演講MP3+雙語文稿:光污染危害超乎想象，解決辦法卻驚人地簡單！

聽力課堂TED音頻欄目主要包括TED演講的音頻MP3及中英雙語文稿，供各位英語愛好者學習使用。本文主要內容為演講MP3+雙語文稿:光污染危害超乎想象，解決辦法卻驚人地簡單！，希望你會喜歡！

【演講者及介紹】Kelsey Johnson 天體物理學家，作家，教育家

凱爾西·約翰遜一生都在對宇宙的敬畏中度過，她致力于在后代中激發(fā)這種敬畏。她的作品出現(xiàn)在科學美國人, 華盛頓郵報，紐約時報, 雜志和高等教育的時代學。她在卡爾頓學院獲得物理學學士學位，在科羅拉多大學獲得天體物理學碩士和博士學位。

【演講主題】光污染問題-和5種非常簡單的解決辦法。

【中英文字幕】

翻譯者 Ivana Korom校對者Joanna Pietrulewicz

00:13

Unless you've spent quality time on the International Space Station, this is probably not a view you are super familiar with. This is the east coast of the United States. That's New York down there in the lower right, and it's a band of light all the way up through Washington DC. Those cities are shining like jewels, highways are traced by webs of light. And all of that light is super photogenic. But there's a problem.

除非你在國際空間站待過些時日，這個景色可能對你很陌生。這是美國的東海岸。右下角就是紐約，那條光帶直通華盛頓哥倫比亞特區(qū)。這些城市像珠寶閃耀，網(wǎng)狀的光路點綴著高速公路。這些光看上去十分上鏡。但是有一個問題。

00:42

That light is meant to be illuminating our sidewalks, and our streets and our houses. Instead, it's actually going up into the sky and out into the universe, where it's not doing any of us any good. When I see photos of this, of the Earth, I see environmental catastrophe. Those aren't jewels, those are tumors.

這些光本該照亮我們的人行道、 我們街道，和房屋。但是與此同時，這些光也照亮了天空，發(fā)射到宇宙中，而這對我們毫無利處。當我看到地球的這張圖片時，我看到的是一場環(huán)境災難。這些不是珠寶，而是毒瘤。

01:08

I'm an astronomer, so it's really no surprise probably to anyone that I've always loved the night sky. I'm kind of a walking cliché. But when I was growing up in Minnesota, one of my favorite things to do on a summer evening was grab my old Raggedy Ann sleeping bag and take it out into a field behind my house, where I would spend hours looking at the night sky. And to do this, I had to brave not only the darkness, but also swarms of mosquitoes, and my sleeping bag really didn't smell very good.

我是一名天文學家，我迷戀夜空，這也應該不足為奇。我自己有點像行走的陳詞濫調。但是當我在明尼蘇達州長大時，我最喜歡做的事，就是在夏夜，拿上我舊舊的布安妮睡袋 到我家后面的田野里，整宿地觀望夜空。為此，我不僅要征服黑暗，還要忍受蜂擁而至的蚊蟲，而且我睡袋的氣味也不怎么好聞。

01:42

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

01:45

But there was one particular star that I would look for, night after night. And then I would play this game where I would try to focus on that star so intensely, that everything else would fade from my view and that single star would be all that I could see. I could only ever hold on to that focus for a few fleeting moments. But when I did, I felt this deep sense of connection to the universe. And almost a sense of vertigo, like I was going to fall into space. And when this happened -- I know this sounds kind of ridiculous, but I would simultaneously feel unfathomably insignificant and also kind of weirdly important. That star I looked to night after night was called Vega. Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, which is not coincidentally the name of one of my dogs.

