(单词翻译:单击)
Tesla seems to be dominating the news in the past couple of years.
在过去的几年里，特斯拉似乎一直占据着新闻头条。
It's been built up as the savior of our outdated car industry.
它被塑造成我们过时的汽车业的救星。
Granted, some of the news has been troubling, especially when the lens turns on the company's CEO Elon Musk.
诚然，有些新闻令人担忧，特别是当镜头对准该公司首席执行官埃隆·马斯克的时候。
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the subject of a new controversy.
特斯拉首席执行官埃隆·马斯克成为了新的争议话题。
He called a diver of the Thai Cave Rescue a pedo.
他称泰国洞穴救援队的一名潜水员为恋童癖者。
Smoking what podcast host Joe Rogan said was a marijuana and tobacco joint.
吸食播客主持人乔·罗根所说的大麻和烟草混合物。
Despite all this the electric car company has succeeded in placing battery-operated vehicles on the map not just as an alternative to a conventional car but as a serious competitor.
尽管如此，这家电动汽车公司已经成功地让电池驱动的汽车崭露头角，不仅是作为传统汽车的替代品，而且是一个强大的竞争对手。
Today, I'm going to wade through this Green Revolution hype by looking at the lifecycle of Tesla cars in order to understand whether they are a clean and emissions free solution to personal transportation.
今天，我将通过观察特斯拉汽车的生命周期来探讨这场绿色革命的炒作，以了解它们是否是个人交通工具的清洁和零排放解决方案。
Let's start at the beginning. Manufacturing. All cars require extraction of raw materials for processing and manufacturing.
让我们从头开始吧。制造业。所有的汽车都需要提取加工和制造所需的原材料。
As a result, every conventional and electric car generates an environmental impact before they even hit the road.
因此，每一辆传统和电动汽车甚至在上路之前就已经对环境产生了影响。
According to a two-year study conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists on the lifecycle of electric vehicles, however, this impact is usually 68 percent more emissions heavy for long range of electric cars like Tesla's.
然而，根据忧思科学家联盟对电动汽车生命周期进行的一项为期两年的研究，对于像特斯拉这样的长程电动汽车来说，这种影响通常会增加68%的排放。
In part, this is due to the energy intensive process of extracting rare metals which make up Tesla's lithium-ion battery and can be found throughout the car and headlights and onboard electronics.
在一定程度上，这是由于提取稀有金属的能源密集型过程，稀有金属构成特斯拉的锂离子电池，在汽车、前大灯和车载电子产品中随处可见。
And the actual search and extraction process for rare materials can be extremely dirty.
而搜索和提取稀有材料的实际过程可能非常脏。
Lizzie Wade of Wired Magazine points towards the Jiangxi mine in China which digs massive eight-foot holes into the ground and then douses them with toxic chemicals in order to obtain a miniscule amount of rare earth.
《连线》杂志的莉齐·韦德指着中国江西的矿场，该矿场在地下挖了8英尺深的大洞，然后用有毒化学物质浇灌，以获得微量的稀土。
All told, Wade says 0.2 percent of what gets pulled out of the ground is used and the other contaminated 99.8% is dumped back into the environment.
总而言之，韦德说，从地下挖出的东西有0.2%被利用，另有99.8%被污染的东西被倾倒回环境中。
Mining companies employ energy intensive coal-fired or gas-powered equipment in order to successfully extract materials resulting in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
矿业公司使用能源密集型的燃煤或燃气设备，以成功地提取导致温室气体排放量较高的材料。
So when we look at the manufacturing stage of Tesla's cars, then it's not something that starts in the often touted Gigafactory.
因此，当我们研究特斯拉汽车的制造阶段时，它并不是从经常被吹捧的超级电池工厂开始的。
Instead, the metals used to create Tesla's sleek design have roots in a dirty extraction process halfway across the world.
相反，用于创造特斯拉时尚设计的金属源于地球另一端的肮脏的提取过程。
So in general, the manufacturing process of a Tesla car is much dirtier emissions wise than a conventional car.
因此，总的来说，特斯拉汽车的制造过程比传统汽车排放的污染物要多得多。
But that changes quickly once the car starts moving.
但一旦汽车开始行驶，这种情况就会迅速改变。
In the same 2015 study of electric cars, the Union of Concerned Scientists found that battery-powered cars make up for manufacturing steep environmental cost after only 18 months of driving.
