TED2007
Michael Pollan: A plant's-eye view
Micheal Pollan阐述他的“植物视角”
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如果达尔文主义的最终结局不是人类意识会怎么样？在玉米支配地球的精明策略游戏中，如果我们都只是棋子呢？作家Michael Pollan主张我们从植物的视角去看待这个世界。
Michael Pollan - Environmental writer
Michael Pollan is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which he explains how our food not only affects our health but has far-reaching political, economic, and environmental implications. His new book is In Defense of Food. Full bio
Michael Pollan is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which he explains how our food not only affects our health but has far-reaching political, economic, and environmental implications. His new book is In Defense of Food. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:18
It's a simple idea about nature.
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这是关于自然界的一个简单想法
00:20
I want to say a word for nature
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我想为自然界说几句话
00:22
because we haven't talked that much about it the last couple days.
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因为在最近几天我们并没有太多谈到它。
00:24
I want to say a word for the soil and the bees and the plants and the animals,
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我想为土地、蜜蜂以及一切的植物和动物说几句话。
00:29
and tell you about a tool, a very simple tool that I have found.
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告诉大家一个工具，我发现的非常简单的工具。
00:34
Although it's really nothing more than a literary conceit; it's not a technology.
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尽管事实上它只不过是一个文学的幻想--并非技术--
00:39
It's very powerful for, I think, changing our relationship to the natural world
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但是对于改善我们和自然界的关系来讲，我认为它非常有效
00:45
and to the other species on whom we depend.
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并且对于我们所依赖的其他物种的关系也是一样。
00:48
And that tool is very simply, as Chris suggested,
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这个工具就是，非常简单，如同Chris建议的那样，
00:51
looking at us and the world from the plants' or the animals' point of view.
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从植物或者动物的视角去看待我们和世界。
00:56
It's not my idea, other people have hit on it,
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这不是我的主意，其他人也想到了。
01:00
but I've tried to take it to some new places.
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不过我试着将这个想法延伸和发展。
01:04
Let me tell you where I got it.
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现在告诉大家我是如何领悟的。
01:06
Like a lot of my ideas, like a lot of the tools I use,
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如同我的许多想法一样，如同许多我使用的工具，
01:09
I found it in the garden; I'm a very devoted gardener.
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我在花园中想到了它。我是一个很勤恳的园丁。
01:13
And there was a day about seven years ago: I was planting potatoes,
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大概是七年前的一天，我正在种马铃薯。
01:17
it was the first week of May --
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五月的第一周。
01:19
this is New England, when the apple trees are just vibrating with bloom;
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在新英格兰，正是苹果树花开旺盛的季节。
01:24
they're just white clouds above.
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天空中白云朵朵。
01:26
I was here, planting my chunks,
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我就在这里，种着这些大块头，
01:29
cutting up potatoes and planting it,
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切割、种植。
01:31
and the bees were working on this tree;
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蜜蜂飞来飞去。
01:34
bumblebees, just making this thing vibrate.
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大黄蜂，使树上的花摇动。
01:36
And one of the things I really like about gardening
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我非常喜欢园艺的一点就是
01:39
is that it doesn't take all your concentration,
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你不必全神贯注。
01:42
you really can't get hurt -- it's not like woodworking --
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你不会受伤。不像木匠活那样。
01:44
and you have plenty of kind of mental space for speculation.
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而且你可以--你有很多思考的空间。
01:48
And the question I asked myself that afternoon in the garden,
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那个下午我问自己--
01:52
working alongside that bumblebee,
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和大黄蜂一同园艺--
01:55
was: what did I and that bumblebee have in common?
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我问自己：我和大黄蜂有什么相同点？
01:59
How was our role in this garden similar and different?
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我们在这个花园中的角色又是如何相似和不同？
02:03
And I realized we actually had quite a bit in common:
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然后我发现我们事实上确实有一点相同。
02:05
both of us were disseminating the genes of one species and not another,
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我们都在散播一个物种的基因而非另一个。
02:11
and both of us -- probably, if I can imagine the bee's point of view --
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我们两者，也许，如果我能从蜜蜂的角度去想象，
02:16
thought we were calling the shots.
