Good evening, welcome to New Orleans. I don't know if you knew this,
晚上好，欢迎来到新奥尔良。不知道各位是否知道，
but you are sitting within 15 minutes of one of the largest rivers in the world: the Mississippi river.
各位所坐的地方，距离世界上最大河流之一的密西西比河仅15分钟。
Old Man River, Big Muddy. And it goes as far north as the state of Minnesota,
它出现在歌曲《老人河》和电影《大泥沼》中。
as far east as the state of New York, as far west as Montana.
它向北一路通到明尼苏达州，向东到纽约州，向西则到蒙大拿州。
And 100 miles from here, river miles, it empties its fresh water and sediments into the Gulf of Mexico.
距离这里100英里，河流的英里，它把淡水和沉积物带入墨西哥湾。
That's the end of Geography 101.
地理学入门到此为止。
Now we're going to go to what is in that water.
现在，我们要来谈谈水里有什么。
Besides the sediment, there are dissolved molecules, nitrogen and phosphorus.
除了沉积物，还有溶解的分子、氮和磷。
And those, through a biological process, lead to the formation of areas called dead zones.
它们透过生物过程，就会导致所谓“死亡区”的形成。
Now, dead zone is a quite ominous word if you're a fish or a crab.
死亡区是个很不吉利的词，如果你是鱼或螃蟹的话。
Even a little worm in the sediments. Which means that there's not enough oxygen for those animals to survive.
甚至是沉积物中的小虫。这表示，没有足够的氧气供那些动物存活。
So, how does this happen? The nitrogen and the phosphorus stimulate the growth of microscopic plants called phytoplankton.
为什么会发生这种状况？氮和磷刺激名为“浮游植物”的微生植物生长。
And small animals called zooplankton eat the phytoplankton, small fish eat the zooplankton,
名为“浮游动物”的小型动物会去吃浮游植物，小鱼会吃浮游动物，
large fish eat the small fish and it goes on up into the food web.
大鱼会吃小鱼，以此类推到整个食物链。
The problem is that there's just too much nitrogen and phosphorus right now,
问题是，现在有太多的氮和磷了，
too much phytoplankton falling to the bottom and decomposed by bacteria that use up the oxygen. That's the biology.
太多浮游植物落到底部，被细菌分解，把氧气用尽。这就是背后的生物学。
Now, you can't see it from the surface of the water, you can't see it in satellite images, so how do we know it's there?
从水面是看不到死亡区的，从卫星影像也看不到，我们怎么知道它存在？
Well, a trawler can tell you, when she puts her net over the side and drags for 20 minutes and comes up empty,
拖网渔船就能告诉你，如果把它的网放入水中，拖行20分钟，拉起来时还是空的，
that she knows she's in the dead zone. And she has to go somewhere else.
就知道它在死亡区了，就得要去其他地方。
But where else do you go if this area is 8,000 square miles big?
但若死亡区大到8000平方英里，还有哪里能去呢？
About the size of the state of New Jersey.
这面积和新泽西州差不多大。
Well, you either make a decision to go further, without much economic return, or go back to the dock.
你可以决定继续向前进，不会有多少经济报酬，你也可以返回码头。
As a scientist, I have access to high-tech equipment that we can put over the side of the research vessel,
身为科学家，我能取得高科技设备，我们可以把这设备放在研究船外侧，
and it measures oxygen and many more things. We start at the Mississippi River,
它就能测量氧气和许多其他东西。我们从密西西比河开始，
we crisscross the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Texas, and even I sneak into Texas every now and then and test their waters.
我们穿过墨西哥湾，一路到德州，我偶尔会溜进德州去检测他们的水体。
And you can tell by the bottom oxygen -- you can draw a map of everything that's less than two,
从底部的氧气就可以判断--你可以画一张地图，画出所有少于2的东西，
which is the magic number for when the fish start to leave the area. I also dive in this dead zone.
当2这个魔术数字出现时，鱼类就开始离开该区域了。我也会潜入死亡区。
We have oxygen meters that we have to deploy offshore that tell us continuous measurements of low oxygen or high oxygen.
我们有氧气计，需要离岸才能部署，它能持续提供我们低氧或高氧的测量信息。
And when you get into the water, there's a lot of fish.
进入水中时，里面有很多鱼。
Tons of fish, all kinds of fish, including my buddy here, the barracuda that I saw one day.
数不清的鱼，各种鱼，包括我的伙计，有一天我发现的梭鱼。
Everybody else swam this way and I went this way with my camera.
