TEDCity2.0
Robin Nagle: What I discovered in New York City trash
Robin Nagle: Hvad jeg opdagede i New Yorks affald
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New Yorks indbyggere producere 11.000 tons affald, hver dag. Hver dag! Denne forbløffende statistik er bare en af grundende til at Robin Nagle startede sit forsknings projekt med byens renovationsafdeling. Hun gik skralderuterne, brugte de mekaniske koste, hun kørte endda skraldebilen selv. Blot så hun kunne svare på et simpelt, men meget kompliceret spørgsmål: Hvem rydder op efter os?
Robin Nagle - Trash anthropologist
Robin Nagle is an anthropologist with a very particular focus... garbage. Full bio
Robin Nagle is an anthropologist with a very particular focus... garbage. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I was about 10 years old
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Jeg var omkring 10 år gammel
00:14
on a camping trip with my dad
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på en camping tur med min far
00:16
in the Adirondack Mountains, a wilderness area
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i Adirondack bjergene, et vildnis område
00:19
in the northern part of New York State.
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i den nordlige del af staten New York
00:22
It was a beautiful day.
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det var en smuk dag
00:23
The forest was sparkling.
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skoven var funklende
00:25
The sun made the leaves glow like stained glass,
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solen fik bladene til at gløde som malet glas
00:28
and if it weren't for the path we were following,
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og hvis det ikke var for den sti vi fulgte
00:32
we could almost pretend we were
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så kunne vi næsten lade som om vi var
00:33
the first human beings to ever walk that land.
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de første mennesker som nogensinde var her
00:37
We got to our campsite.
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Vi kom frem til vores campingplads
00:38
It was a lean-to on a bluff
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det var et halvtag på en skråning
00:40
looking over a crystal, beautiful lake,
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med udsigt over, en smuk krystal klar sø
00:43
when I discovered a horror.
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da jeg opdagede afskyeligheden
00:46
Behind the lean-to was a dump,
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Bag ved halvtaget var der en affaldsplads
00:49
maybe 40 feet square
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måske en 40 fod firkant (12,19 meter)
00:50
with rotting apple cores
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med rådne æble skrog
00:53
and balled-up aluminum foil,
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og sammen-krøllet aluminium
00:54
and a dead sneaker.
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og en død træningsko
00:56
And I was astonished,
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og jeg var forbløffet
00:59
I was very angry, and I was deeply confused.
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jeg var meget vred, og dybt forvirret
01:02
The campers who were too lazy
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de campister der var for dovne
01:04
to take out what they had brought in,
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til at tage det med ud, som de havde taget med ind
01:06
who did they think would clean up after them?
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hvem havde de troet skulle rydde op efter dem?
01:09
That question stayed with me,
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Det spørgsmål blev hos mig
01:11
and it simplified a little.
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og det blev forenklet
01:13
Who cleans up after us?
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Hvem rydder op efter os?
01:16
However you configure
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lige meget hvordan du udformer det
01:17
or wherever you place the us,
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eller hvor du placere OS
01:19
who cleans up after us in Istanbul?
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hvem rydder op efter os i Istanbul?
01:21
Who cleans up after us in Rio
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hvem rydder op efter os i Rio?
01:24
or in Paris or in London?
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eller Paris eller i London?
01:26
Here in New York,
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Her i New York,
01:28
the Department of Sanitation cleans up after us,
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gør renovationsafdelingen rent for os,
01:30
to the tune of 11,000 tons of garbage
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til lyden af 11.000 tons affald
01:33
and 2,000 tons of recyclables every day.
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og 2.000 tons genbrugsmateriale hver dag
01:37
I wanted to get to know them as individuals.
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Jeg ville lære dem at kende som enkelt personer
01:40
I wanted to understand who takes the job.
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jeg ville forstå, hvem der påtager sig jobbet
01:43
What's it like to wear the uniform
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Hvordan er det at have uniformen på
01:45
and bear that burden?
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og bære den byrde?
01:47
So I started a research project with them.
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Så jeg startede et forskningsprojekt med dem.
01:50
I rode in the trucks and walked the routes
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Jeg kørte i skraldebilerne og gik turene
01:52
and interviewed people in offices and facilities
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og interviewede fra kontorer og forskellige anlæg
01:55
all over the city,
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over hele byen
01:56
and I learned a lot,
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og jeg lærte meget
01:58
but I was still an outsider.
