TEDxUSC
Jane Poynter: Life in Biosphere 2
Jane Poynter: Vida a Biosfera 2
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La Jane Poynter explica com va viure dos anys i 20 minuts a Biosfera 2. Una experiència que l'ha portat a explorar com mantenir la vida en els entorns més difícils. Aquesta és la primera TEDtalk organitzada per un TEDx independent, a la Universitat del Sud de Califòrnia.
Jane Poynter - Biospherian
After weathering two years in Biosphere 2, Jane Poynter is trying to create technologies that allow us to live in hostile environments -- like outer space. Full bio
After weathering two years in Biosphere 2, Jane Poynter is trying to create technologies that allow us to live in hostile environments -- like outer space. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I have had the distinct pleasure
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He tingut el ditingit plaer
00:15
of living inside two biospheres.
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de viure dins dues biosferes.
00:18
Of course we all here in this room live in Biosphere 1.
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Naturalment, tots els que estem ara en aquesta sala vivim
a la Biosfera 1.
a la Biosfera 1.
00:22
I've also lived in Biosphere 2.
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Però jo també he viscut a la Biosfera 2
00:26
And the wonderful thing about that is that I get to compare biospheres.
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I el que és meravellós de tot plegat és que he pogut comparar biosferes.
00:30
And hopefully from that I get to learn something.
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I n'he pogut aprendre alguna cosa.
00:33
So what did I learn? Well,
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I què he après? Bé,
00:35
here I am inside Biosphere 2, making a pizza.
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Aquí em teniu a la Biosfera 2, fent una pizza.
00:38
So I am harvesting the wheat, in order to make the dough.
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Per tant, he hagut de conrear el blat per poder fer la massa.
00:41
And then of course I have to milk the goats
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I després, naturalment, munyir les cabres
00:43
and feed the goats in order to make the cheese.
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i donar-les de menjar per poder fer el formatge
00:46
It took me four months in Biosphere 2 to make a pizza.
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Em va portar quatre mesos fer una pizza a la Biosfera 2.
00:48
Here in Biosphere 1, well it takes me about two minutes,
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Aquí, a la Biosfera 1, bé, m'hauria portat dos minuts.
00:51
because I pick up the phone and I call and say,
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Ja que hagués agafat el telèfon, hauria trucat i hauria dit:
00:53
"Hey, can you deliver the pizza?"
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"Ei, que porteu pizzes a domicili?"
00:55
So Biosphere 2
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La Biosfera 2
00:58
was essentially a three-acre,
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era bàsicament un món en miniatura
01:00
entirely sealed, miniature world
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de 12.000 metres quadrats hemèticament tancats
01:02
that I lived in for two years and 20 minutes.
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en el qual vaig viure durant dos anys i 20 minuts.
01:05
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
01:08
Over the top it was sealed with steel and glass,
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Per sobre estava hermèticament tancat amb acer i vidre.
01:10
underneath it was sealed with a pan of steel --
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Per sota per una plataforma d'acer.
01:13
essentially entirely sealed.
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O sigui, ben tancat.
01:15
So we had our own miniature rainforest,
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Per tant, teniem la nostra pròpia selva,
01:17
a private beach with a coral reef.
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Una platja privada amb coralls.
01:19
We had a savanna, a marsh, a desert.
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Teniem una savana, un pantà, un desert.
01:22
We had our own half-acre farm that we had to grow everything.
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Teniem la nostra pròpia granja de 2.000 metres quadrats de la qual haviem d'obtenir-ho tot.
01:25
And of course we had our human habitat, where we lived.
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I naturalment un habitat per nosaltres, que era on viviem.
01:28
Back in the mid-'80s when we were designing Biosphere 2,
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A mitjans dels 80 quan es va dissenyar la Biosfera 2,
01:31
we had to ask ourselves some pretty basic questions.
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ens feiem algunes preguntes elementals.
01:33
I mean, what is a biosphere?
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Vull dir, què és una biosfera?
01:35
Back then, yes, I guess we all know now
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Sí, estic segura que tots nosaltres ho sabem
01:37
that it is essentially the sphere of life around the Earth, right?
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que bàsicament és l'esfera de vida que hi ha al voltant de la Terra, no?
01:40
Well, you have to get a little more specific than that if you're going to build one.
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Bé, però haurem de ser una mica més específics si en volem construir una.