大家都往这个方向游泳，我带着摄影机往这个方向去。
And then, down at 30 feet you start to see fewer fish.
接着，下潜到30英尺，看到的鱼就变少了。
And then you get to the bottom. And you don't see any fish.
接着，就到了底部。这里看不到任何鱼类。
There's no life on the platform, there's no life swimming around. And you know you're in the dead zone.
在平台上没有任何生命，也没有生物在周围游动。你就知道自己身在死亡区了。
So, what's the connection between the middle of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico?
美国中部和墨西哥湾有什么关联？
Well, most of the watershed is farmland. And in particular, corn-soybean rotation.
大部分的流域都是农地。尤其是小麦和黄豆轮作。
The nitrogen that is put in fertilizers and the phosphorus goes on the land
在肥料当中的氮及磷会进入土地中，
and drains off into the Mississippi River and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.
然后流入密西西比河中，最后到达墨西哥湾。
There's three times more nitrogen in the water in the Mississippi now, than there was in the 1950s. Three times.
现在在密西西比河中的氮，是50年代的3倍之多。3倍。
And phosphorus has doubled. And what that means is more phytoplankton and more sinking sails and lower oxygen.
磷则是2倍。那意味着更多浮游植物、更多沉船、更低的含氧量。
This is not a natural feature of the Gulf; it's been caused by human activities.
这并不是海湾的自然特征，而是人类的活动造成的。
The landscape is not what it used to be.
地景和以前不同了。
It used to be prairies and forests and prairie potholes and duck areas and all kinds of stuff. But not anymore -- it's row crops.
以前是大草原、森林、草原壶穴、鸭子聚集处等等种种地景。但不再是了。现在是大片的农田。
And there are ways that we can address this type of agriculture by using less fertilizer, maybe precision fertilizing.
我们可以用许多方式来处理这种类型的农业：可用较少的肥料，也许可以更精准地施肥。
And trying some sustainable agriculture such as perennial wheatgrass,
也可以试一些永续农业，像是种植根较长的多年生小麦草，
which has much longer roots than the six inches of a corn plant,
比玉米植株的6英寸还长，
that can keep the nitrogen on the soil and keep the soil from running off.
能让氮维持在土壤中，且不让土壤流失掉。
And how do we convince our neighbors to the north, maybe 1,000 miles away or more,
我们要如何说服北方的邻居，也许住在1000英里外或更远的邻居，
that their activities are causing problems with water quality in the Gulf of Mexico?
让他们了解，他们的活动会造成墨西哥湾的水质问题呢？

First of all, we can take them to their own backyard.
首先，我们可以带他们到他们的自家后院。
If you want to go swimming in Wisconsin in the summer in your favorite watering hole,
如果夏天你想要在威斯康星州游泳，到你最爱的水坑，
you might find something like this which looks like spilled green paint and smells like it, growing on the surface of the water.
你可能会发现像这样的东西，它看起来像是溢出的绿漆，闻起来也像，在水面上生长。
This is a toxic blue-green algal bloom and it is not good for you.
这是有毒的、生长茂盛的蓝绿藻，对你有害。
Similarly, in Lake Erie, couple of summers ago there was hundreds of miles of this blue-green algae
同样在伊利湖，几个夏天之前，有数百英里的这种蓝绿色海藻，
and the city of Toledo, Ohio, couldn't use it for their drinking water for several days on end.
俄亥俄州的托雷多市连续数日都无法喝这种水。
And if you watch the news, you know that lots of communities are having trouble with drinking water.
如果你看新闻，你就知道有很多小区都遇到了饮用水问题。
I'm a scientist. I don't know if you could tell that.
我是科学家。不知道各位是否看得出来。
And I do solid science, I publish my results, my colleagues read them, I get citations of my work.
我做扎实的科学，出版研究的结果，我的同事会读这些研究，我的研究也会被引用。
But I truly believe that, as a scientist, using mostly federal funds to do the research,
但身为科学家，我真心相信，我主要用联邦资金来做研究，
I owe it to the public, to agency heads and congressional people to share my knowledge with them
我应该向公众、机构负责人和国会议员分享我的知识，
so they can use it, hopefully to make better decisions about our environmental policy. Thank you.
以便他们能用来做更好的决策，关于环境政策的决策。谢谢。
One of the ways that I was able to do this is I brought in the media.
要达成这个目标，我的做法之一就是利用媒体。
And Joby Warrick from the "Washington Post" put this picture in an article on the front page, Sunday morning, two inches above the fold.