但是有那么一顆特別的星星，我每夜都在尋找。然后我會自己玩這樣的一個游戲： 我會緊盯著那顆星星，直到其它的一切都 都從我的視野里漸漸淡去，而那顆星星 是我唯一可以看到的東西。像那樣集中注意力，我只能維持幾個瞬間。但每當我這么做時，我感受到了自己 和宇宙之間的深刻連接。一股眩暈感襲來，我感覺自己仿佛掉入了太空中。當這種感覺出現(xiàn)時—— 我知道這聽上去很可笑，但是我同時也感到 這種深不可測的渺小，又莫名的重要。那顆我夜夜觀望的星星叫織女星?？椗鞘翘烨僮凶蠲髁恋暮阈?，并非巧合，這也是我狗狗的名字。

02:43

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

02:45

But this experience is being lost.

但是這個體驗正在逐漸消失。

02:52

For people who live in urban and suburban environments, if they go outside at night and look up, instead of being awestruck by the majesty of the universe, they see pretty much nothing. These unremarkable, completely blank night skies, of course are due to all of the light we produce at night. Those very same lights we see all the way from space are shining up into the atmosphere, where they bounce around and create this featureless smog of light. And that featureless smog of light has a name. It's called light pollution.

對于住在城市和郊區(qū)中的人們，如果他們仰望夜空，他們無法對宇宙的雄偉心生敬畏，因為他們在空中 幾乎什么也看不見。這些不起眼的、看似空曠的夜空，當然都是因為 我們在夜晚產(chǎn)生的燈光。正是那些我們從太空中看到的光 直射到大氣層中，到處反射，形成光霧。這平淡無奇的光霧有一個名字。它叫光污染。

03:29

As an astronomer, I can actually tell how bad light pollution is by the brightness of stars I can see in the sky. And it turns out that when you're trying to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, it's really helpful to be able to see the cosmos. And -- [Laughs] Truth. And this light that we're trying to detect is coming from millions or billions of light-years away, and so it's generally pretty faint. And as an astronomer, I fight with this every day to do my job, and I have to tell you, it is a really big problem.

作為一名天文學家，我可以通過恒星的亮度 判斷光污染的嚴重性。事實證明，如果你想解開宇宙之謎，首先得能看到宇宙才行。而且—— （笑聲） 是真的。而且這些我們想要探測到的光 是從幾百萬或數(shù)十億光年外來的，所以通常都比較暗淡。作為一名天文學家，為了正常工作，我每天都與光污染作斗爭，而且我必須告訴你們，這是一個很嚴重的問題。

04:09

But the problem is far worse than just losing some whimsical ability to gaze at the stars. For example, countless plant and animal species are affected. So we could talk about sea turtles or pollinators or any of these super important species that are also cute. Instead, I want to talk about these quietly unassuming dog whelks. You may have seen them around and not given them really a whole lot of thought. But they're pretty cool. So in an entire year a dog whelk will rarely move more than about 10 meters. That means that when they are attacking their prey they can hit this brisk pace of about a millimeter an hour. And --

這個問題的嚴重性 遠遠超過了 失去觀賞星空的異想天開的能力。比方說，無數(shù)的動植物也受到了影響。我們可以說說海龜，或傳粉昆蟲，或任何這些非常重要的，同時也很可愛的物種。但是，我想要講的 是這些不起眼的犬峨螺。你們可能見過它們，但并沒有多加留意。但是它們其實挺特別。在一整年中，一只犬峨螺移動很少超過十米。這意味著當它們攻擊獵物時，它們會以每小時一毫米的速度沖刺，而且——

04:58

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

05:02

This works out OK, because they attack things like barnacles.

這其實還湊合，因為它們攻擊的是藤壺。

05:06

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

05:11

So these dog whelks live in the intertidal area of coasts, where, it turns out, they're a pretty key part of the ecosystem. Not only are they one of the most dominant invertebrate predators, but other animals, like crabs and birds, think they're pretty tasty. So that leaves these poor snails in a kind of precarious situation, because if they go too low in the water, then crabs are a threat, but if they come out of the water too far, birds are going to have a feast.