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认为我们正在发号施令。
02:18
I had decided what kind of potato I wanted to plant --
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我自己决定我想要种植什么样的马铃薯。
02:22
I had picked my Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn, or whatever it was --
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我选择了Yukon Gold或者Yellow Finn，或者其他的任何（品种）。
02:26
and I had summoned those genes from a seed catalog across the country,
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然后我在种子编目中找到它们，走遍全国将这些基因的品种收集在一起。
02:31
brought it, and I was planting it.
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买下，然后种植。
02:33
And that bee, no doubt, assumed that it had decided,
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而蜜蜂，毫无疑问，假设它已经决定了，
02:37
"I'm going for that apple tree, I'm going for that blossom,
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我要去那颗苹果树，我要采那朵花，
02:40
I'm going to get the nectar and I'm going to leave."
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采到蜂蜜然后我就离开。
02:43
We have a grammar that suggests that's who we are;
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我们用一套语法，暗示着我们是谁，
02:48
that we are sovereign subjects in nature, the bee as well as me.
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我们是自然界中的主宰，蜜蜂以及我。
02:53
I plant the potatoes, I weed the garden, I domesticate the species.
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我种植马铃薯，替花园除草，驯养各种动植物。
02:59
But that day, it occurred to me:
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但是那一天，我想到，
03:01
what if that grammar is nothing more than a self-serving conceit?
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如果那个语法只不过是一个自私自利的幻觉呢？
03:04
Because, of course, the bee thinks he's in charge or she's in charge,
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因为，毫无疑问，蜜蜂认为他/她在控制一切。
03:08
but we know better.
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而且--但是我们知道的更清楚。
03:10
We know that what's going on between the bee and that flower
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我们知道蜜蜂和花之间的关系
03:14
is that bee has been cleverly manipulated by that flower.
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就是蜜蜂被花聪明的控制了。
03:18
And when I say manipulated, I'm talking about in a Darwinian sense, right?
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我讲的这个“控制”，是指从达尔文学说的角度，对吧？
03:21
I mean it has evolved a very specific set of traits --
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是指它进化形成了一系列专有的特点--
03:24
color, scent, flavor, pattern -- that has lured that bee in.
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颜色，气味，滋味，样式--诱惑了蜜蜂。
03:29
And the bee has been cleverly fooled into taking the nectar,
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蜜蜂就这样巧妙的被愚弄，采走了花蜜，
03:33
and also picking up some powder on its leg,
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同时也在腿上沾上了一些花粉，
03:36
and going off to the next blossom.
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然后飞向下一朵花。
03:38
The bee is not calling the shots.
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蜜蜂并不是主宰。
03:41
And I realized then, I wasn't either.
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然后我意识到，我也不是。
03:43
I had been seduced by that potato and not another
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我被那种马铃薯诱惑，而非另一种，
03:46
into planting its -- into spreading its genes, giving it a little bit more habitat.
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去种植它们--去传播它们的基因，给予它们多一点的栖息之地。
03:51
And that's when I got the idea, which was, "Well, what would happen
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那时候我就想到，也就是，如果我们换一种角度去看待我们自己
03:55
if we kind of looked at us from this point of view of these other species who are working on us?"
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也就是其他作用于我们的物种的角度，那么结果会怎样？
03:58
And agriculture suddenly appeared to me not as an invention, not as a human technology,
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突然间，农艺对我来说已经不是一个发明，不是一项人类技术，
04:03
but as a co-evolutionary development
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而是一种共同演化的发展
04:05
in which a group of very clever species, mostly edible grasses, had exploited us,
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其中有一组非常聪明的物种，大多数是可实用的禾草类，利用了我们，
04:11
figured out how to get us to basically deforest the world.
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知道如何使我们大致的采伐地球。
04:16
The competition of grasses, right?
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禾草类植物之间的竞争，对吧？
04:19
And suddenly everything looked different.