华盛顿邮报的乔比·瓦里克在一篇文章中放入这张照片，登在星期日早报的头版，在对折线上方2英寸处。
That's a big deal. And Senator John Breaux, from Louisiana, said,
那是件大事。路易斯安那州的参议员约翰布里克斯说：
"Oh my gosh, that's what they think the Gulf of Mexico looks like?"
“喔，我的天，他们认为墨西哥湾看起来像这个样子？”
And I said, "Well, you know, there's the proof." And we've go to do something about it.
我说：“嗯，有证据可以证明。”对此我们得要做点什么。
At the same time, Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine was having trouble with harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine.
当时缅因州的参议员奥林匹亚·史诺遭遇有害蓝绿藻在缅因湾生长茂盛的问题。
They joined forces -- it was bipartisan... And invited me to give congressional testimony,
他们同心协力--两党都支持，并邀请我去国会作证，
and I said, "Oh, all I've done is chase crabs around south Texas, I don't know how to do that."
我说：“喔，我所做的只是在南德州追着螃蟹跑，我不知道怎么作证。”
But I did it. And eventually, the bill passed. And it was called -- yeah, yay!
但我去了。最终，法案通过了。它叫做--对啊，太棒了！
It was called The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998.
它是“1998年控制和研究有害藻类过度繁殖和低氧”法案。
Thank you. Which is why we call it the Snowe-Breaux Bill.
谢谢。这就是为什么我们称它为史诺-布里克斯法案。
The other thing is that we had a conference in 2001
另一件事是2001年有一场大会，
that was put on by the National Academy of Sciences that looked at fertilizers, nitrogen and poor water quality.
由美国国家科学院举办，探讨肥料、氮和水质恶化。
Our plenary speaker was the former governor of the state of New Jersey.
我们的专题讲者是新泽西州的前任州长。
And she ... There was no thinking she wasn't serious when she peered at the audience, and I thought, "Surely she's looking at me."
她...当她凝视观众的时候，没有人会认为她不是认真的，当时我心想：“当然她正看着我。”
"You know, I'm really tired of this thing being called New Jersey.
“我已经厌倦了这被称为新泽西的。
Pick another state, any state, I just don't want to hear it anymore."
挑别的州吧，任何一州，我只是不想再听到纽泽西了。”
But she was able to move the action plan across President George H.W. Bush's desk
但她有办法把行动计划放在小布什总统的桌上，
so that we had environmental goals and that we were working to solve them.
让我们能够设定环境目标，并努力去解决问题。
The Midwest does not feed the world.
中西部没喂养整个世界的人。
It feeds a lot of chickens, hogs, cattle and it generates ethanol to put into our gasoline,
而是养了许多鸡、猪、牛，也生产混入我们的石油的乙醇，
which is regulated by federal policy. We can do better than this.
那由联邦的政策控管。我们能做得比这更好。
We need to make decisions that make us less consumptive and reduce our reliance on nitrogen. It's like a carbon footprint.
我们得要决策，要减少消耗并减少我们对氮的依赖。就像是碳足迹。
But you can reduce your nitrogen footprint.
你可以减少氮足迹。
I do it by not eating much meat -- I still like a little every now and then
我的做法是少吃肉--我还是喜欢偶尔吃一点，
not using corn oil, driving a car that I can put nonethanol gas in and get better gas mileage.
不用玉米油，选择开不用混乙醇汽油的车，那样还更省油。
Just things like that that can make a difference.
做这些事就能够创造改变。
So I'm challenging, not just you, but I challenge a lot of people, especially in the Midwest
我要挑战，不只向各位挑战，我要挑战很多人，特别是中西部的人，
think about how you're treating your land and how you can make a difference.
想想看你们怎么对待土地，以及你们能创造不同。
So my steps are very small steps. To change the type of agriculture in the US is going to be many big steps.
我跨出的只是小步。要改变美国的农业类型，需要很多的大步。
And it's going to take political and social will for that to happen. But we can do it.
在政治面和社会面也都要配合才能实现。但我们能做到。
I strongly believe we can translate the science, bridge it to policy and make a difference in our environment.
我坚信我们能翻译科学，把它和政策接轨，为我们的环境带来改变。
We all want a clean environment.
我们都想要一个干净的环境。
And we can work together to do this so that we no longer have these dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you.
我们能同心协力做到这一点，这样我们在墨西哥湾就不会再有死亡区了。谢谢。