拯救者。

I'm talking about conservation burial,

我在讨论保护性埋葬，

where large swaths of land are purchased by a land trust.

一大块细长的 通过土地信托购买的土地

The beauty of this is that once you plant a few dead bodies in that land,

美妙的地方在于一旦你种了 一些死尸在那块地里

it can't be touched, it can't be developed on --

它不会被触碰，也不会被开发，

hence the term, "conservation burial."

因此叫做：“保护性埋葬”。

It's the equivalent of chaining yourself to a tree post-mortem --

它跟死后把你和一棵树 联系到一起是一样的

"Hell no, I won't go!

“不，我不会去”。

No, really -- I can't. I'm decomposing under here."

“是的，我不能。 我正在这下面分解。“

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Any money that the family gives to the cemetery

家属给这个墓地的所有钱

would go back into protecting and managing the land.

将会被回馈到 保护和管理这块土地上。

There are no headstones and no graves in the typical sense.

这里不会有传统墓地里 会有的墓碑和坟墓

The graves are scattered about the property

在这优雅的土丘下

under elegant mounds,

墓地的所有权是散乱的，

marked only by a rock or a small metal disk,

只用一块石头或者小金属牌标记，

or sometimes only locatable by GPS.

或者有时候仅仅是gps定位。

There's no embalming,

这里将不会有防腐，

no heavy, metal caskets.

没有沉重的金属棺材。

My funeral home sells a few caskets

我的殡仪馆会贩卖很多

made out of things like woven willow and bamboo,

柳木编织的和竹子制成的棺材，

but honestly, most of our families just choose a simple shroud.

但是诚实地说，我们大多数的家庭 只会选择简单的覆盖物。

There are none of the big vaults that most cemeteries require

这里不存在大多数土葬要求的 大型墓室

just because it makes it easier for them to landscape.

因为要让这个地方更易变得像一个风景区。

Families can come here; they can luxuriate in nature;

家人会来这里，他们沉浸在大自然里；

they can even plant a tree or a shrub,

他们甚至可以种一棵树 或者一株灌木，

though only native plants to the area are allowed.

不过只有当地的植物 才会被允许种植。

The dead then blend seamlessly in with the landscape.

这些死者就这样 完全融入到了这片风景中

There's hope in conservation cemeteries.

这是保护性墓地的希望。

They offer dedicated green space in both urban and rural areas.

他们提供专门的城市和农村的绿地。

They offer a chance to reintroduce native plants and animals to a region.

他们提供了一个机会为这些地区 再次引入当地的动植物。

They offer public trails,

他们提供了公共途径，

places for spiritual practice,

提供了可以进行精神升华的地方，

places for classes and events --

提供了可以进行课程和活动的地方，

places where nature and mourning meet.

提供了可以让大自然 和寄托哀思相结合的地方.

Most importantly, they offer us, once again,

更重要的是， 他们再一次提供给我们，

a chance to just decompose in a hole in the ground.

一个去在地上的洞里腐烂的机会。

The soil,

土壤，

let me tell you,

让我告诉你们，

has missed us.

已经开始思念我们了。

I think for a lot of people,

我想对大多数人来说，

they're starting to get the sense

他们已经产生了一种， 当前的殡葬产业

that our current funeral industry isn't really working for them.

并不是真正的为他们服务的意识。

For many of us,

对我们许多人来说，

being sanitized and beautified just doesn't reflect us.

被消毒和美化并不能反映我们自己。

It doesn't reflect what we stood for during our lives.

它并不能反映我们完整的一生。

Will changing the way we bury our dead solve climate change?

改变我们尸体的下葬方式 会解决气候变化吗？

No.

不。

But it will make bold moves

但是它会引发关于我们 作为这个行球上的公民

in how we see ourselves as citizens of this planet.

应该怎样看待我们自己的 大胆讨论。

If we can die in a way that is more humble and self-aware,

如果我们能以一种更简约 和自己想要的方法死去

I believe that we stand a chance.

我相信我们拥有机会。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

(掌声)