01:43
And so we decided that what it really is
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I vam establir que realment és
01:46
is that it is entirely materially closed --
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quelcom materialment tancat,
01:49
that is, nothing goes in or out at all, no material --
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o sigui, que res pot entrar o sortir, res de material,
01:52
and energetically open,
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i energèticament obert.
01:54
which is essentially what planet Earth is.
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Que és el que, en essència, és el planeta Terra.
01:56
This is a chamber that was 1/400th the size of Biosphere 2
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Aquesta cambra era 1/400 part la mida de la Biosfera 2.
01:59
that we called our Test Module.
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En dèiem el Mòdul d'Experimentació.
02:01
And the very first day that this fellow, John Allen,
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I el primer dia que aquest individu, John Allen,
02:03
walked in, to spend a couple of days in there
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hi va entrar per estar-s'hi un parell de dies,
02:05
with all the plants and animals and bacteria that we'd put in there
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amb totes les plantes, animals i bactèries que hi havíem posat
02:07
to hopefully keep him alive,
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amb l'esperança de mantenir-lo viu.
02:09
the doctors were incredibly concerned
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Els metges estaven increiblement preocupats
02:11
that he was going to succumb to some dreadful toxin,
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de que morís víctima d'alguna toxina fatal,
02:13
or that his lungs were going to get choked with bacteria or something, fungus.
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o que els seus pulmons s'ennuaguessin amb els bacteris o els fongs.
02:17
But of course none of that happened.
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Però, és clar, res d'això va succeir.
02:20
And over the ensuing few years,
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I al cap d'uns pocs anys,
02:22
there were great sagas about designing Biosphere 2.
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hi van haver grans sagues sobre el disseny de la Biosfera 2.
02:24
But by 1991
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Però el 1991
02:26
we finally had this thing built.
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la vam tenir finalment construïda
02:28
And it was time for us to go in
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I va ser l'hora de ficar-nos-hi a dins
02:30
and give it a go.
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i donar-li una oportunitat.
02:32
We needed to know,
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Ens calia saber,
02:34
is life this malleable?
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la vida és tan mal·leable?
02:36
Can you take this biosphere,
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Es pot agafar aquesta biosfera,
02:38
that has evolved on a planetary scale,
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que ha evolucionat a escala planetària,
02:40
and jam it into a little bottle,
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i envasar-la en una ampolla,
02:42
and will it survive?
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i que sobrevisqui?
02:44
Big questions.
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Grans preguntes.
02:46
And we wanted to know this both for being able to go somewhere else
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I volíem saber això per ser capaços d'anar a un altre lloc
02:49
in the universe -- if we were going to go to Mars, for instance,
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a l'univers, si anem a Mart, per exemple,
02:52
would we take a biosphere with us, to live in it?
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ens podriem emportar una biosfera amb nosaltres, per poder viure-hi a dins?
02:54
We also wanted to know so we can understand more about
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També volíem saber si podíem entendre millor
02:56
the Earth that we all live in.
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la Terra on vivim.
02:58
Well, in 1991 it was finally time for us to go in
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Bé, dons el 1991 va ser finalment el moment d'entrar
03:01
and try out this baby.
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i provar el nostre bebè.
03:03
Let's take it on a maiden voyage.
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Aquí estem fent el viatge inagural.
03:05
Will it work? Or will something happen
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Funcionarà? O passarà alguna cosa
03:07
that we can't understand and we can't fix,
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que no entendrem i que no podrem arreglar?
03:11
thereby negating the concept of man-made biospheres?
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Negant així el concepte de biosfera artificial.
03:15
So eight of us went in: four men and four women.
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Així que vuit de nosaltres vam entrar a dins. Quatre homes i quatre dones.
03:18
More on that later.
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Més sobre això més endavant.
03:20
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
03:22
And this is the world that we lived in.
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I aquest era el món en el que vivíem.
03:25
So, on the top, we had
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Així, a sobre teníem
03:27
these beautiful rainforests and an ocean,
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aquesta bonica selva i un oceà.
03:29
and underneath we had all this technosphere, we called it,
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I a sota hi teniem el que anomenavem tecnosfera.
03:33
which is where all the pumps and the valves
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Que és on hi havien totes les bombes i vàlvules
03:35
and the water tanks and the air handlers, and all of that.
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i dipòsits d'aigua i els sistemes de tractament de l'aire, i tot això.
