The 55 Gigaton Challenge | TED Countdown

Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer:

譯者: 芄妤 陳 審譯者: Helen Chang

The air we breathe has changed.

我們所呼吸的空氣已經改變了。

The mix of gases is shifting,

大氣組成成分正在改變，

with more and more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

大氣中有越來越多的溫室氣體， 例如二氧化碳。

And this shift is happening faster each year.

而每年大氣轉變的速度也更加快速。

In fact, concentrations of CO2 have reached levels

事實上，目前二氧化碳的濃度已高過

never before breathed by humans,

人類自智人進化的過去 以來所吸入的濃度。

since Homo sapiens evolved.

In just a few hundred years,

在短短數百年內，

eons of fossilized sunshine have been burned as coal, oil and gas.

萬年累積而成的化石已被人類 作為燃料照亮地球，

例如煤炭、汽油及天然氣。

The exhaust has transformed the entire atmosphere and ocean.

燃燒化石燃料所排出的廢氣 已改變了全球的大氣以及海洋。

It’s like a pollution blanket,

污染就像一條毯子包覆著地球，

and the result we know as climate change.

我們都知道的後果就是氣候變遷。

So how much more of that fossilized sunshine can we burn

那麼在地球系統更惡化以前，

before further destabilizing the Earth’s systems?

還有多少化石燃料能供我們使用呢？

Not much.

很少。

Think of it as a carbon budget.

將化石燃料想像成一種碳預算。

We are currently adding 55 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases

這幾年來，我們每年都往大氣層裡 添加了550億噸的溫室氣體。

to the atmosphere every year.

This is the Gigaton Challenge.

這正是十億噸減排挑戰。

By some estimates, at that pace,

根據根據，若以這種速度，

we will have burned through the remaining budget by 2030.

我們將在2030年耗盡 所有的碳預算。

So to give us some room to breathe,

為了讓我們能繼續呼吸，

the world must reduce greenhouse gas pollution

全球必須降低溫室氣體污染，

by more than seven percent each year,

每年至少降低7%的溫室氣體，

every year of this decade ...

從現在開始的十年間.....

starting now.

每年都要達標。

There are a number of ways to do that.

有很多方法能達成這項挑戰。

Let’s start by looking at the greenhouse gases themselves.

讓我們先從溫室氣體本身開始著手。

CO2 makes up nearly 75 percent of the pollution emitted each year.

二氧化碳佔每年排放污染的75%。

There’s also nitrous oxide,

溫室氣體也包含了一氧化二氮，

known as laughing gas,

又稱為笑氣。

but it's no laughing matter,

然而笑氣一點也不有趣，

seeping out of farm fields and elsewhere

它來自農場和其他地方，

and making up six percent of the problem.

佔污染問題的6%。

And then there’s methane,

此外還有甲烷，

which you may also know of as natural gas.

又稱為天然氣。

It’s 17 percent of the total.

佔了總體的17％。

There are other greenhouse gases,

還有其它的溫室氣體，

but these three make up the bulk of the climate challenge.

然而以上三種是造成 氣候問題的主要原因。

All must be reduced --

我們必須降低這些氣體——

and fast.

而且動作要快。

Methane is better at trapping the Sun’s heat,

甲烷善於保存陽光的熱能，

which means cutting methane pollution is a necessary and fast-acting stimulus

這代表降低甲烷含量是保留碳預算

必要且最快速的方式。

for our carbon budget.

If methane emissions from agriculture

若能減低來自農業、

and the oil and gas industry can be eliminated

石油及天然氣產業的甲烷排放，

in this decade,

在這十年內，

we might be able to stave off catastrophes

我們也許能延緩大型災難，

like the loss of the Arctic sea ice and glaciers all around the world.

例如北極海冰層融化， 以及全世界的冰川融解。

CO2 has a longer life.

二氧化碳則存留較久。

Once it is added to the atmosphere,

一旦二氧化碳進入大氣層，

it can stay up there for hundreds of years,

它能留存上百年，

if not longer.

甚至更久。

CO2 emissions must be cut in half by 2030,

在2030年必須將 二氧化碳排量減半，

and then reduced even further by 2040,

在2040進一步降低排量，

to put the world on a path

讓世界邁向正軌，

of adding no CO2 to the air by 2050.

在2050年達到二氧化碳零排放。

And that means transforming the modern world as quickly as possible.

這代表我們必須盡快轉變現代世界。

There are several ways to break down the sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

有許多方式能根絕溫室氣體的來源。

Here we’re using the public Climate Watch data.

以下我們使用了ClimateWatch 所提供的公開資料。

Start with energy.

