Dianna Cohen: Tough truths about plastic pollution

譯者: Wang-Ju Tsai 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

I'm a visual artist,

我是視覺藝術家

and I'm also one of the co-founders of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

我同時也是塑膠污染聯盟的發起人之一。

I've been working with plastic bags,

塑膠袋是我主要的創作材料

which I cut up and sew back together as my primary material for my artwork

我把不同的塑膠袋剪開再縫合拼湊起來

for the last 20 years.

已經有20年了。

I turn them into two and three-dimensional pieces

我做出二度和三度象限的作品

and sculptures and installations.

還有塑像和擺置。

Upon working with the plastic, after about the first eight years,

我的有些作品在大約八年後

some of my work started to fissure

開始產生裂縫

and break down into smaller little bits of plastic.

並分解成更小的塑膠塊。

And I thought, "Great.

我那時想，”太好了

It's ephemeral just like us."

跟人一樣，塑膠作品也有生命極限。“

Upon educating myself a little further about plastics,

等我對塑膠的特性更了解了以後

I actually realized this was a bad thing.

我才知道這是一件壞事。

It's a bad thing that plastic breaks down into smaller little bits,

因爲雖然塑膠會裂成小塊

because it's always still plastic.

但那終究還是無法分解的塑膠。

And what we're finding

我們還發現

is that a lot of it is in the marine environment.

有很多的塑膠都流到海裏。

I then, in the last few years,

在接下來的幾年

learned about the Pacific garbage patch and the gyre.

我也知道了北太平洋垃圾環流和垃圾漩渦。

And my initial reaction --

我的第一個反應

and I think this is a lot of people's first reaction

跟很多人聽到這件事的反應

to learning about it --

我想是一樣的

is, "Oh my God!

我想，”天哪，

We've got to go out there and clean this thing up."

我們應該出海去把這些垃圾清乾淨。“

So I actually developed a proposal

所以我真的提了一個計劃

to go out with a cargo ship

跟一艘貨櫃船、

and two decommissioned fishing trawlers,

和兩艘退休的拖網漁船、

a crane, a chipping machine

一座起重機、一座磨碎機、

and a cold-molding machine.

還有一台冷模機出海。

And my intention was to go out to the gyre,

我打算開到垃圾漩渦那裏去

raise awareness about this issue

一面讓人們了解這件事的嚴重性

and begin to pick up the plastic,

也順便把塑膠撈起來

chip it into little bits and cold mold it into bricks

磨碎以後用機器壓成磚塊

that could potentially be used as building materials

以後送給發展中的國家

in underdeveloped communities.

可以來當建材用。

I began talking with people

我開始跟實際去過垃圾漩渦

who actually had been out to the gyre

或研究海洋垃圾問題的人

and were studying the plastic problem in the marine environment

談及這個計劃

and upon doing so,

談過了以後我才知道

I realized actually that cleaning it up

這樣去海上撈起來的塑膠

would be a very small drop in the bucket

跟全世界每天實際上

relative to how much is being generated

產生的塑膠的量比起來

every day around the world,

只是九牛一毛，

and that actually I needed to back up and look at the bigger picture.

我必須退一步把問題看得清楚一些

And the bigger picture is:

真正的解決之道在於：

we need to find a way to turn off the faucet.

我們必須把生産垃圾的源頭關起來。

We need to cut the spigot

我們必須停止

of single-use and disposable plastics,

這種使用一次就丟棄的塑膠產品

which are entering the marine environment every day

這些塑膠每天

on a global scale.

以全球性的規模侵入海裏。

So in looking at that, I also realized that I was really angry.

看到這，我十分的生氣。

I wasn't just concerned about plastic

我擔心的不只是海上漂浮的塑膠

that you're trying to imagine out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean --

你想象的在太平洋的中間的那些

of which I have learned there are now

我現在還知道

11 gyres, potentially, of plastic

有11個塑膠垃圾漩渦

in five major oceans in the world.

遍佈全球五大洋。

It's not just that gyre of plastic that I'm concerned about --

我關心的不只是這些塑膠垃圾的漩渦

it's the gyre of plastic in the supermarket.

還有這些充斥商場的塑膠。

I'd go to the supermarket and all of my food is packaged in plastic.

我要是去超級市場買東西

All of my beverages are packaged in plastic,

吃的喝的所有包裝都是塑膠作的

even at the health food market.