03:38
One of the Biospherians called it "garden of Eden
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Un dels biosferians l'anomenava el "jardí de l'Eden
03:40
on top of an aircraft carrier."
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damunt d'un portaavions."
03:42
And then also we had the human habitat of course,
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I, naturalment, també teniem l'habitat dels humans.
03:44
with the laboratories, and all of that.
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amb els laboratoris, i tot això.
03:46
This is the agriculture.
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Aquesta és la granja.
03:48
It was essentially an organic farm.
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Bàsicament era una granja orgànica.
03:51
The day I walked into Biosphere 2,
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El dia que vaig caminar per Biosfera 2,
03:53
I was, for the first time,
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estava, per primera vegada,
03:55
breathing a completely different atmosphere
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respirant una atmosfera completament diferent
03:58
than everybody else in the world,
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que qualsevol altra persona en el món
04:00
except seven other people.
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excepte les set altres persones.
04:02
At that moment I became part of that biosphere.
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En aquest moment jo em vaig tornar part d'aquella biosfera.
04:06
And I don't mean that in an abstract sense;
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I no vull dir en sentit abstracte.
04:09
I mean it rather literally.
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Vull dir literalment.
04:11
When I breathed out, my CO2
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Quan exhalava, el meu CO2
04:14
fed the sweet potatoes that I was growing.
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alimentava els moniatos que estava conreant.
04:18
And we ate an awful lot of the sweet potatoes.
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I vam menjar una pila de moniatos.
04:21
(Laughter)
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(Riures)
04:23
And those sweet potatoes
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I aquells moniatos
04:25
became part of me.
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van convertir-se en part de mi.
04:27
In fact, we ate so many sweet potatoes
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De fet, vam menjar tants moniatos,
04:29
I became orange with sweet potato.
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que em vaig tornar taronja.
04:31
I literally was eating the same carbon over and over again.
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Estava menjant literalment el mateix carbó una i altra vegada.
04:35
I was eating myself in some strange sort of bizarre way.
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D'alguna manera m'estava menjant a mi mateixa-
04:39
When it came to our atmosphere, however,
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Però quan es tractava de la nostra atmosfera
04:41
it wasn't that much of a joke over the long term,
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no era un tema per fer broma a llarg termini.
04:45
because it turned out that we were losing oxygen, quite a lot of oxygen.
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Perquè ens vam adonar que estavem perdent oxigen, bastant d'oxigen.
04:49
And we knew that we were losing CO2.
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I sabíem que estàvem perdent CO2.
04:51
And so we were working to sequester carbon.
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Així que ens vam posar a treballar per segrestar carboni.
04:54
Good lord -- we know that term now.
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Déu meu senyor. Ara en diem "segrestar".
04:56
We were growing plants like crazy.
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Vam començar a plantar plantes com bojos.
04:58
We were taking their biomass, storing them in the basement,
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Agafavem la biomassa i l'emmagatzemavem al soterrani.
05:00
growing plants, going around, around, around,
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plantant plantes, i tornant a començar,
05:02
trying to take all of that carbon out of the atmosphere.
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intentant treure tot aquell carboni de l'atmosfera
05:04
We were trying to stop carbon from going into the atmosphere.
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Estàvem intentant aturar que el carboni anés a l'atmosfera.
05:07
We stopped irrigating our soil, as much as we could.
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Vam deixar de regar el sòl, tant com vam poder.
05:09
We stopped tilling, so that we could prevent greenhouse gasses from going into the air.
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Vam deixar de conrear, ja que això podia evitar que gasos d'efecte hivernacle anessin a l'aire.
05:13
But our oxygen was going down faster
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Però l'oxigen baixava ràpidament
05:15
than our CO2 was going up, which was quite unexpected,
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mentre que el CO2 anava augmentant, la qual cosa era bastant sorprenent,
05:18
because we had seen them going in tandem in the test module.
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pel que havíem après en el Mòdul d'Experimentació.
05:21
And it was like playing atomic hide-and-seek.
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Era com jugar a fet i amagar a nivell atòmic.
05:24
We had lost seven tons of oxygen.
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Havíem perdut set tones d'oxigen.
05:26
And we had no clue where it was.
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I no teníem ni idea a on havia anat.
05:28
And I tell you, when you lose a lot of oxygen --
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I us haig de dir, quan perds molt d'oxigen
05:31
and our oxygen went down quite far;
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i el nostre baixava bastant de pressa,
05:33
it went from 21 percent down to 14.2 percent --
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va passar del 21 per cent fins el 14.2 per cent,
05:36
my goodness, do you feel dreadful.
