ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jeremy Jackson - Marine ecologist
A leader in the study of the ecology and evolution of marine organisms, Jeremy Jackson is known for his deep understanding of geological time.

Why you should listen

Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Painting pictures of changing marine environments, particularly coral reefs and the Isthmus of Panama, Jackson's research captures the extreme environmental decline of the oceans that has accelerated in the past 200 years.

Jackson's current work focuses on the future of the world’s oceans, given overfishing, habitat destruction and ocean warming, which have fundamentally changed marine ecosystems and led to "the rise of slime." Although Jackson's work describes grim circumstances, even garnering him the nickname Dr. Doom, he believes that successful management and conservation strategies can renew the ocean’s health.

More profile about the speaker
Jeremy Jackson | Speaker | TED.com
Mission Blue Voyage

Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean

Jeremy Jackson: Como destruímos o océano.

Filmed:
827,500 views

Nesta charla o ecólogo de arrecifes de coral Jeremy Jackson, establece o estado de choque actual do océano: sobrepesca, aquecemento, polución, con indicadores de que as cousas van ir moito peor. Abraiantes fotos e estatísticas.
- Marine ecologist
A leader in the study of the ecology and evolution of marine organisms, Jeremy Jackson is known for his deep understanding of geological time. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I'm an ecologist,
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Eu son un ecólogo,
00:18
mostly a coral reef ecologist.
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sobre todo, un ecólogo de arrecifes de coral.
00:20
I started out in Chesapeake Bay
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Comecei na Bahia de Chesapeake
00:22
and went diving in the winter
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a mergullar no inverno
00:24
and became a tropical ecologist overnight.
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e de repente torneime un ecólogo tropical.
00:27
And it was really a lot of fun
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E foi moi divertido
00:30
for about 10 years.
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durante uns 10 anos.
00:32
I mean, somebody pays you
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É dicir, alguén te paga
00:34
to go around and travel
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para viaxar polo mundo
00:36
and look at some of the most
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e ver algúns dos lugares
00:38
beautiful places on the planet.
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máis fermosos do planeta.
00:40
And that was what I did.
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E iso foi o que fixen eu.
00:43
And I ended up in Jamaica,
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Acabei en Xamaica,
00:45
in the West Indies,
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nas Antillas,
00:47
where the coral reefs were really
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onde os arrecifes de coral estaban
00:49
among the most extraordinary, structurally,
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entre as estruturas máis extraordinarias
00:51
that I ever saw in my life.
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que nunca vin na miña vida.
00:54
And this picture here,
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Esta foto
00:56
it's really interesting, it shows two things:
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é moi interesante e amósanos dúas cousas.
00:58
First of all, it's in black and white
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A primeira é en branco e negro
01:00
because the water was so clear
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porque a auga era tan clara
01:02
and you could see so far,
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que podías ver tan lonxe.
01:04
and film was so slow
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Ademais, os carretes eran tan lentos
01:06
in the 1960s and early 70s,
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nos anos 60 e principios dos 70,
01:08
you took pictures in black and white.
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que se facían as fotos en branco e negro.
01:10
The other thing it shows you
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A outra cousa que mostra
01:12
is that, although there's this beautiful
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é que aínda que haxa ese fermoso
01:14
forest of coral,
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bosque de coral,
01:16
there are no fish in that picture.
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non hai peixes na foto.
01:19
Those reefs at Discovery Bay, Jamaica
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Estes corais en Discovery Bay en Xamaica
01:22
were the most studied coral reefs
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foron os máis estudados do mundo
01:24
in the world for 20 years.
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durante uns 20 anos.
01:26
We were the best and the brightest.
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Éramos os mellores e máis brillantes.
01:28
People came to study our reefs from Australia,
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Viu xente da Australia para estudar os nosos arrecifes,
01:31
which is sort of funny
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o que non deixa de ser gracioso
01:33
because now we go to theirs.
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porque agora nós imos aos deles.
01:35
And the view of scientists
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A opinión dos científicos
01:38
about how coral reefs work, how they ought to be,
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de como funcionan os arrecifes de coral
01:41
was based on these reefs
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baseouse nestes arrecifes
01:43
without any fish.
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sen ningún peixe.
01:45
Then, in 1980,
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Entón, en 1980,
01:47
there was a hurricane, Hurricane Allen.
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houbo un furacán, o furacán Allen.
01:50
I put half the lab
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Coloquei a metade do laboratorio
01:52
up in my house.
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na miña casa.
01:54
The wind blew very strong.
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O vento foi moi forte.
01:56
The waves were 25
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As ondas eran de 8 metros
01:59
to 50 feet high.
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a 16 metros de altura.
02:01
And the reefs disappeared, and new islands formed,
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Os arrecifes desapareceron e formáronse novas illas.