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men jeg var stadig en outsider
02:00
I needed to go deeper.
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jeg havde brug for at komme tættere på
02:02
So I took the job as a sanitation worker.
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så jeg tog jobbet som renovationsarbejder
02:05
I didn't just ride in the trucks now. I drove the trucks.
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nu kørte jeg ikke bare med i skraldebilerne, nu kørte jeg dem selv
02:08
And I operated the mechanical brooms and I plowed the snow.
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og jeg styrede de mekaniske koste og jeg pløjede sne
02:11
It was a remarkable privilege
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Det var et usædvanligt privilegium
02:13
and an amazing education.
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og en utrolig uddannelse
02:16
Everyone asks about the smell.
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Alle spørger om lugten
02:18
It's there, but it's not as prevalent as you think,
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den er der, men den er ikke så fremherskende som man skulle tro
02:21
and on days when it is really bad,
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og på dage, hvor det er rigtig slemt
02:22
you get used to it rather quickly.
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vænner du dig til det hurtigt
02:25
The weight takes a long time to get used to.
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vægten tager lang tid at vænne sig til
02:28
I knew people who were several years on the job
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jeg kendte folk som havde arbejdet adskillige år
02:30
whose bodies were still adjusting to the burden
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hvis kroppe stadig tilpassede sig belastningen
02:33
of bearing on your body
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på deres kroppe, af at skulle bære
02:35
tons of trash every week.
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tonsvis af affald hver uge
02:38
Then there's the danger.
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Så er der faren
02:40
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
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ifølge bureauet for Arbejdsstatistik
02:43
sanitation work is one of the 10 most dangerous
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er sanitets arbejde et af de 10 mest farlige
02:45
occupations in the country,
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beskæftigelser i landet
02:47
and I learned why.
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og jeg lærte hvorfor
02:49
You're in and out of traffic all day,
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du køre ind og ud af trafik hele dagen
02:50
and it's zooming around you.
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og det summer omkring dig
02:51
It just wants to get past you, so it's often
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de vil bare forbi dig, så det er ofte
02:53
the motorist is not paying attention.
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billisten ikke er opmærksom
02:55
That's really bad for the worker.
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det er virkelig ikke godt for arbejderen
02:57
And then the garbage itself is full of hazards
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og så er der selve affaldet som er fuld af fare
02:59
that often fly back out of the truck
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som ofte flyver ud af skraldebilen
03:01
and do terrible harm.
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og gør forfærdelig skade
03:03
I also learned about the relentlessness of trash.
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jeg lærte også om ubønhørligheden af affald
03:06
When you step off the curb
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Når du står af på kantstenen
03:07
and you see a city from behind a truck,
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og du ser byen fra bagsiden af en skraldebil
03:10
you come to understand that trash
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så lærer du at forstå at affald
03:12
is like a force of nature unto itself.
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er ligesom en påvirkning af naturen mod sig selv
03:14
It never stops coming.
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det stopper aldrig med at komme.
03:17
It's also like a form of respiration or circulation.
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det er også en form for åndedræt eller cirkulation
03:20
It must always be in motion.
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det skal altid være i bevægelse
03:23
And then there's the stigma.
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og så er der stigmatiseringen.
03:25
You put on the uniform, and you become invisible
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Du tager uniformen på, og bliver usynlig
03:28
until someone is upset with you for whatever reason
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indtil der er nogen der er irriteret på dig af en eller anden årsag
03:31
like you've blocked traffic with your truck,
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som hvis du har blokeret trafikken med din skraldebil
03:33
or you're taking a break too close to their home,
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eller du tager en pause for tæt på deres hjem
03:36
or you're drinking coffee in their diner,
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eller du drikker kaffe i deres cafeteria
03:39
and they will come and scorn you,
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og de vil komme og håne dig
03:41
and tell you that they don't want you anywhere near them.
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og fortælle dig at de ikke vil have dig tæt på dem
03:44
I find the stigma especially ironic,
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jeg finder stigmatiseringen ironisk
03:47
because I strongly believe that sanitation workers
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fordi jeg virkelig mener at renovationsarbejdere
03:50
are the most important labor force
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er den vigtigste arbejdsstyrke
03:52
on the streets of the city, for three reasons.