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Déu meu, et sents fatal.
05:39
I mean we were dragging ourselves around the Biosphere.
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Vull dir que ens estàvem arrossegant al voltant de la Biosfera.
05:42
And we had sleep apnea at night.
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I a la nit patíem apnea del son.
05:44
So you'd wake up gasping with breath,
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I ens despertàvem sobtadament panteixant.
05:47
because your blood chemistry has changed.
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Perquè la química de la nostra sang havia canviat.
05:49
And that you literally do that. You stop breathing and then you -- (Gasps) --
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I tu fas això realment. Deixes de respirar i després ... esbufecs.
05:52
take a breath and it wakes you up. And it's very irritating.
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Agafes aire i això et desperta. És molt irritant.
05:54
And everybody outside thought we were dying.
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I tothom a fora pensava que ens moririem.
05:56
I mean, the media was making it sound like were were dying.
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Vull dir, els mitjans de comunicació parlaven com si ens estéssim morint.
05:58
And I had to call up my mother every other day saying, "No, Mum, it's fine, fine.
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I havia de trucar a la meva mare dia cada dia dient-li:"No, mare, tot va bé, bé."
06:01
We're not dead. We're fine. We're fine."
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No estem morts. Estem bé. Estem bé."
06:03
And the doctor was, in fact, checking us
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I el metge, de fet, ens feia revisions
06:05
to make sure we were, in fact, fine.
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per estar segur que, realment, estàvem bé.
06:07
But in fact he was the person who was most susceptible to the oxygen.
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Però, de fet, ell era la persona que més patia la manca d'oxigen.
06:11
And one day he couldn't add up a line of figures.
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I un dia va ser incapaç d'ordenar una linea de figures.
06:13
And it was time for us to put oxygen in.
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I va ser el moment per nosaltres d'afegir oxigen.
06:17
And you might think, well,
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I podeu pensar, bé,
06:19
"Boy, your life support system
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"Nano, el teu sistema de suport vital
06:21
was failing you. Wasn't that dreadful?"
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us ha estat fallat. No és fotut, això?"
06:23
Yes. In a sense it was terrifying.
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Sí. D'una banda era terrorífic.
06:27
Except that I knew I could walk out the airlock door
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Excepte que jo sabia que podia obrir la porta exterior
06:30
at any time, if it really got bad,
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en qualsevol moment, si les coses realment es posaven lletjes.
06:32
though who was going to say, "I can't take it anymore!"?
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Però qui seria el que diria, "No puc aguantar més!"?
06:35
Not me, that was for sure.
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Jo segur que no.
06:37
But on the other hand, it was the scientific gold of the project,
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Però d'altra banda estava l'objectiu científic del projecte.
06:41
because we could really crank this baby up,
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Perquè realment podiem exigir a aquesta estrutura,
06:43
as a scientific tool,
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com una eina cientifica,
06:45
and see if we could, in fact, find
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i veure si podiem, de fet, trobar
06:47
where those seven tons of oxygen had gone.
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on aquelles set tones d'oxigen havien anat a parar.
06:50
And we did indeed find it.
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I al final les vam trobar.
06:52
And we found it in the concrete.
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I les vam trobar al formigó.
06:54
Essentially it had done something very simple.
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Essencialment havia passat una cosa ben simple.
06:56
We had put too much carbon in the soil in the form of compost.
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Havíem posat massa carboni en el sòl en forma de compost.
06:59
It broke down; it took oxygen out of the air;
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Es va desfer, va agafar oxigen de l'aire.
07:01
it put CO2 into the air; and it went into the concrete.
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i posava CO2 a l'aire. I l'oxigen se n'anava al formigó.
07:04
Pretty straightforward really.
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Ben senzill, de fet.
07:06
So at the end of the two years
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Així que al final dels dos anys
07:08
when we came out, we were elated,
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quan vam sortir, estàvem eufòrics.
07:10
because, in fact, although you might say
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Perquè, de fet, a pesar del que poguessin dir
07:13
we had discovered something that was quite "uhh,"
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havíem descobert una cosa que era bastant "uhh,"
07:16
when your oxygen is going down,
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quan el teu oxigen baixa,
07:18
stopped working, essentially, in your life support system,
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s'atura el funcionament del teu sistema de suport vital,
07:21
that's a very bad failure.