在2015年对电动汽车的同一项研究中，忧思科学家联盟发现，电池驱动的汽车在仅行驶18个月后就弥补了制造阶段产生的巨大环境成本。
However, this differs widely according to where you live, because electric cars still have emissions associated with them.
然而，这一点根据你居住的地方有很大不同，因为电动汽车仍然有与之相关的排放。
It's just not coming out of their tailpipes.
它不只是从它们的排气管里出来。
The environmental impact of a Tesla depends upon the type of grid you're plugging into.
特斯拉对环境的影响取决于你接入的电网类型。
If it's reliant on dirtier energy sources, the car most likely will have lower miles per gallon equivalency, like in Colorado where the equivalent fuel efficiency is around 35 miles per gallon.
如果它依赖于更脏的能源，那么这款车的每加仑当量的英里数很可能会更低，比如在科罗拉多州，每加仑当量的燃料效率约为35英里。
But in California where there are much more renewables using a Tesla might equate to something more like 87 miles per gallon.
但在可再生能源更多的加州，使用特斯拉可能相当于每加仑行驶87英里。
Overall, though, by the end of their time on the road, gas-powered cars have almost double the amount of missions when compared to an electric vehicle like Tesla.
不过，总体而言，与特斯拉这样的电动汽车相比，汽油动力汽车在旅途结束时完成的任务几乎是电动汽车的两倍。
Although that all depends on where electric cars are plugging into the grid.
尽管这完全取决于电动汽车接入电网的位置。
Finally on the waste end of its operations Tesla does well and we're using spent materials.
最后，特斯拉在废料方面做得很好，我们使用的是废旧材料。
The CTO of Tesla JB Straubel told shareholders that they recycle and will recycle all of their spent cells, modules and battery packs.
特斯拉的首席技术官JB·斯特劳贝尔告诉股东，他们回收并将回收所有用过的电池、组件和电池组。
But information about their recycling process is hard to come by.
但关于它们回收过程的信息很难获得。
According to both NPR and Tesla's website, they recycle about 10% of the battery in house and use a third party to recycle another 60 percent of the battery all told right now they recycle 70% of battery.
根据美国国家公共电台和特斯拉的网站，他们自己回收了大约10%的电池，并让第三方回收了另外60%的电池，目前他们总计回收了70%的电池。
This is another important means of reducing waste and the company's impact in that and not only diverts unnecessary waste from landfills but it also reduces the environmental costs of manufacturing by using raw materials already in existence.
这是减少废料和该公司在这一方面影响的另一个重要手段，它不仅避免了不必要的废料进入垃圾填埋场，而且还通过使用现有的原材料降低了制造汽车产生的环境成本。
Tesla's cars are, for the most part, more energy efficient and better for the environment than traditional gas-powered cars.
在很大程度上，特斯拉的汽车比传统的汽油动力汽车更节能、更环保。
And Tesla challenged a stagnant auto industry by pushing battery-powered cars into the mainstream as a viable alternative to conventional cars.
特斯拉挑战停滞不前的汽车业，推动电池驱动的汽车成为主流，成为传统汽车的可行替代品。
But even so, their approach is environmentally limited.
但即便如此，他们的方法在环境方面也是有限的。
Buying a new car is certainly more wasteful than using what you've got.
买一辆新车肯定比用你现有的更浪费。
And buying electric vehicles and supporting a large corporation is not the solution to climate change, even though an electric car might lower your individual carbon footprint.
购买电动汽车和支持一家大公司并不是应对气候变化的解决方案，即使电动汽车可能会降低你的个人碳足迹。
So should you go out and buy a Tesla right now to save the planet?
那么，你应该现在就去买一辆特斯拉来拯救地球吗？
Probably not. To me, it's better to invest time and money in groups organizing for climate action and legislation like the Sunrise Movement or help local groups in your area work towards environmental justice.
可能不会。对我来说，最好将时间和金钱投入到组织气候行动和“日出运动”等立法的团体中，或者帮助你所在地区的当地团体致力于环境正义。
Electric cars do have a role to play in the climate movement, but they must be paired with so many other actions in order to create viable lasting environmental change.
电动汽车确实可以在气候运动中发挥作用，但它们必须与许多其他行动相配合，才能创造可行的、持久的环境变化。