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因此突然间一切看起来都不同了。
04:21
And suddenly mowing the lawn that day was a completely different experience.
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突然间那天的割草经历也完全不同了。
04:25
I had thought always -- and in fact, had written this in my first book;
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我经常想到，实际上，在我的第一本书里也写道--
04:28
this was a book about gardening --
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这是本关于园艺的书--
04:29
that lawns were nature under culture's boot,
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草坪是被文明践踏的自然
04:34
that they were totalitarian landscapes,
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它们是带有极权色彩的风景。
04:36
and that when we mowed them we were cruelly suppressing the species
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当我们修割它们时，我们残忍的压制着这些物种
04:40
and never letting it set seed or die or have sex.
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从不让它们结籽，或死亡，或交配。
04:44
And that's what the lawn was.
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这就是草坪。
04:46
But then I realized, "No, this is exactly what the grasses want us to do.
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但是之后我觉察到，“不，这恰恰是草类希望我们做的。
04:50
I'm a dupe. I'm a dupe of the lawns, whose goal in life is to outcompete the trees,
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我这个笨蛋。我是草坪的傻瓜，它们的终生目标就是战胜树类，
04:57
who they compete with for sunlight."
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它们的竞争者--和它们争夺阳光的对手。”
05:00
And so by getting us to mow the lawn, we keep the trees from coming back,
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这样通过使我们修割草坪，我们就一直抑制树木。
05:04
which in New England happens very, very quickly.
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这种情况在新英格兰发展的十分快。
05:07
So I started looking at things this way
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于是我开始以这种方法看待事物，
05:10
and wrote a whole book about it called "The Botany of Desire."
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并且写了一整本关于它的书，即《植物的欲望》
05:12
And I realized that in the same way you can look at a flower
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然后我意识到用同样的方法去看待花朵
05:16
and deduce all sorts of interesting things about the taste and the desires of bees --
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继而推理出各种有关于蜜蜂的欲望和口味的趣事，
05:21
that they like sweetness, that they like this color and not that color, that they like symmetry --
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比如它们喜欢甜味，它们钟情这种颜色而非另一种，它们喜欢对称。
05:27
what could we find out about ourselves by doing the same thing?
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如果同样去思考，那么关于我们自身，能挖掘到什么？
05:30
That a certain kind of potato, a certain kind of drug,
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某种马铃薯，某种药物，
05:33
a sativa-indica Cannabis cross has something to say about us.
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某种漂白印度大麻与我们之间的丝丝缕缕。
05:39
And that, wouldn't this be kind of an interesting way to look at the world?
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所以--难道这不是一种看待世界的有趣方法吗？
05:44
Now, the test of any idea -- I said it was a literary conceit --
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那么，任何想法的检验--我讲过这是文学色彩的幻想--
05:48
is what does it get us?
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就是它能为我们带来什么？
05:51
And when you're talking about nature, which is really my subject as a writer,
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作为一个作家，自然是我的研究主题，当你谈论它时，
05:55
how does it meet the Aldo Leopold test?
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它是如何满足Aldo Leopold的理论的？
05:58
Which is, does it make us better citizens of the biotic community?
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也就是，它能使我们在这个生物群体中变的更好吗？
06:02
Get us to do things that leads to the support and perpetuation of the biota,
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使我们正确的做事，以换来生物群的维系和永存，
06:09
rather than its destruction?
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而不是它的毁灭吗？
06:10
And I would submit that this idea does this.
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我认为这个想法确实能做到这一点。
06:12
So, let me go through what you gain when you look at the world this way,
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所以让我直接来说明用这种看待世界的方式能获得什么，
06:15
besides some entertaining insights about human desire.
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除了，你知道，关于人类欲望的有趣洞察。
06:20
As an intellectual matter, looking at the world from other species' points of view
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作为一个智能体，从其他物种的角度看世界
06:27
helps us deal with this weird anomaly,
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帮助我们处理这种怪异的偏差，
06:30
which is -- and this is in the realm of intellectual history --
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也就是说--在思想文化史的领域里--
06:34
which is that we have this Darwinian revolution 150 years ago ...