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és una errada fatal.
07:23
Except that we knew what it was. And we knew how to fix it.
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Si no fos que ara sabíem perquè va passar. I sabíem com arreglar-ho.
07:26
And nothing else emerged
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I no va sortir res més
07:28
that really was as serious as that.
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que realment fos seriós com això
07:30
And we proved the concept, more or less.
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I vam provar el concepte, més o menys.
07:32
People, on the other hand, was a different subject.
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La gent, d'altra banda, tenia una altra idea.
07:35
We were -- yeah I don't know that we were fixable.
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Érem, no sabíem si érem reparables.
07:38
We all went quite nuts, I will say.
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Ens vam tornar bastant bojos, jo diria.
07:40
And the day I came out of Biosphere 2,
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I el dia que vaig sortir de Biosfera 2
07:42
I was thrilled I was going to see all my family and my friends.
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Estava excitada perquè veuria la meva família i els meus amics.
07:46
For two years I'd been seeing people through the glass.
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Durant dos anys havia estat veient la gent a través del vidre.
07:49
And everybody ran up to me.
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I tothom se'm va apropar.
07:51
And I recoiled. They stank!
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I jo vaig recular. Feien pudor!
07:55
People stink!
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La gent feia pudor!
07:57
We stink of hairspray and underarm deodorant,
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Fem pudor d'esprai pels cabells i desodorant per les aixelles,
08:00
and all kinds of stuff.
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i de tota aquesta mena de coses.
08:02
Now we had stuff inside Biosphere to keep ourselves clean,
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A dins de Biosfera teniem coses per rentar-nos.
08:05
but nothing with perfume.
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Però res perfumat.
08:07
And boy do we stink out here.
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I noi, aquí a fora fem pudor.
08:10
Not only that,
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No només això,
08:12
but I lost touch of where my food came from.
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sinó que sentia que no sabia d'on venia el meu menjar
08:16
I had been growing all my own food.
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Havia estat conreant tot el meu menjar
08:19
I had no idea what was in my food, where it came from.
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I ara no tenia ni idea que era el que menjava ni d'on venia
08:22
I didn't even recognize half the names in most of the food that I was eating.
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Ni tan sols reconeixia la meitat dels noms de les coses que menjava.
08:25
In fact, I would stand for hours in the aisles of shops,
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De fet, m'estava dreta hores als supermercats,
08:28
reading all the names on all of the things.
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llegint les etiquetes dels productes.
08:30
People must have thought I was nuts.
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La gent es devia pensar que m'havia tornat boja.
08:32
It was really quite astonishing.
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Era bastant sorprenent.
08:38
And I slowly lost track
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I poc a poc vaig anar perdent la pista
08:41
of where I was in this big biosphere, in this big biosphere that we all live in.
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de quin lloc ocupava en aquesta gran biosfera en la que vivim tots.
08:45
In Biosphere 2 I totally understood
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A Biosfera 2 entenia totalment
08:48
that I had a huge impact on my biosphere, everyday,
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que jo representava un gran impacte a la biosfera, cada dia,
08:52
and it had an impact on me,
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i que ella tenia un gran impacte en mi,
08:54
very viscerally, very literally.
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visceralment, literalment
08:56
So I went about my business:
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Vaig a parlar-vos de la meva empresa.
08:58
Paragon Space Development Corporation,
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Paragon Space Development Corporation,
09:00
a little firm I started with people while I was in the Biosphere,
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Una petita empresa que vaig endagar amb els meus companys mentre estàvem a Biosfera 2.
09:02
because I had nothing else to do.
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perquè no teníem res més a fer.
09:04
And one of the things we did was
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I una de les coses que vaig fer va ser
09:06
try to figure out: how small can you make these biospheres,
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esbrinar fins a quin punt de petita es podia fer les biosferes.
09:08
and what can you do with them?
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I que en podíem fer amb elles?
09:10
And so we sent one onto the Mir Space Station.
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I en vam enviar una a l'estació orbital Mir.
09:13
We had one on the shuttle and one on the International Space Station,
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En teniem una en el transbordador espacial i una l'Estació Espacial Internacional.
09:16
for 16 months, where we managed to produce
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durant 16 mesos. Vam aconseguir produir
09:18
the first organisms to go through
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els primeres organismes que
09:20
complete multiple life cycles in space --
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van completar múltiples cicles de vida a l'espai.