首先是能源。

The majority of modern energy comes from fossil fuels,

現代能源主要來自化石燃料，

which makes the energy sector 76 percent of the climate challenge,

使能源問題佔了 氣候變遷因素的76%，

including the fuels used for transportation,

其中包括了運輸過程，

industrial processes

工業加工、

and agricultural production.

還有農業產品。

The shift to clean energy must be accelerated

我們得以十倍的速度 加快轉換成乾淨能源的進程。

by an order of magnitude

if we want any chance to restrain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

若我們希望有機會能 將全球暖化控制在攝氏1.5度內。

And we’ll need more ways to store this clean electricity,

我們也需要更多存放乾淨電力的方式，

whether that’s putting it in the chemical bonds of a battery

無論是儲存在電池的化學鍵中，

or into a molecule of hydrogen.

或是氫分子內。

Batteries and clean hydrogen are also going to play a key role

電池與清潔氫能也將在 交通運輸中扮演關鍵角色，

in cleaning up transportation,

which accounts for 17 percent of climate-changing pollution,

交通運輸造成了17%的 氣候變遷污染，

including the use of energy to move people and goods around:

其能源使用方面包括 人類交通及貨物運送：

eight percent from cars;

其中8%來自汽車排放，

five percent from trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles;

5%來自貨車或其他重型車，

and four percent from shipping and aviation.

船運及航空業佔據剩下的4%。

With abundant clean electricity,

有了足夠的乾淨能源，

the world can win the race to electrify cars

人類能以電動汽車贏得這場挑戰，

and create cleaner alternative fuels for trucks,

並為貨車創造出更乾淨的替代燃料，

ships,

還有船，

and even one day, airplanes.

甚至在未來某天，飛機也能使用。

Then there are our lifestyles

接著談到我們的生活模式，

and the materials that make them possible.

以及打造這一切的東西。

That’s everything from the cement and steel that go into buildings

也就是所有東西， 從建造建築物的水泥及鋼鐵

to the plastic fibers in fashion.

到流行服飾中的塑膠纖維。

All told, these materials account for six percent of our emissions --

這些原料總共佔了我們 溫室氣體排放的6%——

on top of the energy emissions required to produce them.

再加上製造這些產品所需的能源排放。

And we’ll need new and clean ways to make them or replace them.

而我們將需要新的 且無污染的方式製造或取代這些產品。

Farming and animal raising also have to change

農業與畜牧業也需要改變，

as agriculture accounts for 12 percent of greenhouse gas pollution.

因為農業佔了12%的溫室體排放。

That means everything from how and what people eat

這些包含了人類的飲食方式及內容，

to how and what cows, chickens and pigs eat.

以及牛、雞跟豬的食物。

It also means finding ways for farm fields to go from sources of greenhouse gas

也代表了農業用地需要尋求新方式，

從溫室氣體的來源

to places where greenhouse gases get buried.

變成掩埋溫室氣體的地方。

Agriculture is also the biggest direct impact people have

農業也是人類對植物、動物、微生物

on the plants, animals, microbes and fungi that share this planet with us.

和真菌所共享的這個星球中 所帶來最大也最直接的影響。

To truly solve the climate challenge,

要真正解決氣候變遷，

the wild world will have to be protected and restored

我們必須保護與復育野生區域，

to allow all of life’s myriad forms to flourish.

讓無數生命體蓬勃發展。

A halt in cutting down forests,

停止砍伐森林，

burning peatlands

停止焚燒泥碳地，

and converting coastal wetlands

並歸還沿海土地，

could prevent the release

每年就能減少釋放

of nearly five billion metric tons of greenhouse gases each year.

將近50億公噸的溫室氣體。

Restoring nearly 200 million hectares of degraded forestland,

恢復將近2億公頃的退化林地，

peatland and wetlands

泥炭地及濕地，

could also absorb almost another four billion metric tons.

這些地區也將另外吸收 40億公噸的溫室氣體。

Perhaps even more importantly,

也許更重要的是，

the ocean has vast potential to help reduce greenhouse gases ...

海洋也將具有幫助我們 降低溫室氣體的巨大潛力......

if we protect it.

如果我們好好保護它的話。

Finally, there are technologies being developed

最後，還有正在發展的科技，

to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere

用來提取大氣中的二氧化碳，

because we have already emitted too much.

因為我們已經排放太多二氧化碳。

But very few of these machine forests have been deployed

但這些機械森林數量不多，

and they are too expensive to scale up faster right now.

而且現在要擴大規模所費不貲。

This is the climate challenge we face:

這是我們要面臨的氣候挑戰：

going from adding 55 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases to the air each year,

從每年排放550億噸溫室氣體，

to adding zero by 2050,

最後在2050年實現零排放，

at the latest.

The countdown begins now.

現在正式開始倒數計時。

(Music)

（音樂）

[Countdown]

［倒數計時］