02:04
and we thought, "Well, we're real smart.
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E pensamos, "Somos moi listos.
02:06
We know that hurricanes
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Sabemos que os furacáns
02:08
have always happened in the past."
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aconteceron de sempre no pasado".
02:10
And we published a paper in Science,
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Publicamos un artigo na revista Science,
02:12
the first time that anybody ever
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a primeira vez que alguén
02:14
described the destruction
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describía a destrución
02:16
on a coral reef by a major hurricane.
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dun arrecife de coral por un gran furacán.
02:19
And we predicted what would happen,
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Predecimos o que ía acontecer.
02:21
and we got it all wrong.
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E fixémolo todo mal.
02:23
And the reason was
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O motivo foi
02:25
because of overfishing,
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a sobrepesca
02:28
and the fact that a last common grazer,
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e o feito de que o último herbívoro,
02:31
a sea urchin, died.
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un ourizo de mar, morreu.
02:34
And within a few months
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Uns poucos meses
02:36
after that sea urchin dying, the seaweed started to grow.
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despois da morte dos ourizos, as algas comezaron a medrar.
02:39
And that is the same reef;
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Este é o mesmo arrecife.
02:41
that's the same reef 15 years ago;
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Este é o mesmo arrecife de hai 15 anos.
02:43
that's the same reef today.
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Este é o mesmo arrecife hoxe.
02:46
The coral reefs of the north coast of Jamaica
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Os arrecifes do norte de Xamaica
02:49
have a few percent live coral cover
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teñen unha pequena porcentaxe de coral vivo
02:52
and a lot of seaweed and slime.
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e moitas algas e lama.
02:54
And that's more or less the story
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Esta é máis ou menos a historia
02:56
of the coral reefs of the Caribbean,
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dos arrecifes de coral no Caribe,
02:58
and increasingly, tragically,
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e cada vez máis, traxicamente,
03:01
the coral reefs worldwide.
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dos arrecifes de todo o mundo.
03:03
Now, that's my little, depressing story.
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Agora, esa é a miña pequena historia depresiva.
03:06
All of us in our 60s and 70s
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Todos nós temos historias tristes
03:09
have comparable depressing stories.
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parecidas aos dos anos 60 e 70.
03:12
There are tens of thousands
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Hai decenas de miles
03:14
of those stories out there,
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destas historias.
03:16
and it's really hard to conjure up
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E é realmente difícil imaxinar
03:18
much of a sense of well-being,
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que todo acabará ben,
03:20
because it just keeps getting worse.
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porque vai a peor.
03:22
And the reason it keeps getting worse
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A razón de que se agrave,
03:24
is that after a natural catastrophe,
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é que, despois dun desastre natural
03:27
like a hurricane,
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como un furacán,
03:31
it used to be that there was
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adoitaba acontecer
03:33
some kind of successional sequence of recovery,
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algún tipo de sucesión secuencial de recuperación.
03:36
but what's going on now is that
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O que sucede agora é que
03:39
overfishing and pollution and climate change
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a sobrepesca, a contaminación e o cambio climático
03:42
are all interacting
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están a interactuar
03:44
in a way that prevents that.
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de xeito que evitan que iso aconteza.
03:46
And so I'm going to sort of go through
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Entón, dalgunha maneira,
03:48
and talk about those three
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vou falar sobre estes tres
03:50
kinds of things.
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tipos de cousas.
03:52
We hear a lot about
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Escoitouse falar moito sobre
03:54
the collapse of cod.
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o colapso do bacallau.
03:56
It's difficult to imagine that
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É difícil imaxinar que
03:58
two, or some historians would say three world wars
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dúas, ou algúns historiadores dirían tres, guerras mundiais,
04:02
were fought during the colonial era
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que tiveron lugar durante a era colonial,
04:04
for the control of cod.
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foron polo control do bacallau.
04:06
Cod fed most of the people of Western Europe.
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O bacallau alimentou á maioría dos pobos de Europa Occidental
04:09
It fed the slaves
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e aos escravos
04:11
brought to the Antilles,
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traídos para as Antillas.
04:14
the song "Jamaica Farewell" --
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A canción "Jamaica Farewell"--
04:16
"Ackee rice salt fish are nice" --
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"Arroz e peixe salgado son bos" --
04:18
is an emblem of the importance
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é un emblema da importancia
04:21
of salt cod from northeastern Canada.
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do bacallau salgado do nordeste do Canadá.
04:24
It all collapsed in the 80s and the 90s:
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Todo foi abaixo nas décadas dos 80 e 90.
04:27
35,000 people lost their jobs.
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Unhas 35.000 persoas perderon o emprego.