09:22
really pushing the envelope
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Realment trencant els límits
09:24
of understanding how malleable
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en la comprensió de com de mal·leable
09:26
our life systems are.
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és la vida.
09:29
And I'm also proud to announce
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I també estic orgullosa d'anunciar,
09:31
that you're getting a sneak preview -- on Friday we're going to announce
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en primícia, el divendres ho anunciarem oficialment
09:34
that we're actually forming a team
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que estem formant un equip
09:36
to develop a system to grow plants on the Moon,
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per desenvolupar un sistema per conrear plantes a la Lluna,
09:39
which is going to be pretty fun.
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la qual cosa és bastant graciosa.
09:41
And the legacy of that is a system that we were designing:
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I el llegat d'això és el sistema que vam dissenyar,
09:44
an entirely sealed system to grow plants to grow on Mars.
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un sistema totalment tancat per conrear plantes a Mart.
09:48
And part of that is that we had to model
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I una part d'aixì és que vam haver de modelar
09:50
very rapid circulation of CO2
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una ràpida circulació del CO2
09:54
and oxygen and water through this plant system.
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i oxigen i aigua, a través d'aquest sistema vegetal.
09:57
As a result of that modeling
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I com a resultat d'aquest modelatge
09:59
I ended up in all places,
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vaig acabar
10:01
in Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa.
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a Eritrea, la banya d'Àfrica.
10:04
Eritrea, formerly part of Ethiopia,
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Eritrea, antiga part d'Etiòpia,
10:07
is one of those places that is astonishingly beautiful,
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és un d'aquells lloc que és sorprenentment bonic,
10:12
incredibly stark, and I have no understanding
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molt dur, i no entenia
10:16
of how people eke out a living there.
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com la gent s'hi guanya la vida
10:18
It is so dry.
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És tan sec.
10:20
This is what I saw.
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Això és el que vaig veure.
10:22
But this is also what I saw.
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Però també vaig veure això.
10:24
I saw a company that had
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Vaig veure una empresa que
10:27
taken seawater
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agafava aigua de mar,
10:30
and sand, and they were growing
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i sorra, i conreaven
10:33
a kind of crop that will grow on pure salt water without having to treat it.
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una mena de cultiu que creixia en aigua salada sense problemes.
10:37
And it will produce a food crop.
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I volien produir un conreu comestible.
10:39
In this case it was oilseed.
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En aquest cas es tractava de llavors oleaginoses.
10:41
It was astonishing. They were also producing mangroves
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Estava molt sorpresa. També estaven produint manglars
10:44
in a plantation.
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en una plantació.
10:46
And the mangroves were providing wood
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I els manglars proporcionaven fusta
10:48
and honey and leaves for the animals,
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i mel, i fulles pels animals,
10:50
so that they could produce milk and whatnot,
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del quals en podien obtenir llet i el que sigui,
10:52
like we had in the Biosphere.
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com el que teníem a la Biosfera.
10:54
And all of it was coming from this: shrimp farms.
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I tot venia d'aquí, granjes de gambetes.
10:58
Shrimp farms are a scourge on the earth,
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Les granjes de gambetes són una plaga per la Terra,
11:00
frankly, from an environmental point of view.
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francament, des d'un punt de vist ecològic,
11:02
They pour huge amounts of pollutants into the ocean.
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aboquen grans quantitats de contaminants a l'oceà.
11:05
They also pollute their next-door neighbors.
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i també contaminen els seus veïns.
11:08
So they're all shitting each other's ponds, quite literally.
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Parlant en plata, es caguen a la banyera del veí.
11:11
And what this project was doing
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I el que feia aquets projecte,
11:14
was taking the effluent of these,
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era prendre aquests residus,
11:16
and turning them into all of this food.
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i convertir-los en menjar.
11:18
They were literally turning pollution into abundance for a desert people.
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Literalment estaven convertint contaminació en abundància per a la gent del desert.
11:23
They had created an industrial ecosystem, of a sense.
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d'alguna manera, havien creat un ecosistema industrial
11:27
I was there because I was actually modeling the mangrove portion
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Jo hi era perquè en aquell moment estava modelant la part dels manglars
11:31
for a carbon credit program, under the U.N.
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per a un programa de crèdits de carbó, sota l'ONU.
11:33
Kyoto Protocol system.
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El protocol de Kyoto
11:35
And as I was modeling this mangrove swamp,
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I jo estava modelant aquest pantà de manglars
11:37
I was thinking to myself, "How do you put a box around this?"