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我们在150年前发生了达尔文革命--
06:39
Ugh. Mini-Me. (Laughter)
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呃。我太小了（和大屏幕的相比）--
06:44
We have this intellectual, this Darwinian revolution in which, thanks to Darwin,
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我们有这种智慧的，达尔文革命，这要感谢他，
06:50
we figured out we are just one species among many;
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使我们是到我们只是众多物种中的一员。
06:52
evolution is working on us the same way it's working on all the others;
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我们和其他物种一样也遵循进化论的规律。
06:56
we are acted upon as well as acting;
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我们在作用的同时也被反作用。
06:58
we are really in the fiber, the fabric of life.
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我们的确是在纤维构造的世界中。
07:02
But the weird thing is, we have not absorbed this lesson 150 years later;
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但是奇怪的是，我们没有--我们在150以后并没有真正接受。
07:06
none of us really believes this.
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没有人真的相信。
07:08
We are still Cartesians -- the children of Descartes --
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我们仍然是笛卡尔主义--笛卡尔的信徒--
07:13
who believe that subjectivity, consciousness, sets us apart;
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我们相信主观性，意识使我们不同。
07:18
that the world is divided into subjects and objects;
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世界被分成主体与客体。
07:21
that there is nature on one side, culture on another.
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自然是一回事，文化是另一回事。
07:24
As soon as you start seeing things from the plant's point of view or the animal's point of view,
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直到你开始从植物或者动物的角度开始看待事物，
07:29
you realize that the real literary conceit is that --
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你会发觉这才是真正的幻想。
07:33
is the idea that nature is opposed to culture,
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是--认为自然和文化是对立的（看法）。
07:37
the idea that consciousness is everything --
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认为意识就是一切。
07:41
and that's another very important thing it does.
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并且另外一个很重要的方面是。
07:44
Looking at the world from other species' points of view
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从其他物种的角度看待世界
07:47
is a cure for the disease of human self-importance.
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是治愈人类自负弱点的良方。
07:51
You suddenly realize that consciousness --
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你突然间发觉，意识，
07:56
which we value and we consider
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我们所重视和理解为，你知道，至高无上--
08:00
the crowning achievement of nature,
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自然成就的顶峰，
08:02
human consciousness -- is really just another set of tools for getting along in the world.
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人类意识真的仅仅是和世界和睦相处的另一套工具而已。
08:07
And it's kind of natural that we would think it was the best tool.
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而且比较自然的，我们会认为这是最好的工具。
08:11
But, you know, there's a comedian who said,
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不过，你知道--有位笑星说过，
08:13
"Well, who's telling me that consciousness is so good and so important?
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“谁跟我说意识是如此的美好和重要？
08:17
Well, consciousness."
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哦，意识使然。”
08:19
So when you look at the plants, you realize that there are other tools
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因此当你看到植物时，你会发觉它们是其它工具，
08:23
and they're just as interesting.
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而且它们也一样有趣。
08:25
I'll give you two examples, also from the garden:
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我举出两个例子，也是来自园艺。
08:29
lima beans. You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites?
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青豆。你知道当它被红叶螨袭击时青豆会怎么反应吗？
08:34
It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world
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它释放一种挥发性成分，使之散布开来
08:37
and summons another species of mite
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召集其他类的螨虫
08:40
that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean.
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它们来到继而攻击红叶螨，保护青豆。
08:44
So what plants have -- while we have consciousness, tool making, language,
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因此植物所拥有的，我们拥有意识，工具制造，语言，
08:50
they have biochemistry.
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它们拥有生物化学。
08:52
And they have perfected that to a degree far beyond what we can imagine.
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并且它们将其完善到我们远远不能想象的境界。
08:57
Their complexity, their sophistication, is something to really marvel at,
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它们的复杂程度，精密程度，真的令人叹为观止。
09:02
and I think it's really the scandal of the Human Genome Project.