即使在有機商店也是。

I'm also concerned about the plastic in the refrigerator,

我也很關心冰箱裏的塑膠

and I'm concerned about the plastic and the toxins that leach from plastic

還有從塑膠容器滲出的有毒物

into us and into our bodies.

被我們吃下和吸收。

So I came together with a group of other people

所以我跟其它的一些

who were all looking at this issue,

關心研究這個問題的人

and we created the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

一起成立了“塑膠污染聯盟”

We have many initiatives that we're working on,

我們有很多主意正在進行

but some of them are very basic.

其中有一些是挺基本的。

One is: if 80 to 90 percent

其中之一為：

of what we're finding in the ocean --

如果我們在海裡找到的垃圾裏

of the marine debris that we're finding in the ocean -- is plastic,

百分之80到90都是塑膠

then why don't we call it what it is.

那麽乾脆就稱之爲

It's plastic pollution.

塑膠污染（而不是垃圾污染）。

Recycling -- everybody kind of ends their books

還有資源回收，所有提到綠色意識和永續經營的書

about being sustainable and greening with the idea of recycling.

最後都是用“資源回收”的概念來結尾。

You put something in a bin and you don't have to think about it again.

只要把廢棄物放到正確的回收桶裏就好了。

What is the reality of that?

但真的是這樣嗎？

In the United States, less than seven percent of our plastics are recycled.

在美國，塑膠回收的比率不到7%

And if you really look into it,

你要是進一步追蹤

particularly when it comes to plastic bottles,

特別是塑膠瓶

most of it is only down-cycled,

大部分只能降級回收（不能真的回收原料）

or incinerated, or shipped to China.

或是燒掉，或是運到中國去。

It is down-cycled and turned into lesser things,

被降級回收並作成二次產物。

while a glass bottle can be a glass bottle again

玻璃瓶回收處理後

or can be used again --

又可以是玻璃瓶並再次使用，

a plastic bottle can never be a plastic bottle again.

但是塑膠瓶卻不會再被用作塑膠瓶。

So this is a big issue for us.

所以這是嚴重的問題。

Another thing that we're looking at and asking people to think about

我們現在思考的，也要大家去想想的問題

is we've added a fourth R

就是在原本3R(減量、再利用、回收)的前面

onto the front

再加一個R(Refuse拒絕)。

of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle," three R's,

原本的3R：減量(Reduce)、再利用(Reuse)、回收(Recycle)

and that is refuse.

再加上 拒絕(Refuse)。

Whenever possible, refuse single-use and disposable plastics.

可以的話，盡量拒絕用過即丟的塑膠品

Alternatives exist;

替代方案是有的。

some of them are very old-school.

有一些是我們上學時就知道了

I myself am now collecting these cool Pyrex containers

我現在收集一些玻璃容器，

and using those instead of Glad and Tupperware containers

還有盡量不用塑膠的保鮮盒、保鮮袋

to store food in.

來裝食物。

And I know that I am doing a service

我知道這樣做對我

to myself and my family.

和我家人是好事一件。

It's very easy to pick up a stainless-steel bottle

要找到一個不銹鋼瓶、玻璃瓶

or a glass bottle,

也不是難事

if you're traveling and you've forgotten to bring your stainless-steel bottle

你如果要出門

and fill that up with water or filtered water,

記得帶個不銹鋼瓶裝水

versus purchasing plastic bottled water.

而不要在外面賣塑膠瓶裝水。

I guess what I want to say to everybody here --

我想在這裡，對大家說的是

and I know that you guys know a lot about this issue --

我也知道大家對這件事也懂得很多

is that this is a huge problem in the oceans,

那就是，漂浮在海上的塑膠，是個嚴重的問題

but this is a problem that we've created as consumers

然而，這是身爲消費者的我們所製造的

and we can solve.

我們也可以解決這個問題。

We can solve this by raising awareness of the issue

藉著喚起大家的意識

and teaching people to choose alternatives.

和教育大家使用塑膠的替代品來解決問題。

So whenever possible, to choose alternatives

所以，盡量別用用過就丟的塑膠品

to single-use plastics.

使用它的替代品

We can cut the stem -- tide the stem of this

我們可以將塑膠流入海的問題

into our oceans

從根拔起，

and in doing so,

也用這個行動

save our oceans, save our planet, save ourselves.

來救海洋、救地球、救我們自己。

Thank you. (Applause)

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