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I pensava "Com podria posar això dins una caixa?"
11:40
When I'm modeling a plant in a box, literally,
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Estava modelant com posar una planta dins una caixa, literalment,
11:43
I know where to draw the boundary.
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Sé on hi ha el límit
11:45
In a mangrove forest like this I have no idea.
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Però en un bosc de manglars com aquest no en tinc ni idea.
11:48
Well, of course you have to draw the boundary around the whole of the Earth.
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Bé, naturalment el límit és la Terra mateixa.
11:51
And understand its interactions with the entire Earth.
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I entendre les interaccions amb la tota la Terra.
11:54
And put your project in that context.
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I com posar un projecte en aquest context.
11:59
Around the world today we're seeing an incredible transformation,
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Actualment estem veient una increible transformació del món.
12:04
from what I would call a biocidal species,
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Del que podríem anomenar una espècie biocida,
12:08
one that -- whether we intentionally or unintentionally --
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tant si ho fem intencionadament o no
12:11
have designed our systems to kill life, a lot of the time.
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els nostres sistemes estan majoritàriament dissenyats per matar vida
12:15
This is in fact, this beautiful photograph,
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Aquesta bonica fotografia
12:19
is in fact over the Amazon.
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està presa sobre l'Amazones.
12:21
And here the light green are areas of massive deforestation.
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En verd clar les àres de deforestació massiva.
12:26
And those beautiful wispy clouds
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I aquests bonics núvols
12:28
are, in fact, fires, human-made fires.
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són, de fet, incendis, incendis provocats pels humans.
12:32
We're in the process of transforming from this,
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Estem en un procés de transformació d'una sociedad biocida
12:35
to what I would call a biophilic society,
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al que podríem anomenar una sociedad biofílica,
12:39
one where we learn to nurture society.
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en la qual aprendrem a nodrir la societat.
12:42
Now it may not seem like it, but we are.
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Pot semblar que no estem en aquest camí, però hi estem.
12:45
It is happening all across the world,
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Està passant a tot el món,
12:48
in every kind of walk of life,
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en tots els àmbits de la vida,
12:50
and every kind of career
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i en tots els àmbits d'estudi
12:52
and industry that you can think of.
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i de la indústria que us pogueu imaginar.
12:56
And I think often times people get lost in that.
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Sovint penso en ela gent que se sent perduda en tot això.
12:59
They go, "But how can I possibly find my way in that?
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Diuen, "Però com puc trobar el meu camí
13:02
It's such a huge subject."
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en un àmbit tan gros?"
13:04
And I would say that the small stuff counts. It really does.
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Els petits canvis són poderosos. De veritat que sí.
13:08
This is the story of a rake in my backyard.
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Aquesta és la història d'un rascló en el meu jardí.
13:13
This was my backyard,
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Aquest era el meu jardí,
13:15
very early on, when I bought my property.
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molt aviat, quan vaig comprar casa meva.
13:17
And in Arizona, of course, everybody puts gravel down.
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I a Arizona, naturalment, tothom cobreix el terra amb grava.
13:20
And they like to keep everything beautifully raked. And they keep all the leaves away.
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I a tothom li agrada mantenir-ho tot ben rasclonat. I treuen les fulles de terra.
13:24
And on Sunday morning the neighbors leaf blower comes out,
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I el diumenge pel matí apareix el bufador de fulles del veí.
13:27
and I want to throttle them.
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I els vull fer fora.
13:29
It's a certain type of aesthetic.
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És una mena d'estètica.
13:32
We're very uncomfortable with untidiness.
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Ens sentim molt incòmodes amb el desordre.
13:35
And I threw away my rake.
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I vaig llençar el meu rascló
13:39
And I let all of the leaves fall from the trees that I have on my property.
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I vaig deixar que les fulles dels arbres de la meva propietat caiguessin.
13:43
And over time, essentially what have I been doing?
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I amb el temps, bàsicament que és el que he estat fent?
13:45
I've been building topsoil.
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He estat construint la capa superficial del sòl.
13:47
And so now all the birds come in. And I have hawks.
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I ara els ocells hi venen. Fins i tot els falcons.
13:49
And I have an oasis.
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Tinc un oasi.
13:53
This is what happens every spring. For six weeks,
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Això és el que passa cada primavera. Durant sis setmanes,
13:57
six to eight weeks, I have this flush of green oasis.