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på gaderne i byen, af tre grunde
03:55
They are the first guardians of public health.
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de er de første beskyttere af folkets sundhed
03:58
If they're not taking away trash
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hvis de ikke fjerner affaldet
04:00
efficiently and effectively every day,
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effektivt hver dag
04:02
it starts to spill out of its containments,
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så begynder det at løbe ud af deres beholdere
04:05
and the dangers inherent to it threaten us
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og de naturlige fare forbundet med det, truer os
04:09
in very real ways.
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på meget ægte måder
04:10
Diseases we've had in check for decades and centuries
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Sygdomme som vi har haft kontrol over i årtier og århundreder
04:13
burst forth again and start to harm us.
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vil vælte frem igen og begynde at skade os.
04:16
The economy needs them.
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økonomien har brug for dem
04:17
If we can't throw out the old stuff,
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hvis vi ikke kan smide det gamle ud
04:20
we have no room for the new stuff,
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så har vi ikke noget plads til noget nyt
04:22
so then the engines of the economy
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og så vil motorerne i økonomien
04:24
start to sputter when consumption is compromised.
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begynde at sprutte når forbruget er formindsket
04:27
I'm not advocating capitalism, I'm just pointing out their relationship.
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jeg går ikke ind for kapitalisme, jeg udpeger blot forholdet
04:31
And then there's what I call
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og så er der det jeg kalder
04:33
our average, necessary quotidian velocity.
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vores gennemsnits, nødvendige dagligdags hastighed
04:37
By that I simply mean
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med det mener jeg blot
04:39
how fast we're used to moving
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hvor hurtigt vi er vant til at bevæge os
04:41
in the contemporary day and age.
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i den nutidige tidsalder.
04:43
We usually don't care for, repair, clean, carry around
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Vi er som regel ligeglade med reparationer, rengøring, bære
04:48
our coffee cup, our shopping bag,
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vores kaffe kop, vores indkøbspose
04:51
our bottle of water.
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vores vandflaske.
04:52
We use them, we throw them out, we forget about them,
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vi bruger dem, vi smider dem ud, vi glemmer dem
04:55
because we know there's a workforce
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fordi vi ved at der er en arbejdsstyrke
04:57
on the other side that's going to take it all away.
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på den anden side, som vil tage det hele væk.
05:00
So I want to suggest today a couple of ways
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Så i dag vil jeg foreslå et par metoder
05:02
to think about sanitation that will perhaps help
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til at tænke på sanitet som måske vil hjælpe
05:07
ameliorate the stigma
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en forbedring af stigmatiseringen
05:09
and bring them into this conversation
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og få dem ind i samtalen
05:12
of how to craft a city that is sustainable and humane.
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om hvordan man bygger en by som er bæredygtig og menneskelig.
05:17
Their work, I think, is kind of liturgical.
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deres arbejde, synes jeg, er nærmest liturgisk
05:21
They're on the streets every day, rhythmically.
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de er på gaden hver dag, rytmisk
05:24
They wear a uniform in many cities.
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De bære en uniform i mange byer
05:26
You know when to expect them.
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du ved hvornår du kan forvente dem
05:28
And their work lets us do our work.
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og deres arbejder tillader os at gøre vores arbejde
05:32
They are almost a form of reassurance.
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de er nærmest en form for forsikring
05:34
The flow that they maintain
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det flow som de opretholder
05:36
keeps us safe from ourselves,
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gør os sikre fra os selv
05:38
from our own dross, our cast-offs,
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fra vores eget bras, vores udstødte
05:41
and that flow must be maintained always
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og det flow skal altid opretholdes
05:44
no matter what.
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lige meget hvad
05:46
On the day after September 11 in 2001,
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Dagen efter den 11. September 2001
05:49
I heard the growl of a sanitation truck on the street,
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hørte jeg brummen fra en skraldebil på gaden
05:53
and I grabbed my infant son and I ran downstairs
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og jeg greb min nyfødte og løb nedenunder
05:55
and there was a man doing his paper recycling route
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og der var en mand ude på sin papir genbrugsrute
05:58
like he did every Wednesday.
