我們已經(jīng)沒有荒野了

我們已經(jīng)沒有荒野了

Almost half of the land on Earth is now farmland.

現(xiàn)在地球上幾乎一半的土地是農(nóng)田。

When you picture the world, you might imagine vast jungles, meadows, and untouched wilderness. But if you find yourself driving past a whole lot more corn fields than forests, you’re not just imagining things. Nature is disappearing.

當(dāng)你描繪這個(gè)世界的時(shí)候，你可能會(huì)想到廣闊的叢林、草地和未被開發(fā)的荒野。但如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己開車經(jīng)過的玉米地比森林多得多，那你就不是在想象了。自然正在消失。

©. Ilana E. Strauss

That’s what Navin Ramankutty, an agricultural geographer at the University of British Columbia, told me. Ramankutty and his colleagues use satellites to figure out how much nature is left on the planet. What he found could ruin your lunch break. Fair warning.

這是英屬哥倫比亞大學(xué)農(nóng)業(yè)地理學(xué)家拉曼庫蒂告訴我的。拉曼庫蒂和他的同事利用衛(wèi)星計(jì)算出地球上還剩下多少自然資源。他的發(fā)現(xiàn)可能會(huì)毀了你的午休時(shí)間。這是合理的警告。

© Ilana E. Strauss

Humans use almost half of the land on Earth for agriculture. And keep in mind, “land on Earth” includes Antarctica and the far north. In fact, most of the land that hasn’t been farmed is either too cold for most plants (think penguins and polar bears) or too dry (the Sahara desert). The only real lush natural areas left are forests like the Amazon, and even these are dwindling.

人類將地球上幾乎一半的土地用于農(nóng)業(yè)。請(qǐng)記住，“地球上的陸地”包括南極洲和極北地區(qū)。事實(shí)上，大部分沒有被耕種的土地要么太冷，不適合大多數(shù)植物生長(zhǎng)(想想企鵝和北極熊)，要么太干燥(撒哈拉沙漠)。僅存的真正繁茂的自然區(qū)域是像亞馬遜這樣的森林，但即使是這樣的森林也在減少。

Crops cover a third of the land being farmed, while cows and other animals graze on the other two thirds. That means we use more land to “grow” (raise?) animals than we do to grow everything else altogether. Since it takes so much food to bring an animal to adulthood, we must be pouring tons of resources into these animals.

農(nóng)作物占據(jù)了三分之一的耕地，而奶牛和其他動(dòng)物占據(jù)了其余三分之二的土地。這意味著我們用更多的土地來“養(yǎng)殖”動(dòng)物，比我們用來種植其他東西占了更多的土地。因?yàn)榘褎?dòng)物養(yǎng)大需要大量的食物，我們必須把大量的資源投入到這些動(dòng)物身上。

As cows, corn, soybeans, and other farmed species take over most of the places where stuff can grow, the wilderness melts away. An awful lot of plants and animals are going endangered in what scientists are calling the planet's sixth mass extinction (the dinosaurs died in the fifth), and this is a big part of the reason why: wild species have nowhere to live. There are more tigers in zoos and than in the wild.

隨著奶牛、玉米、大豆和其他農(nóng)耕物種占據(jù)了大部分可以生長(zhǎng)植物的地方，荒野就越來越少了。在科學(xué)家們所說的地球第六次大滅絕(恐龍?jiān)诘谖宕螠缃^)中，大量的動(dòng)植物瀕臨滅絕，一個(gè)很大的原因:野生物種無處生存。動(dòng)物園的老虎比野生的多。

“We are basically destroying the planet for our own survival,” Ramankutty said. “This is not very sustainable.”

拉曼庫蒂說:“我們基本上是在為自己的生存毀滅地球。這是不可持續(xù)的。”

Still, he’s not a cynic. Problem-solving is humanity's specialty. For instance, Ramankutty gave me the data to make this infographic, which could theoretically spread awareness.

不過，他并不是一個(gè)憤世嫉俗者。解決問題是人類的專長(zhǎng)。例如，拉曼庫蒂給了我制作這張信息圖的數(shù)據(jù)，理論上可以傳播意識(shí)。

“We just need to be more wise about how we use our land,” he went on. “We can imagine an ultimate future that is much more hopeful.”

“我們只是需要更明智地使用我們的土地，”他繼續(xù)說。“我們可以想象一個(gè)更有希望的最終未來。”