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而且我认为“人类基因工程”的一个糗事是，
09:04
You know, we went into it thinking, 40,000 or 50,000 human genes
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你知道，我们以为拥有4万或5万基因。
09:09
and we came out with only 23,000.
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实际上只有2万3千个。
09:13
Just to give you grounds for comparison, rice: 35,000 genes.
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仅仅给大家提供一些对比的依据，稻米：3万5千基因。
09:21
So who's the more sophisticated species?
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所以到底谁是更精细高级的物种？
09:24
Well, we're all equally sophisticated.
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好，我们都同样高级。
09:25
We've been evolving just as long,
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我们只是--进化，
09:28
just along different paths.
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依据不同的线路进化罢了。
09:31
So, cure for self-importance, way to sort of make us feel the Darwinian idea.
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因此，自大的治愈方法，在某种程度上使我们感受到达尔文主义的含义。
09:39
And that's really what I do as a writer, as a storyteller,
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这也真的是我，作为一个作家，一个故事讲述者要做的
09:42
is try to make people feel what we know and tell stories that actually
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是尝试使人们感觉我们所认知的东西，去讲述能帮助我们更加--
09:49
help us think ecologically.
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从生态学的角度去思考。
09:50
Now, the other use of this is practical.
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那么，另外一个用处是很实际的。
09:52
And I'm going to take you to a farm right now,
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我要谈到--我现在要带大家去一个农场。
09:54
because I used this idea to develop my understanding of the food system
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因为我就是用这种方法来完善我对事物系统的理解
09:58
and what I learned, in fact, is that we are all, now, being manipulated by corn.
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而且事实上，我获得的，就是我们目前，全部，都被玉米所操纵。
10:03
And the talk you heard about ethanol earlier today,
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而且今天早些时候你们听到的关于酒精的演讲，
10:08
to me, is the final triumph of corn over good sense. (Laughter) (Applause)
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对我来说，是玉米对理智的最终胜利。（笑声）
10:13
It is part of corn's scheme for world domination.
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部分是--（掌声）玉米统治世界的阴谋。
10:21
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
10:22
And you will see, the amount of corn planted this year will be up dramatically from last year
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你将会看到今年种植玉米的数量将会较去年显著提升，
10:26
and there will be that much more habitat
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这样就会有更多的栖息地，
10:28
because we've decided ethanol is going to help us.
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因为我们已经决定用酒精去帮助我们。
10:30
So it helped me understand industrial agriculture,
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所以--不过让我--所以这帮助我理解了工业化的农业，
10:34
which of course is a Cartesian system.
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显然，是一个笛卡尔系统。
10:36
It's based on this idea that we bend other species to our will
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基础是其他物种全部以我们的意志为转移，
10:39
and that we are in charge, and that we create these factories
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是我们掌控一切，我们创造了这些工厂，
10:42
and we have these technological inputs and we get the food out of it
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我们通过技术输入，继而从中得到食物，
10:45
or the fuel or whatever we want.
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或燃料，或任何我们想要的东西。
10:48
Let me take you to a very different kind of farm.
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让我带你来到一个非常与众不同的农场。
10:50
This is a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
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它位于维吉尼亚的谢南多厄河谷。
10:53
I went looking for a farm where these ideas
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我去寻找一个能使这些想法
10:56
about looking at things from the species' point of view are actually implemented,
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即用其它物种的角度看待事情的想法，真正得到应用的农场。
11:00
and I found it in a man. The farmer's name is Joel Salatin.
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我从一个农夫那里找到了，他的名字是Joel Salatin，
11:02
And I spent a week as an apprentice on his farm,
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我在他的农场里当了一个星期的学徒。
11:05
and I took away from this some of the most hopeful news about our relationship to nature
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然后我从那带走了这些信息，也许是关于人与自然关系的最有利的信息
11:11
that I've ever come across in 25 years of writing about nature.
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在我25年关于大自然写作生涯中无意遇到的。
11:14
And that is this:
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它就是。
11:15
the farm is called Polyface, which means ...