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de sis a vuit setmanes, tinc aquest oasi verd.
14:00
This is actually in a riparian area.
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Això és en realitat en una zona riberenca.
14:02
And all of Tucson could be like this
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I tot Tucson podria ser així
14:04
if everybody would just revolt and throw away the rake.
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si tothom es revoltes i simplement llencés el seu rascló.
14:07
The small stuff counts.
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Els petits canvis són poderosos.
14:11
The Industrial Revolution -- and Prometheus --
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La Revolució Industrial, i Prometeu,
14:14
has given us this, the ability to light up the world.
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ens han donat això: la capacitat d'il·luminar el mòn.
14:19
It has also given us this,
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Però també ens han donat això,
14:21
the ability to look at the world from the outside.
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la capacitat de mirar al mòn des de l'exterior.
14:25
Now we may not all have
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I és possible que no tinguem
14:27
another biosphere that we can run to,
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una altra biosfera on viure,
14:29
and compare it to this biosphere.
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i comparar amb aquesta biosfera.
14:32
But we can look at the world,
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Però podem mirar al mòn,
14:34
and try to understand where we are in its context,
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i intentar entendre on som nosaltres en aquest context,
14:39
and how we choose to interact with it.
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i com volem interactuar-hi.
14:43
And if you lose where you are in your biosphere,
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I si perds de vista on ets dins la teva biosfera,
14:46
or are perhaps having a difficulty connecting
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o si tal vegada tens problemes per connectar
14:48
with where you are in the biosphere,
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amb on ets dins la biosfera,
14:50
I would say to you,
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Et diria,
14:53
take a deep breath.
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respira profundament.
14:56
The yogis had it right.
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Els ioguis tenien raó.
14:58
Breath does, in fact, connect us all
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La respiració, de fet, ens connecta amb tot
15:01
in a very literal way.
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d'una manera ben literal.
15:03
Take a breath now.
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Agafa aire altra vegada.
15:05
And as you breathe, think
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I mentre respires, pensa
15:07
about what is in your breath.
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sobre l'aire que has inspirat.
15:11
There perhaps is the CO2 from the person sitting next-door to you.
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Potser és el CO2 d'una persona sentada al teu costat.
15:16
Maybe there is a little bit of oxygen
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Potser hi ha una mica d'oxigen
15:18
from some algae on the beach not far from here.
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d'alguna alga d'una platja no molt lluny d'aquí.
15:23
It also connects us in time.
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També ens connecta amb el temps.
15:26
There may be some carbon in your breath
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Potser hi ha una mica de carboni en el teu aire
15:30
from the dinosaurs.
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dels dinosaures.
15:33
There could also be carbon that you are exhaling now
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I també podria ser que el carboni que ara exhales,
15:38
that will be in the breath
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estigui en la respiració
15:42
of your great-great-great-grandchildren.
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del teu re-bes-bes-bes-nét.
15:45
Thank you. (Applause)
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Gràcies.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jane Poynter - BiospherianAfter weathering two years in Biosphere 2, Jane Poynter is trying to create technologies that allow us to live in hostile environments -- like outer space.
Why you should listen
Jane Poynter is one of only eight people to live in Biosphere 2 for two years. In 1991, she and seven others were locked in a three-acre, hermetically-sealed environment in the Arizona desert. Nothing was allowed in or out, and everything had to be recycled. Poynter, and the rest of the team, endured dangerously low oxygen levels and constant hunger, but they survived -- something many scientists said was impossible.
After leaving Biosphere 2, Poynter went on to found Paragon Space Development Corporation, along with her former fellow biospherian and now husband, Taber MacCallum. Paragon develops technologies that might allow humans to live in extreme environments such as outer space and underwater. As president of Paragon, Poynter has had experiments flown on the International Space Station, Russian Mir Space Station and US Space Shuttle, as well as working on underwater technologies with the US Navy.
However, Poynter has not given up on her homeland -- Biosphere 1. She continues to consult on and write about sustainable development and new green technologies. In concert with the World Bank, she has worked on projects to mitigate climate change and to grow crops in typically arid and hostile regions of Africa and Central America. Through talks and appearances, she builds awareness of the fragile state of the environment. After all, she knows what it's like to watch your biosphere begin to break down.
The New York Times looks back on the Biosphere 2 story >>
Jane Poynter | Speaker | TED.com