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som han gjorde hver onsdag
06:00
And I tried to thank him for doing his work
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og jeg prøvede at takke ham for hans arbejde
06:02
on that day of all days,
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på den dag, af alle dage
06:05
but I started to cry.
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men jeg begyndte at græde
06:07
And he looked at me,
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og hans så på mig
06:09
and he just nodded, and he said,
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og han nikkede, og sagde
06:12
"We're going to be okay.
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"Vi skal nok klare den
06:15
We're going to be okay."
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vi skal nok klare den"
06:18
It was a little while later that I started
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det var lidt senere at jeg begyndte
06:19
my research with sanitation,
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min forskning om renovation
06:20
and I met that man again.
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og jeg mødte den mand igen
06:22
His name is Paulie, and we worked together many times,
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Hans navn er Paulie og vi arbejdede sammen mange gange
06:25
and we became good friends.
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og blev gode venner
06:27
I want to believe that Paulie was right.
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Jeg vil gerne tro på at Paulie havde ret
06:29
We are going to be okay.
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Vi skal nok klare den
06:32
But in our effort to reconfigure
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men i vores forsøg på at rekonfigurere
06:34
how we as a species exist on this planet,
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hvor vi som en art eksistere på denne planet
06:37
we must include and take account of
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må vi inkludere og tage højde for
06:40
all the costs, including the very real human cost
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omkostningerne, inklusiv de meget virkelig menneskelige omkostninger
06:44
of the labor.
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af arbejdet
06:45
And we also would be well informed
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og vi ville også være velinformeret
06:48
to reach out to the people who do that work
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til at række ud efter folk som gør deres arbejde
06:50
and get their expertise
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og få deres ekspertise
06:52
on how do we think about,
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på hvordan vi tænker på
06:54
how do we create systems around sustainability
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hvordan laver vi et system omkring bæredygtighed
06:57
that perhaps take us from curbside recycling,
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som måske tager os væk fra, fortovsgenbrug
07:01
which is a remarkable success across 40 years,
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hvilket er en storslået succes
07:03
across the United States and countries around the world,
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tværs over USA og lande rundt om i verden
07:06
and lift us up to a broader horizon
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og løfte os op til et bredere udsyn
07:09
where we're looking at other forms of waste
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hvor vi kigger på andre former for affald
07:12
that could be lessened
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som kunne formindskes
07:14
from manufacturing and industrial sources.
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fra produktions og industriens side
07:16
Municipal waste, what we think of when we talk about garbage,
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kommunalt affald, hvad vi tænker på når vi taler om affald
07:20
accounts for three percent of the nation's waste stream.
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tæller for 3 procent af nationens affaldsstrøm
07:24
It's a remarkable statistic.
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det er en bemærkelsesværdig statistik
07:27
So in the flow of your days,
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Så i jeres daglige flow
07:29
in the flow of your lives,
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flowet i jeres liv
07:31
next time you see someone whose job is
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næste gang du ser en, hvis job er
07:34
to clean up after you,
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at rydde op efter dig
07:37
take a moment to acknowledge them.
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tag et øjeblik og anerkend dem
07:39
Take a moment to say thank you.
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tag et øjeblik til at sige tak
07:44
(Applause)
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(Applaus)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Robin Nagle - Trash anthropologistRobin Nagle is an anthropologist with a very particular focus... garbage.
Why you should listen
Robin Nagle has been the anthropologist-in-residence at the Department of Sanitation in New York City since 2006.
Nagle's fascination with trash stems from her desire to understand the all-too-often invisible infrastructure that guides the flow of garbage through a megalopolis like New York. After all, the city produces 11,000 tons of rubbish each day... and all of that has to be dealt with somewhere and by someone. If not, damaging health problems and consequences for all. So why do sanitation workers experience such stigma, all too often scorned and berated while on the job? Nagle, who is also director of NYU's Draper Interdisciplinary Master's program in humanities and social thought, determined to find out. She got her sanitation worker license and has spent much time with workers on the job, getting an up-close view of the city's garbage and the systems in place to deal with it.
Her book, Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City was published in 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. See also the profile of her work -- and a photoessay of her favorite places in New York City.
Robin Nagle | Speaker | TED.com