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We all know trees are beneficial to people and the planet.
我们都知道树木对人类和地球有益。
The forest is the lung of the...of our planet.
森林是地球的肺。
One of their many benefits: trees absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide, releasing fresh oxygen as a result.
树木的众多益处之一是吸收温室气体二氧化碳，并释放出新鲜的氧气。
Now a project from the European Space Agency aims to find out just how much CO2 our forests store and in turn measure how much deforestation is affecting us.
目前，欧洲航天局的一个项目旨在查明森林储存了多少二氧化碳，进而衡量森林砍伐对我们的影响有多大。
The forests are around us, right? We need this data.
我们被树林环绕，对吧？所以我们需要这方面的数据。
But how can one team possibly gather data from the huge forests across Africa, Asia, and South America?
但一个团队怎么能收集到非洲、亚洲、南美洲的广袤森林的数据呢？
From outer space, of course.
当然是从外太空收集。
When you fly with an optical instrument over the forest, you only see the leaves.
当你带着光学仪器飞越森林时，你只能看到树叶。
What we are interested in is how much wood you can also see, how much carbon is stored there, and that is not an easy thing to do.
我们感兴趣的是你还能看到有多少树木，有多少碳储存在森林里，而这并非易事。
ESA plans to launch a biomass space probe this month, carrying a radar scanner that can penetrate forest canopies.
欧洲航天局计划本月发射一颗生物量空间探测器，搭载可穿透森林冠层的雷达扫描仪。
For several years it aims to collect data on carbon dioxide levels in remote forests.
多年来，该项目旨在收集偏远森林中二氧化碳水平的数据。
This will help assess how much of that carbon then gets emptied back into our atmosphere when forests are degraded.
这将有助于评估当森林退化时，有多少碳被重新释放回大气中。
We'll provide data to combat, to provide information for politicians to take decisions.
我们将提供数据对抗（森林砍伐），为政治家们的决策提供信息依据。
So it's absolutely timely to do it now.
所以现在做这件事绝对正是时候。
With the effort to combat climate change comes the need to understand what changes it.
随着人们对抗气候变化，人们也需要了解什么改变了气候。
And the biomass project aims to help by breathing fresh air into the green lungs of our planet.
而这个生物量项目旨在通过为地球的绿色之肺注入新鲜空气来提供帮助。（注：注入新鲜空气比喻提供新的视角和信息。）