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农场的名字叫Ployface。意思是--
11:18
the idea is he's got six different species of animals, as well as some plants,
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他有六种不同种类的动物，以及一些植物，
11:22
growing in this very elaborate symbiotic arrangement.
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在这种精心制作的共生环境中生长。
11:25
It's permaculture, those of you who know a little bit about this,
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它叫做永久培养，你们中的有些人对此有一些了解，
11:27
such that the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the turkeys and the ...
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比如牛和猪还有羊，还有火鸡，还有--有--
11:35
what else does he have?
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还有什么，其他的还有什么来着？
11:37
All the six different species -- rabbits, actually --
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一共六种不同的物种--还有兔子--
11:39
are all performing ecological services for one another,
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它们都为彼此在这个生态空间中服务，
11:42
such that the manure of one is the lunch for the other
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比如说某一个的粪便是另一个的午餐
11:45
and they take care of pests for one another.
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它们为彼此留心害虫。
11:47
It's a very elaborate and beautiful dance,
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我不能--这真的是很精密的和美妙的聚会
11:50
but I'm going to just give you a close-up on one piece of it,
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不过我这是就其中的一点为大家仔细描述。
11:53
and that is the relationship between his cattle and his chickens, his laying hens.
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是牛和鸡（产卵鸡）之间的关系。
11:59
And I'll show you, if you take this approach, what you get, OK?
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我要向大家展示，如果你用这种方法，你会得到什么
12:04
And this is a lot more than growing food, as you'll see;
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而且这绝不仅仅只是种植食物，慢慢你会发觉。
12:06
this is a different way to think about nature
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这是另一种思考自然的方式，
12:08
and a way to get away from the zero-sum notion,
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它使我们脱离那种得失所系的观点--
12:12
the Cartesian idea that either nature's winning or we're winning,
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也就是从笛卡尔的角度，不是自然胜利就是我们胜利
12:15
and that for us to get what we want, nature is diminished.
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然后，使我们达到目的，削弱自然。
12:19
So, one day, cattle in a pen.
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有一天，在圈中的牛。
12:21
The only technology involved here is this cheap electric fencing:
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这里唯一进化的科技就是廉价的电网，
12:24
relatively new, hooked to a car battery;
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比较新，与一块汽车电池相连。
12:26
even I could carry a quarter-acre paddock, set it up in 15 minutes.
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即使是我也能够围成一个四分之一亩大小的围场，在15分钟内安置完毕。
12:30
Cows graze one day. They move, OK?
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一天牛在吃草，它们移动着，
12:34
They graze everything down, intensive grazing.
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因此所有东西都面目全非--大吃一顿。
12:36
He waits three days,
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他等待了3天。
12:38
and then we towed in something called the Eggmobile.
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然后我们拖进了一个叫eggmobile的东西。
12:41
The Eggmobile is a very rickety contraption --
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eggmobile是一个摇晃的精巧装置。
12:44
it looks like a prairie schooner made out of boards --
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看起来像用纸板做成的长篷车一样，
12:47
but it houses 350 chickens.
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但却是350只鸡的栖身之所。
12:49
He tows this into the paddock three days later and opens the gangplank,
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三天之后他把这个东西拖进了围场，，然后开启踏板，
12:55
turns them down, and 350 hens come streaming down the gangplank --
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打开门然后350只母鸡如潮流一般涌下--
12:59
clucking, gossiping as chickens will --
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咯咯叫，喧闹着，丝毫不受约束。
13:01
and they make a beeline for the cow patties.
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然后它们向牛粪径直走去。
13:06
And what they're doing is very interesting:
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并且做着很有趣的事情。
13:08
they're digging through the cow patties
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它们在牛粪中啄来啄去
13:10
for the maggots, the grubs, the larvae of flies.
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寻找蛆、虫、蝇类的幼虫。
13:14
And the reason he's waited three days
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而他之所以要等三天
13:16
is because he knows that on the fourth day or the fifth day, those larvae will hatch
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则是因为他知道在第四天或者第五天，这些幼体将要孵化成虫，
13:21
and he'll have a huge fly problem.