04:30
And that was the beginning
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Ese foi o principio
04:32
of a kind of serial depletion
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dun deterioro en serie,
04:34
from bigger and tastier species
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que vai de especies grandes e saborosas,
04:36
to smaller and not-so-tasty species,
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a especies máis pequenas e non tan saborosas,
04:39
from species that were near to home
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de especies que se pescaban perto de casa,
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to species that were all around the world,
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a especies espalladas por todo o mundo,
04:44
and what have you.
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e as tes ao teu alcance.
04:46
It's a little hard to understand that,
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É un pouco difícil entender todo isto,
04:48
because you can go to a Costco in the United States
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porque podes ir a Costco nos E.E.U.U.
04:51
and buy cheap fish.
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e mercar peixe barato.
04:53
You ought to read the label to find out where it came from,
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Tes que ler o rótulo para saber de onde ven,
04:55
but it's still cheap,
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mais aínda é barato,
04:57
and everybody thinks it's okay.
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e todo o mundo pensa que está ben.
04:59
It's hard to communicate this,
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É difícil transmitir isto.
05:01
and one way that I think is really interesting
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Así, un xeito que eu creo que é interesante,
05:04
is to talk about sport fish,
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é falar da pesca deportiva,
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because people like to go out and catch fish.
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porque á xente gústalle saír e coller peixe.
05:10
It's one of those things.
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É unha desas cousas.
05:12
This picture here shows the trophy fish,
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Esta foto mostra o peixe premiado,
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the biggest fish caught
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o maior peixe capturado
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by people who pay a lot of money
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por xente que paga moito diñeiro
05:19
to get on a boat,
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para embarcar nunha lancha,
05:21
go to a place off of Key West in Florida,
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ir a un lugar de Caio Oeste, na Florida,
05:24
drink a lot of beer,
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beber moita cervexa,
05:26
throw a lot of hooks and lines into the water,
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largar moitas liñas e anzois na auga,
05:28
come back with the biggest and the best fish,
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e retornar cos mellores e maiores peixes,
05:31
and the champion trophy fish
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e os peixes campións
05:33
are put on this board, where people take a picture,
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son colocados neste panel, onde lles fan fotos,
05:36
and this guy is obviously
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e obviamente este tipo está
05:38
really excited about that fish.
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moi satisfeito con ese peixe.
05:41
Well, that's what it's like now,
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Ben, agora iso é así,
05:43
but this is what it was like in the 1950s
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pero na década de 1950 xa era así:
05:45
from the same boat in the same place
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o mesmo barco no mesmo lugar,
05:48
on the same board on the same dock.
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no mesmo panel do mesmo peirao.
05:51
The trophy fish
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Os peixes campións
05:53
were so big
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eran tan grandes
05:55
that you couldn't put any of those small fish up on it.
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que non podían poñer ningún deses peixes pequenos nel.
05:58
And the average size trophy fish
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Eses peixes pesaban
06:00
weighed 250 to 300 pounds, goliath grouper,
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de media 100-150 kg, eran meros.
06:03
and if you wanted to go out and kill something,
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Se alguén quería saír e matar algo,
06:05
you could pretty much count on
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case podería estar seguro de que
06:07
being able to catch one of those fish.
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ía pescar un daqueles peixes.
06:09
And they tasted really good.
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Estaban deliciosos.
06:11
And people paid less in 1950 dollars
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A xente pagaba menos, en dólares de 1950,
06:14
to catch that
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por pescalos
06:16
than what people pay now
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do que pagan agora
06:18
to catch those little, tiny fish.
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por pescar peixiños pequenos.
06:21
And that's everywhere.
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E iso pasa en todas partes.
06:23
It's not just the fish, though,
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Non son os peixes que
06:25
that are disappearing.
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están desaparecendo.
06:27
Industrial fishing uses big stuff,
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A pesca industrial utiliza cousas grandes,
06:30
big machinery.
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maquinaria grande.
06:32
We use nets that are 20 miles long.
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Redes de 40 km de extensión.
06:34
We use longlines
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Palangres ("o pincho")
06:36
that have one million or two million hooks.
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que teñen un millón ou dous de anzois.
06:39
And we trawl,
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E o arrastre,
06:41
which means to take something
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que significa coller algo do tamaño
06:43
the size of a tractor trailer truck
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dun camión con remolque
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that weighs thousands and thousands of pounds,
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que pesa miles e miles de quilos,
06:48
put it on a big chain,
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colgalo nunha gran cadea
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and drag it across the sea floor
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e arrastralo polo fondo mariño
06:52
to stir up the bottom and catch the fish.
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para axitar o fondo e capturar o peixe.
06:55
Think of it as
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Pensade niso como
06:58
being kind of the bulldozing of a city
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unha escavadora demolendo unha cidade
07:00
or of a forest,
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ou arrasando un bosque,
07:02
because it clears it away.