這些犬峨螺生活在海岸區(qū)的潮間帶，在這里，它們是生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中關鍵的組成部分。它們不僅是重要的 無脊柱動物的捕食者，對于螃蟹和鳥類來說，它們也很可口。所以對這些可憐的螺來說，它們處于岌岌可危之地，因為如果它們到淺水區(qū)，就會受到螃蟹的威脅，但是如果進到深水區(qū)，就會成為鳥類的美餐。

05:41

Why is an astronomer telling you about dog whelks? I ask that myself. Because their behavior is impacted by light pollution. For example, if dog whelks are subjected to artificial light at night they're about twice as likely to stay under the water with a predator. And that puts them at increased risk. And it's not like they can make a speedy escape. And so these --

一名天文學家 為什么要和你們講犬峨螺？ 我也在自問。因為它們的行為 會受到光污染的影響。舉例來說，如果犬峨螺在夜晚 遭受人造光源的影響，它們可能有成倍的幾率 會和捕食者一同待在水下。這會把它們置于更大的險地，而它們又無法迅速脫身。所以這些——

06:06

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

06:08

And the other issue is because they literally move at a snail's pace. If a population is wiped out, it can take decades to replenish. And that, in turn, affects the rest of their ecosystem and the other species, like the birds and the barnacles and the crabs. So this is just one small and slimy example of how light pollution can unleash a cascade effect on an entire ecosystem.

另一個問題是它們移動得真的： 慢如蝸牛。如果一個種群被消滅，需要數(shù)十年才能慢慢恢復。而這又會影響它們其余的生態(tài)系統(tǒng) 和其它的物種，比如鳥類，藤壺和螃蟹。這只是一個又小又黏的例子，來展示光污染是如何 對整個生態(tài)系統(tǒng) 產(chǎn)生級聯(lián)效應的。

06:33

Virtually every species that has been studied to date is impacted by light pollution. And that includes humans. So let's talk about us. You are probably not surprised to hear that light pollution can affect your ability to sleep well at night. But you might be surprised to hear that light pollution is linked to obesity. In fact, in a recent study they found that light pollution contributed to over 70 percent of the obesity rates in 80 countries. More than that, light pollution actually contributed about the same amount to excess weight as eating junk food. And it gets worse. For people who are subjected to significant amounts of artificial light at night they're about 50 percent more likely to get breast cancer. And in fact, light pollution is correlated with types of cancer across the board. And in controlled lab experiments there's a direct link between increased artificial light at night and a rate of tumor growth.

幾乎每一個至今被研究過的物種 都受到了光污染的影響，其中也包括人類。接下來講講我們自己。你們可能已經(jīng)聽說過 光污染會影響我們夜間的睡眠質量。但是你們可能會 驚訝于光污染和肥胖癥的關聯(lián)。事實上，最近的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，光污染在 80 個國家中 促成了超過 70% 的肥胖率。不僅如此，光污染對肥胖的貢獻度 等同于吃垃圾食品。而且更糟的是，對于經(jīng)常在夜晚 受到大量人工光源影響的人們來說，他們患上乳腺癌的幾率要高 50%。其實，光污染和各種癌癥 都息息相關。在受控制的實驗室環(huán)境中，夜間人工光源的增加和 腫瘤的生長速度 有直接關系。

07:35

You might be wondering how normal light could possibly impact cancer rates. It likely all comes down to the super important hormone called melatonin, which we have evolved over millions of years to produce on a day-night cycle, or a circadian rhythm.What happens is that when light impacts the retina at the back of our eye at night it can disrupt melatonin production, and when melatonin production is disrupted, a whole chain of other chemical processes are affected, and that includes estrogen production. And when we throw this chemical balance out of whack, really bad things can happen. In fact, things are so bad, that the International Agency for Cancer Research has said that disrupting the human circadian rhythm is a probable carcinogen. Also, for fun, I want to let you know that light pollution has been linked to, let's see -- headaches, anxiety, depression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the list goes on.

