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为什么塑料污染比你想象的更严重?(下)

来源:可可英语 编辑:Magi   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

Cancer Alley is the product of the environmental racism that pervades the U.S and the world.

癌症带是弥漫于美国和世界的环境种族主义的产物。

I have a hundred people in the meeting. Has anybody in the room had anybody in the house died cancer? Everybody stands up.

我找了一百个当地人开会。房间里有没有人的家人死于癌症?每个人都站起来了。

When the factories surrounding these communities break up natural gas and crude oil into usable compounds for plastics, rubber, or fertilizer they also release tons and tons of highly toxic carcinogenic compounds into the air.

当这些社区周围的工厂将天然气和原油分解成可用于生产塑料、橡胶或化肥的化合物时,它们也成吨成吨地将高毒性致癌化合物释放到空气中。

As a result, the EPA told one town in Cancer Alley, St. Johns Parish, that they faced the highest risk of cancer in the country.

结果,环保局表示癌症谷里的一个小镇,圣约翰教区,面临着全国最高的癌症几率。

But even if they somehow escape the grips of cancer residents like Marilyn Francois can barely breath taking out the trash.

但是,即使他们成功地以某种方式逃脱了癌症的魔爪,像玛丽莲·弗朗索瓦这样的居民在倒垃圾时也感到几乎无法呼吸。

By the time I left from the trash can back in the house, I was breathing hard. And I knew it was something that was in that air.

当我从垃圾桶回到房子里时,我已经呼吸困难。我知道那是空气中的东西造成的。

But the creation of plastics is not just a local problem, it's a global one too.

但是,塑料的产生不仅仅是局部地区的问题,还是一个全球问题。

A comprehensive report on plastic creation worldwide reveals that if the industry continues with a business as usual approach, by 2050 plastics will create 56 billion metric tons of greenhouse emissions, which is 10 to 13 percent of the entire remaining carbon budget.

一份关于全球塑料生产的综合报告显示,如果该行业继续照常运作,到2050年时,塑料将排放560亿公吨温室气体,占整个剩余碳预算的10%-13%。

The report goes on to say that the plastic and petrochemical industry's current plans to expand plastic production threaten to exacerbate plastics climate impacts and could make limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius impossible.

该报告接着指出,塑料和石化行业目前扩大塑料生产的计划有可能加剧塑料对气候的影响,并可能使全球温度上升限制在1.5摄氏度以内的目标沦为空谈。

All told, Carbon Tracker estimates that for every metric ton of plastic created, $1000 in externalities like health and environmental destruction are also created.

总而言之,Carbon Tracker估计,每生产一公吨的塑料,就会产生价值1000美元的外部环境影响,如破坏人类健康和环境。

Essentially, even before plastics reach our shelves and get thrown into our seas, its impacts are massive and fossil fuel companies are to blame.

从本质上讲,在塑料到达我们的货架和排放入海洋之前,就已经造成了巨大的影响,化石燃料公司应对此负责。

Right about now, you might be thinking, well, I guess that means that I should recycle more, right?

现在,你可能会想,好吧,我想这意味着我应该更多地回收利用。

Here's the thing, that is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants you to do.

但问题是,这正是化石燃料行业希望你做的。

In fact for well over forty years the plastic and fossil fuel industries have poured millions of dollars into marketing campaigns shifting the blame away from industry and onto the consumer.

事实上,四十多年来,塑料和化石燃料行业在营销活动中投入了数百万美元,将道德责任从工业转移到消费者身上。

People start pollution. People can stop it. And now, I'm what I've always wanted to be.

人们开始污染。人们可以阻止它。现在,我已经成为我一直想成为的人。

Remember, a lot of the plastic packaging that you have in your kitchen is recyclable.

记住,你厨房里的很多塑料包装都是可以回收的。

The reality is that only 9% of plastic actually gets recycled.

现实情况是,只有9%的塑料真正被回收。

That's because the majority of the plastic we use, while theoretically recyclable in the lab, is just too costly to recycle in practice.

这是因为我们使用的大多数塑料,虽然理论上可以在实验室里回收,但是实际上回收的成本太高。

That's right. The majority of plastics we're throwing in our recycling bins end up in the landfill.

没错,你扔进回收箱的大部分塑料最终都被填埋了。

And if you think this isn't the fault of the plastics industry, you might be surprised to find that those little triangles on the back of your container are not a sign of their recyclability, they are instead a system that helps identify what kind of plastic the container is made out of.

如果你认为这不是塑料行业的错,你可能会惊讶地发现,你的容器背面的那些小三角形并不是其可回收性的标志,相反,它们是一个帮助识别容器所使用塑料类别的系统。

In fact, the plastics industry used this similar triangle logo to trick customers into thinking their plastic was recyclable.