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porque o elimina todo.
07:04
And the habitat destruction
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E a destrución do hábitat
07:06
is unbelievable.
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é incrible.
07:08
This is a photograph,
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Esta é a fotografía,
07:10
a typical photograph,
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unha foto típica
07:12
of what the continental shelves
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do aspecto que teñen
07:14
of the world look like.
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as plataformas continentais do mundo.
07:16
You can see the rows in the bottom,
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Pódense ver os regos no fondo,
07:19
the way you can see the rows
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do mesmo xeito que se poden ver os regos
07:21
in a field that has just been plowed
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nun campo arado recentemente
07:23
to plant corn.
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para sementar millo.
07:25
What that was, was a forest of sponges and coral,
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Isto era antes un bosque de esponxas e coral,
07:28
which is a critical habitat
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que é un hábitat crítico
07:30
for the development of fish.
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para o desenvolvemento dos peixes.
07:32
What it is now is mud,
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Agora é lama.
07:35
and the area of the ocean floor
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A área do fondo do océano
07:38
that has been transformed from forest
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que se transformou desde o bosque
07:41
to level mud, to parking lot,
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ata o nivel da lama, como un estacionamento,
07:43
is equivalent to the entire area
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é equivalente a toda a área
07:46
of all the forests
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de todos os bosques
07:48
that have ever been cut down
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que algunha vez foron cortados
07:50
on all of the earth
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en toda a terra
07:52
in the history of humanity.
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na historia da humanidade.
07:54
We've managed to do that
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E logramos facelo
07:56
in the last 100 to 150 years.
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nos últimos 100 ou 150 anos.
08:00
We tend to think of oil spills
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Tendemos a pensar nos derrames de petróleo
08:02
and mercury
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e no mercurio,
08:04
and we hear a lot about plastic these days.
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e fálase moito do plástico nestes días.
08:06
And all of that stuff is really disgusting,
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Todo este material é realmente noxento,
08:08
but what's really insidious
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pero o que é realmente insidioso
08:10
is the biological pollution that happens
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é a contaminación biolóxica que ocorre
08:13
because of the magnitude of the shifts
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debido á magnitude dos cambios
08:16
that it causes
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que provoca
08:18
to entire ecosystems.
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a ecosistemas enteiros.
08:20
And I'm going to just talk very briefly
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Só vou falar brevemente sobre
08:22
about two kinds of biological pollution:
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dous tipos de contaminación biolóxica.
08:25
one is introduced species
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Un deles son as especies introducidas,
08:27
and the other is what comes from nutrients.
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e o outro é o que vén dos nutrientes.
08:30
So this is the infamous
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Entón esta é a infame
08:32
Caulerpa taxifolia,
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Caulerpa taxifolia,
08:34
the so-called killer algae.
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a chamada alga asesina.
08:37
A book was written about it.
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Escribiron un libro sobre ela.
08:39
It's a bit of an embarrassment.
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É un pouco embarazoso.
08:41
It was accidentally released
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Liberáronna accidentalmente
08:43
from the aquarium in Monaco,
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do acuario, en Mónaco.
08:45
it was bred to be cold tolerant
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Foi criada para ser tolerante ao frío,
08:48
to have in peoples aquaria.
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para tela nos acuarios.
08:50
It's very pretty,
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É moi bonita
08:52
and it has rapidly started
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e axiña empezou
08:54
to overgrow
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a encher de maleza
08:56
the once very rich
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a, en tempos moi rica,
08:58
biodiversity of the
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biodiversidade do
09:00
northwestern Mediterranean.
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Mediterráneo noroccidental.
09:02
I don't know how many of you remember the movie
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Non sei cantos se lembran da película
09:04
"The Little Shop of Horrors,"
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"A Pequena Tenda dos Horrores",
09:06
but this is the plant of "The Little Shop of Horrors."
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pero esta é a planta que aparecía na película.
09:09
But, instead of devouring the people in the shop,
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Mais, no canto de devorar á xente na tenda,
09:12
what it's doing is overgrowing
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o que está a facer é encher de maleza
09:14
and smothering
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e sufocar
09:16
virtually all of the bottom-dwelling life
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practicamente toda a vida do fondo
09:19
of the entire northwestern
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de toda a rexión noroeste
09:22
Mediterranean Sea.
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do Mar Mediterráneo.
09:24
We don't know anything that eats it,
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Non sabemos de ninguén que a coma.
09:26
we're trying to do all sorts of genetics
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Estamos a tentar facer todo tipo de xenética
09:28
and figure out something that could be done,
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e pensar nalgunha solución.
09:31
but, as it stands, it's the monster from hell,
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Pero, tal como está, é o monstro do inferno
09:34
about which nobody knows what to do.
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sobre o que ninguén sabe o que facer.