你們可能在想，正常的光線 怎么可能影響癌癥發(fā)病率。這要歸結到一個超級重要的荷爾蒙： 褪黑素。經(jīng)過通過幾百萬年的進化，人體已經(jīng)產(chǎn)生了一個晝夜周期，也稱晝夜節(jié)律。其中的原理是，當光線在夜間 滲透到我們眼后的視網(wǎng)膜時，這會打亂褪黑素的生成，而當褪黑素的生成被打亂時，一系列其它的化學過程 也會接連受到影響，其中就包括雌激素生成。當這樣的化學平衡被打破時，很糟糕的事情就會發(fā)生。事情的嚴重性在于，國際癌癥研究機提出，打亂晝夜節(jié)律 非常可能致癌。除此之外，我也想要讓各位了解，光污染還是許多其它疾病的起因，比如頭疼、焦慮癥、 抑郁癥、糖尿病，以及心血管病等許多其它疾病。

08:32

But maybe you don't care about your health. We're all going to die anyway, you might as well die in a brightly lit room.

但是或許你不在意自己的健康。反正每個人都會離開，不如在一個燈火通明的地方離開。

08:38

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

08:40

The fact that you're laughing about death is kind of amazing.

你們擁有嘲笑死亡的能力 還蠻令人驚訝的。

08:43

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

08:45

You might still care about money. The money that's spent on that wasted light, and I mean just the light that's going out into the universe, and not doing us any good, is three billion dollars a year. That's enough money to build, like, 1,000 utility-grade windmills, or fund the entire DC public-school system for over two years, or -- this is my favorite, because I really want one but I can't afford one -- buy 30,000 Tesla Model X SUVs.

你們可能仍舊會在意錢。這些花費在浪費了的光源上的錢，我只是指射向宇宙的光，對我們無用的光，一年就耗費 30 億美元。這些錢足夠建造，例如 1000 臺公用供電級風車，或資助整個華盛頓特區(qū)的公校 足足兩年，或者——這是我最喜歡的，因為我特別想要，但是買不起—— 3 萬臺特斯拉 X 型越野車。

09:13

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

09:15

And that includes the electric car tax credit. And then there are the existential costs.

而且還包括電動汽車稅收抵免，以及存在成本。

09:22

I don't have any data on how losing touch with our place in the cosmos impacts us. But I believe that this probably impacts our humanity more than any of the other scary statistics I can share with you. And it's getting worse with time. The amount of light pollution is doubling roughly every 35 years. That means that within the next decade virtually the entire eastern half of the United States will be perpetually brighter than twilight.

我沒有具體數(shù)據(jù) 證明若我們不再在意 我們在宇宙中的地位，會對我們有怎樣的影響。但是我相信 這對人類的影響 遠超過任何我能和各位 分享的駭人數(shù)據(jù)。而且隨著時間推移，這個問題會越來越糟。光污染程度每 35 年就會翻倍。這意味著在接下來的 10 年中，幾乎整個美國的東半部 會永久的比黃昏更明亮。

09:57

And there's another issue with light pollution. The problem is way worse than we can see with our own eyes. Our eyes have evolved to just detect this tiny range of the full spectrum of light. All of this other light that we can't see, this invisible light, also has a pollution problem. Mostly it's from modern technology, things like cell phones or car-to-car radar, or now apparently we need appliances that can talk to each other. All of this modern technology is putting out strong signals that can completely swamp this exceedingly faint light we're trying to detect from the rest of the universe outside Earth, which just for the record, is most of the universe.

光污染還帶來了另一個問題。這問題比我們能看到的更加嚴重。人類的肉眼只能看到整個光譜中 很小范圍的光。其它我們看不見的光，這些不可見光，也有污染問題。大多來自現(xiàn)代科技，比如手機，電子狗，還有現(xiàn)在我們必需的通信設備。所有這些現(xiàn)代技術發(fā)出的強烈信號 可以完全淹沒 我們試圖從地球之外的宇宙中 探測到的極度微弱的光，也就是來自絕大部分宇宙的光。

10:37

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

10:42

And then, there are satellites. Satellites are a problem at both visible and invisible wavelengths. A host of private companies have plans to deploy tens of thousands of satellites into Earth orbit, where they will not only outnumber, literally outnumber the visible stars in the sky, while also beaming invisible light back to Earth. So for astronomers like me, who use invisible light to study the universe, it's going to be like staring at the Sun and trying to see a birthday candle behind it.