事实上,塑料行业使用这种类似的三角形标志来欺骗消费者,使他们认为他们使用的塑料是可回收的。

That code was a numbering system put inside the well-known symbol for recycling.

这个代码是放在众所周知的回收标志里面的一个编号。

The problem, recyclers said, is that it left the impression that all those kinds of plastics were actually being recycled.

回收人员说,问题是它给人留下的印象是,所有这些种类的塑料都被回收了。

As a result, recycling plants are inundated with non-recyclable plastics, while consumers continue to buy and recycle thinking they've avoided plastic's impact.

结果,回收厂被不可回收的塑料淹没,而消费者继续购买和回收,误以为自己已经减少了塑料的影响。

In short, by placing the emphasis on recycling, which happens after the plastic has been made and the profits pocketed, the fossil fuel and plastic industries could get people to buy more by assuaging consumer guilt about pollution.

简而言之,通过把重点放在回收上,这发生在塑料生产和利润落袋之后,化石燃料和塑料行业可以通过减轻消费者对污染的内疚感来让刺激人们购买更多。

Or, as the head of the Society of the Plastics Industry puts it, "If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they're not going to be as concerned about the environment.

或者,正如塑料工业协会的负责人所说:"如果公众认为回收是有效的,那么他们就不会像以前那样关注环境了。

There is some hope though.

不过也有一些希望。

Carbon Tracker predicts that demand for plastic won't match up to what fossil fuel companies predict, and reveals that the plastics industry is ripe for regulation that can squeeze fossil fuel industries even more.

Carbon Tracker预测,对塑料的需求与化石燃料公司的预测不一致,并揭示了塑料行业的监管已经成熟,可以对化石燃料行业施加更多的压力。

But, the key thing here is that that won't happen unless we mobilize.

但是,关键是,除非我们动员起来,否则这不会发生。

And no, I'm not talking about straw bans, I made a whole video about why they're ineffective and ableist.

不,我不是在谈论秸秆禁令,我做了一整个视频,说明它们无效且对污染无能为力的原因。

What needs to happen is a re-envisioning of how our packaging and production systems work.

我们需要重新认识我们包装和生产系统的运作方式。

As individuals, especially in countries like the United States, especially for the elite who generate disproportionate amounts of waste and emissions, it is important to think hard about our relationship to consumption.

作为个人,特别是生活在美国这样的国家的人,尤其是对那些产生大量垃圾和排放大量温室气体的精英阶层来说,认真思考我们与消费的关系至关重要。

But of course reducing consumption, plastic or otherwise, is a difficult prospect in a world that has plastic wrapped everything.

当然,在一个什么都用塑料包装的世界里,减少消费,不管是塑料还是其他,前景都困难重重。

Nowadays you can't even buy lettuce without buying plastic, which means that the path towards de-centering plastic has to focus on changes along systemic lines.

如今,甚至买生菜都不得不购买塑料包装,这意味着塑料去中心化的道路必须聚焦于改变整个系统。

Corporations need to cease these destructive practices and people and governments have the power to force them to do that.

企业需要停止这些破坏环境的做法,人民和政府有权迫使他们这样做。

On the policy level this means not subsidizing new plastic plants and requiring companies to pay for or internalize the environmental and social costs of plastics, including the costs that have already been incurred by people in areas like Cancer Valley.

在政策层面上,这意味着不补贴新的塑料厂,并要求公司赔偿塑料的环境和社会成本或者将影响内部化,包括像癌症谷这样的地区的人们已经承担的成本。

But until the fossil fuel industry is forced to reckon with the immense harm it's caused, it will continue to hold onto plastic for dear life.

但是,在化石燃料行业被迫处理其造成的巨大影响之前,它仍然会紧抱塑料不放手。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
predict [pri'dikt]

想一想再看

v. 预知,预言,预报,预测

联想记忆
elite [ei'li:t]

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n. 精华,精锐,中坚份子

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impossible [im'pɔsəbl]

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adj. 不可能的,做不到的
adj.

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costly ['kɔstli]

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adj. 昂贵的,代价高的

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immense [i'mens]

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adj. 巨大的,广大的,非常好的

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massive ['mæsiv]

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adj. 巨大的,大规模的,大量的,大范围的

 
fertilizer ['fə:tilaizə]

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n. 肥料

 
expand [iks'pænd]

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v. 增加,详述,扩展,使 ... 膨胀,
v

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shifting [ʃiftiŋ]

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n. 转移 adj. 不断改换的 动词shift的现在分

 
regulation [.regju'leiʃən]

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n. 规则,规章,管理
adj. 规定的,官方

 

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