09:37
Now another form of pollution
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Agora outra forma de contaminación
09:40
that's biological pollution
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é a contaminación biolóxica:
09:42
is what happens from excess nutrients.
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é o que pasa co exceso de nutrientes.
09:44
The green revolution,
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A revolución verde,
09:46
all of this artificial nitrogen fertilizer, we use too much of it.
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os fertilizantes artificiais de nitróxeno, usamos demasiado diso.
09:49
It's subsidized, which is one of the reasons we used too much of it.
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Están subvencionados, unha das razóns do uso excesivo.
09:52
It runs down the rivers,
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Percorren os ríos
09:54
and it feeds the plankton,
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e alimentan o plancto,
09:56
the little microscopic plant cells
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as pequenas células vexetais microscópicas
09:58
in the coastal water.
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nas augas costeiras.
10:00
But since we ate all the oysters
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Pero desde que comemos todas as ostras
10:02
and we ate all the fish that would eat the plankton,
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e comemos os peixes que comerían o plancto,
10:04
there's nothing to eat the plankton
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non hai ninguén que coma o plancto.
10:06
and there's more and more of it,
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E hai máis e máis,
10:08
so it dies of old age,
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así que morre de vello,
10:10
which is unheard of for plankton.
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algo que é inaudito para o plancto.
10:12
And when it dies, it falls to the bottom
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E cando morre, cae ao fondo
10:14
and then it rots,
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e entón apodrece,
10:16
which means that bacteria break it down.
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o que significa que as bacterias o descompoñen.
10:18
And in the process
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E nese proceso
10:20
they use up all the oxygen,
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empregan todo o osíxeno.
10:22
and in using up all the oxygen
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E ao consumir todo o osíxeno,
10:24
they make the environment utterly lethal
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fan o ambiente totalmente letal
10:26
for anything that can't swim away.
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para calquera cousa que non pode escapar nadando.
10:28
So, what we end up with
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Así acabamos tendo
10:30
is a microbial zoo
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un zoolóxico microbiano,
10:32
dominated by bacteria
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dominado por bacterias
10:34
and jellyfish, as you see
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e medusas, como se ve
10:36
on the left in front of you.
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á esquerda diante de vostedes.
10:38
And the only fishery left --
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A única pesca que queda
10:40
and it is a commercial fishery --
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é a comercial,
10:42
is the jellyfish fishery
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a pesca de medusas
10:44
you see on the right, where there used to be prawns.
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que se ve á dereita, onde adoitaba haber gambas.
10:46
Even in Newfoundland
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Mesmo na Terranova,
10:48
where we used to catch cod,
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onde adoitabamos capturar bacallau,
10:50
we now have a jellyfish fishery.
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agora temos pesca de medusas.
10:53
And another version of this sort of thing
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Outra versión deste tipo de cousas
10:55
is what is often called red tides
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é o que se chama a miúdo mareas vermellas
10:57
or toxic blooms.
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ou floracións tóxicas.
10:59
That picture on the left is just staggering to me.
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Esa foto é sorprendente para min.
11:02
I have talked about it a million times,
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Falei sobre iso millóns de veces,
11:04
but it's unbelievable.
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pero é incrible.
11:06
In the upper right of that picture on the left
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Na esquina superior dereita da imaxe da esquerda
11:08
is almost the Mississippi Delta,
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é case o Delta do Mississippi,
11:10
and the lower left of that picture
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e a parte inferior esquerda da imaxe
11:12
is the Texas-Mexico border.
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é a fronteira de Texas con México.
11:14
You're looking at the entire
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Pódese ver
11:16
northwestern Gulf of Mexico;
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todo o noroeste do Golfo de México.
11:18
you're looking at one toxic
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Pódese ver unha floración
11:20
dinoflagellate bloom that can kill fish,
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de dinoflaxelados tóxicos que poden matar peixes,
11:22
made by that beautiful little creature
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feita pola bonita e pequena criatura
11:24
on the lower right.
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no ángulo inferior dereito.
11:26
And in the upper right you see this
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E na esquina superior dereita vese
11:28
black sort of cloud
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este tipo de nube negra
11:30
moving ashore.
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que se move cara á costa.
11:32
That's the same species.
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Esa é a mesma especie.
11:34
And as it comes to shore and the wind blows,
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A medida que se vai achegando á costa e o vento sopra,
11:37
and little droplets of the water get into the air,
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e pequenas gotiñas de auga entran no aire,
11:40
the emergency rooms of all the hospitals fill up
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as urxencias de todos os hospitais énchense
11:43
with people with acute respiratory distress.
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de xente con insuficiencia respiratoria aguda.
11:45
And that's retirement homes
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Son casas de xubilados
11:47
on the west coast of Florida.
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na costa oeste da Florida.