接著，還有衛(wèi)星。衛(wèi)星在可見光和不可見光的 波長范圍中都是一個問題。許多私人企業(yè)都計劃在地球軌道上 配置幾萬顆衛(wèi)星，這個數(shù)量不僅會遠超 天空中可見的恒星，同時也會將不可見光波送回地球。所以對于我們這些 利用不可見光 去研究宇宙的天文學家，就如同凝視烈日，還要嘗試在其身后尋找一束燭光。

11:16

Alright, I want to be clear that there's nothing inherently wrong with any of this modern technology. With cell phones or satellites or car radar. I'm not sure about kitchen appliances.

我想強調，這些現(xiàn)代科技本身沒有什么問題。比如手機，衛(wèi)星，和電子狗。至于廚房電器，我不是很清楚。

11:28

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

11:29

I haven't broken down and gotten an oven that talks to my cell phone yet. And I use lights at night like everybody else. But here's the thing. Some problems in the world, like we've heard about today and you'll hear more about, are overwhelming and they seem intractable. Visible light pollution is not one of these problems. This is actually stupidly simple, OK? So here are five super simple things you can do. Don't use lights brighter than you need to. Don't use lights when you don't need them. Those lights you're using, make sure they're shielded down, so they're not shining up into the sky. And let's talk about LED lights. If you have a choice, don't buy the blue ones. Look for words like "warm white." If you buy LEDs with words like "natural light" or "daylight," that's like saying you hate space.

我還不至于需要 一個能和我手機交流的烤箱。而且，我和大家一樣也在晚上用燈。但要注意的是，我們面臨的有些問題，比如我們今天講到的，還有將來你們還會聽到的，往往十分棘手，讓我們不知所措。然而可見光污染并不屬于這種問題。它其實極其的簡單。有五件很簡單的事，是你們可以做到的。不要用過亮的光。當你們不需要的時候，就不要用。你們需要用的那些光，確保它們的上方是有屏障的，盡量不直接朝天空發(fā)光。我們來講講發(fā)光二極管（LED）。如果可以，盡量避免購買藍色的?？梢詫ふ?guī)в小芭坠狻弊盅鄣臒襞?。如果你購買的 LED 上有 “自然光”或“日光”的標簽，就等于說你討厭太空。

12:25

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

12:31

And finally, you could advocate for this. Even in your local community, find out if there's a lighting code and whether it could be made more night-sky friendly. Or dare I say, you could even advocate at the federal level, by politely asking our federal officials, some of whom may be here, to please not auction off our view of the invisible universe to the highest bidder to pollute at will, which is actually what happens.

最后一點，你可以四處提倡這些“訣竅”。即使在你的社區(qū)中，也可以試著找找有沒有照明規(guī)范，若有的話，我們怎樣能做得更好。我敢說你們甚至可以 把問題提升到聯(lián)邦級別，禮貌地問問我們的聯(lián)邦官員，他們中的某些人可能就在這里，請不要拍賣掉我們 無形宇宙的景色，而讓最高出價者隨意污染，這其實也就是現(xiàn)在的情形。

12:58

Now, like a good professor, I have homework for you. If you have never seen a truly dark night sky, I want you to go out and experience one for yourself. Because if you don't, you don't know what you're missing, and you don't know what humanity is losing.

現(xiàn)在，就像一個優(yōu)秀的教授一樣，我要給你們留個功課。如果你們從來沒有見過 一個真正黑暗的夜空，我想讓你們出去親自體驗一下。因為如果沒有過這樣的體驗，你就不知道你錯過了什么，更不知道人類正在失去什么。

13:20

Thank you.

謝謝

13:21

(Applause)

（掌聲））