11:49
A friend and I did this thing in Hollywood
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Un amigo e eu fixemos isto en Hollywood,
11:51
we called Hollywood ocean night,
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chamámoslle noite do océano de Hollywood.
11:53
and I was trying to figure out how to
304
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Eu estaba tentando pensar
11:55
explain to actors what's going on.
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como explicar aos actores o que está a suceder.
11:57
And I said,
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E dixen: "Entón, imaxinen
11:59
"So, imagine you're in a movie called 'Escape from Malibu'
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que están nunha película chamada 'Fuxindo de Malibú",
12:02
because all the beautiful people have moved
308
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porque todas as persoas bonitas mudáronse
12:04
to North Dakota, where it's clean and safe.
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a Dakota do Norte, onde está limpo e seguro.
12:06
And the only people who are left there
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E as únicas persoas que están alí
12:08
are the people who can't afford
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son as persoas que non se poden permitir
12:11
to move away from the coast,
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afastarse da costa,
12:13
because the coast, instead of being paradise,
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porque a costa, no canto de ser un paraíso,
12:16
is harmful to your health."
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é prexudicial para a saúde."
12:18
And then this is amazing.
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E logo isto é incrible.
12:20
It was when I was on holiday last early autumn in France.
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Foi cando estaba de vacacións a principios do outono pasado, en Francia.
12:23
This is from the coast of Brittany,
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Esta é da costa da Bretaña,
12:25
which is being enveloped
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que está a ser envolvida
12:27
in this green, algal slime.
319
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neste lodo verde de algas.
12:30
The reason that it attracted so much attention,
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O motivo que atraeu tanta atención,
12:33
besides the fact that it's disgusting,
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ademais do feito de que é repugnante,
12:36
is that sea birds flying over it
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é que as aves mariñas que a sobrevoan
12:38
are asphyxiated by the smell and die,
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son asfixiadas polo cheiro e morren.
12:41
and a farmer died of it,
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Tamén morreu un labrego,
12:43
and you can imagine the scandal that happened.
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imaxinade o escándalo que causou.
12:45
And so there's this war
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E por todo iso hai
12:47
between the farmers
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esta guerra entre
12:49
and the fishermen about it all,
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labregos e mariñeiros.
12:51
and the net result is that
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O resultado é que
12:53
the beaches of Brittany have to be bulldozed of this stuff
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téñense que limpar as praias da Bretaña para quitar este material
12:56
on a regular basis.
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con maquinaria e regularmente.
12:58
And then, of course, there's climate change,
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E logo, naturalmente, está o cambio climático,
13:00
and we all know about climate change.
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e todos sabemos do cambio climático.
13:02
I guess the iconic figure of it
334
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Coido que a súa figura emblemática
13:04
is the melting of the ice
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é a fusión do xeo
13:06
in the Arctic Sea.
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no Mar Ártico.
13:08
Think about the thousands and thousands of people who died
337
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Pensemos nos miles e miles de persoas que morreron
13:11
trying to find the Northwest Passage.
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tentando atopar o Paso do Noroeste.
13:14
Well, the Northwest Passage is already there.
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Ben, o Noroeste xa está aí.
13:16
I think it's sort of funny;
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Paréceme gracioso,
13:18
it's on the Siberian coast,
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está na costa de Siberia.
13:20
maybe the Russians will charge tolls.
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Quizais os rusos van cobrar peaxes.
13:23
The governments of the world
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Os gobernos do mundo están
13:25
are taking this really seriously.
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tomando isto mesmo en serio.
13:27
The military of the Arctic nations
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Os militares das nacións do Ártico
13:30
is taking it really seriously.
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o están tomando mesmo en serio.
13:33
For all the denial of climate change
347
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Para todos os que negan o cambio climático
13:35
by government leaders,
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direi que os líderes de goberno,
13:37
the CIA
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a CIA
13:39
and the navies of Norway
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e as Mariñas de Noruega,
13:41
and the U.S. and Canada, whatever
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E.E.U.U. e Canadá, nembargantes,
13:44
are busily thinking about
352
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están ocupados pensando
13:46
how they will secure their territory
353
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en como van protexer o seu territorio,
13:49
in this inevitability
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ante o que é inevitable,
13:52
from their point of view.
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dende o seu punto de vista.
13:54
And, of course, Arctic communities are toast.
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E, claro, as comunidades árticas están perdidas.
13:56
The other kinds of effects of climate change --
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O outro tipo de efectos do cambio climático
13:58
this is coral bleaching. It's a beautiful picture, right?
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este é o branqueamento do coral. É unha fermosa foto,
14:00
All that white coral.
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Todos eses son corais brancos.
14:02
Except it's supposed to be brown.
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Só que se supón que deben ser marróns.
14:05
What happens is that
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O que acontece é que
14:07
the corals are a symbiosis,
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os corais son unha simbiose
14:09
and they have these little algal cells
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e teñen estas pequenas células
14:11
that live inside them.
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de algas que viven dentro deles.
14:13
And the algae give the corals sugar,
365
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As algas dan azucre aos corais
14:15
and the corals give the algae
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e os corais dan ás algas
14:17
nutrients and protection.
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nutrientes e protección.
14:19
But when it gets too hot,
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Mais cando vai máis calor,
14:21
the algae can't make the sugar.
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as algas non poden producir o azucre.
14:23
The corals say, "You cheated. You didn't pay your rent."
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Os corais din: "Estafáchesme. Non pagaches o aluguer".
14:25
They kick them out, and then they die.
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As expulsan, e entón elas morren.
14:28
Not all of them die; some of them survive,
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Non todas morren, algunhas sobreviven.
14:30
some more are surviving,
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Algunhas están sobrevivindo,
14:32
but it's really bad news.
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mais é realmente unha mala noticia.
14:34
To try and give you a sense of this,
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Para tentar entendelo,
14:36
imagine you go camping in July
376
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imaxinade que vai a un campamento en xullo
14:39
somewhere in Europe or in North America,
377
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nalgún lugar en Europa ou América do Norte,
14:42
and you wake up the next morning, and you look around you,
378
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e espertades pola mañá, mirades ao voso redor
14:44
and you see that 80 percent of the trees,
379
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e vedes que ao 80 por cento das árbores,
14:46
as far as you can see,
380
871000
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na medida do que podedes ver,
14:48
have dropped their leaves and are standing there naked.
381
873000
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caéronlle as follas e están espidos.
14:51
And you come home, and you discover
382
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Volvedes á casa e descubrides
14:53
that 80 percent of all the trees
383
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que ao 80 por cento de todas as árbores
14:55
in North America and in Europe
384
880000
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de América do Norte e Europa
14:57
have dropped their leaves.
385
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caéronlle as follas.
14:59
And then you read in the paper a few weeks later,
386
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Unhas semanas máis tarde, ledes no xornal
15:01
"Oh, by the way, a quarter of those died."
387
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oh, a propósito, un cuarto deles morreu.
15:04
Well, that's what happened in the Indian Ocean
388
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Ben, foi iso que pasou no Océano Índico
15:07
during the 1998 El Nino,
389
892000
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durante "El Niño" de 1998,
15:09
an area vastly greater
390
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2000
nunha superficie moito maior que
15:11
than the size of North America and Europe,
391
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2000
o tamaño de América do Norte e Europa,
15:13
when 80 percent of all the corals bleached
392
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cando o 80 por cento de todos os corais branquearon
15:16
and a quarter of them died.
393
901000
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e un cuarto deles morreron.
15:19
And then the really scary thing
394
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O realmente aterrador
15:21
about all of this --
395
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de todo isto,
15:23
the overfishing, the pollution and the climate change --
396
908000
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da sobrepesca, a contaminación e o cambio climático,
15:26
is that each thing doesn't happen in a vacuum.
397
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é que cada cousa non acontece nun baleiro,
15:29
But there are these, what we call, positive feedbacks,
398
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senón que hai o que chamamos retroalimentación positiva.
15:32
the synergies among them
399
917000
2000
As sinerxias entre eles
15:34
that make the whole vastly greater
400
919000
2000
fan o todo moito maior
15:36
than the sum of the parts.
401
921000
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que a suma das partes.
15:38
And the great scientific challenge
402
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3000
O grande reto científico
15:41
for people like me in thinking about all this,
403
926000
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para persoas coma min, pensando en todo isto,
15:44
is do we know how
404
929000
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é : saberemos recompoñer
15:46
to put Humpty Dumpty back together again?
405
931000
3000
o ovo a partir dos pedazos?
15:49
I mean, because we, at this point, we can protect it.
406
934000
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Quero dicir, porque nós, neste momento, podemos protexelo.
15:52
But what does that mean?
407
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Mais que significa iso?
15:54
We really don't know.
408
939000
2000
Realmente non o sabemos.
15:57
So what are the oceans going to be like
409
942000
3000
Entón, como van ser os océanos
16:00
in 20 or 50 years?
410
945000
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en 20 ou 50 anos?
16:03
Well, there won't be any fish
411
948000
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Ben, non haberá ningún peixe
16:05
except for minnows,
412
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excepto peixiños,
16:07
and the water will be pretty dirty,
413
952000
3000
e a auga estará moi porca,
16:10
and all those kinds of things
414
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e todo ese tipo de cousas,
16:12
and full of mercury, etc., etc.
415
957000
3000
e cheo de mercurio...
16:17
And dead zones will get bigger and bigger
416
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2000
As zonas mortas medrarán máis e máis
16:19
and they'll start to merge,
417
964000
2000
e empezarán a fusionarse.
16:21
and we can imagine something like
418
966000
2000
Podemos imaxinar algo como
16:23
the dead-zonification
419
968000
2000
a zona morta costeira
16:25
of the global, coastal ocean.
420
970000
3000
do océano global.
16:28
Then you sure won't want to eat fish that were raised in it,
421
973000
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Entón non ides querer comer os peixes nacidos nela,
16:31
because it would be a kind of
422
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porque sería unha especie
16:33
gastronomic Russian roulette.
423
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de ruleta rusa gastronómica.
16:35
Sometimes you have a toxic bloom;
424
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Ás veces tes unha floración tóxica,
16:37
sometimes you don't.
425
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2000
ás veces non.
16:39
That doesn't sell.
426
984000
2000
Iso non vende.
16:41
The really scary things though
427
986000
2000
O realmente aterrador, porén,
16:43
are the physical, chemical,
428
988000
3000
son as cousas físicas, químicas
16:46
oceanographic things that are happening.
429
991000
3000
e oceanográficas que están acontecendo.
16:49
As the surface of the ocean gets warmer,
430
994000
3000
A medida que a superficie do océano quéntase cada vez máis
16:52
the water is lighter when it's warmer,
431
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e a auga é máis lixeira canto máis quente,
16:54
it becomes harder and harder
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faise cada vez máis difícil
16:56
to turn the ocean over.
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mesturar a auga do océano.
16:58
We say it becomes
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É dicir, faise máis
17:00
more strongly stratified.
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fortemente estratificado.
17:02
The consequence of that is that
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A consecuencia diso é que o fluxo
17:04
all those nutrients
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de todos eses nutrientes
17:06
that fuel the great anchoveta fisheries,
438
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que alimentan a gran pesquería da anchoveta
17:09
of the sardines of California
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e da sardiña de California,
17:11
or in Peru or whatever,
440
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ou do Perú, ou onde queira que sexa,
17:14
those slow down
441
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desacelera,
17:16
and those fisheries collapse.
442
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e as pesquerías se colapsan.
17:18
And, at the same time,
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E, ao mesmo tempo,
17:20
water from the surface, which is rich in oxygen,
444
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a auga da superficie, que é rica en osíxeno,
17:23
doesn't make it down
445
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non baixa,
17:27
and the ocean turns into a desert.
446
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e o océano se transforma nun deserto.
17:30
So the question is: How are we all
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Entón a pregunta é: Como é que todos nós
17:32
going to respond to this?
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imos responder a iso?
17:34
And we can do
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Podemos facer
17:36
all sorts of things to fix it,
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todo tipo de cousas para corrixilo,
17:38
but in the final analysis,
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mais na análise final,
17:40
the thing we really need to fix
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o único que realmente precisamos corrixir
17:42
is ourselves.
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é a nós mesmos.
17:44
It's not about the fish; it's not about the pollution;
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Non se trata do peixe, non se trata da contaminación,
17:47
it's not about the climate change.
455
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non se trata do cambio climático.
17:49
It's about us
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Trátase de nós,
17:51
and our greed and our need for growth
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da nosa avaricia, da nosa necesidade de crecemento
17:54
and our inability to imagine a world
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e a nosa incapacidade de imaxinar un mundo
17:57
that is different from the selfish world
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diferente do mundo egoísta
17:59
we live in today.
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no que vivimos hoxe.
18:01
So the question is: Will we respond to this or not?
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Entón a pregunta é: Imos responder a iso ou non?
18:04
I would say that the future of life
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Eu diría que o futuro da vida
18:06
and the dignity of human beings
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e da dignidade dos seres humanos
18:08
depends on our doing that.
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depende do que fagamos.
18:10
Thank you. (Applause)
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Grazas
Translated by Manuel Meixide
Reviewed by Nuria Cobelo Cal

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jeremy Jackson - Marine ecologist
A leader in the study of the ecology and evolution of marine organisms, Jeremy Jackson is known for his deep understanding of geological time.

Why you should listen

Jeremy Jackson is the Ritter Professor of Oceanography and Director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Painting pictures of changing marine environments, particularly coral reefs and the Isthmus of Panama, Jackson's research captures the extreme environmental decline of the oceans that has accelerated in the past 200 years.

Jackson's current work focuses on the future of the world’s oceans, given overfishing, habitat destruction and ocean warming, which have fundamentally changed marine ecosystems and led to "the rise of slime." Although Jackson's work describes grim circumstances, even garnering him the nickname Dr. Doom, he believes that successful management and conservation strategies can renew the ocean’s health.

More profile about the speaker
Jeremy Jackson | Speaker | TED.com