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到时候麻烦就大了。
13:23
But he waits that long to grow them as big and juicy and tasty as he can
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不过他要尽可能等久一点使之成长为丰厚、可口、美味的食物
13:29
because they are the chickens' favorite form of protein.
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因为它们是鸡类最钟爱的蛋白质。
13:32
So the chickens do their kind of little breakdance
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所以这些小鸡在那忙的不亦乐乎，
13:34
and they're pushing around the manure to get at the grubs,
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继而拨走粪便寻找它们的虫和蛆，
13:38
and in the process they're spreading the manure out.
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而在这个过程中，它们刚好把粪便（肥料）散播开来。
13:41
Very useful second ecosystem service.
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十分有用。二次生态体系方法。
13:45
And third, while they're in this paddock
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再次，它们在围场中，
13:48
they are, of course, defecating madly
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它们也必然的大量排便
13:51
and their very nitrogenous manure is fertilizing this field.
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它们含氮丰富的粪便也成了这片土地良好的肥料。
13:57
They then move out to the next one,
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然后它们搬向下一个（围场），
13:59
and in the course of just a few weeks, the grass just enters this blaze of growth.
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仅仅几周的时间这片草地又焕发了勃勃生机。
14:07
And within four or five weeks, he can do it again.
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然后4或5周之内，他又能如法炮制。
14:09
He can graze again, he can cut, he can bring in another species,
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再次放牧，收割，再带来另一个物种，
14:12
like the lambs, or he can make hay for the winter.
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比如羔羊，或者为冬天储备干草。
14:17
Now, I want you to just look really close up onto what's happened there.
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那么，我希望大家能够好好体会这其中的奥妙。
14:21
So, it's a very productive system.
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所以这是一个非常高效多产的系统。
14:22
And what I need to tell you is that on 100 acres
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我只需要告诉大家，在这100英亩的土地上
14:24
he gets 40,000 pounds of beef; 30,000 pounds of pork; 25,000 dozen eggs;
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他收获了4万磅牛肉，3万磅猪肉，2万5千打鸡蛋，
14:29
20,000 broilers; 1,000 turkeys; 1,000 rabbits --
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2万只雏烤鸡，1000只火鸡，1000只兔子--
14:32
an immense amount of food.
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如此丰厚的事物。
14:34
You know, you hear, "Can organic feed the world?"
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你想想，当你听到，“有机物能喂饱这个世界吗？”
14:36
Well, look how much food you can produce on 100 acres if you do this kind of ...
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好吧，看看在100英亩的农场上你能收获多少--如果你能--
14:41
again, give each species what it wants,
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不断的使每个物种各取所需。
14:44
let it realize its desires, its physiological distinctiveness.
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使它们充分发挥，它们生理上的特殊性。
14:48
Put that in play.
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将其加以应用。
14:50
But look at it from the point of view of the grass, now.
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不过现在从草的角度审视这一切。
14:53
What happens to the grass when you do this?
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当你这么做的时候对于草来说发生了什么呢？
14:55
When a ruminant grazes grass, the grass is cut from this height to this height,
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当动物啃食草类时，草从这么高被削减到了这么高。
15:01
and it immediately does something very interesting.
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紧接着十分有趣的事情发生了。
15:03
Any one of you who gardens knows that there is something called the root-shoot ratio,
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了解园艺的人都知道有一个叫做“根冠比”的概念。
15:07
and plants need to keep the root mass
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植物都需要保持住根群
15:11
in some rough balance with the leaf mass to be happy.
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同时和茎群保持大致的平衡以便维系。
15:14
So when they lose a lot of leaf mass, they shed roots;
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所以当大量的茎叶被吃掉以后，它们也使根脱落。
15:18
they kind of cauterize them and the roots die.
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就好像腐蚀根群然后使之死亡。
15:21
And the species in the soil go to work
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这样就给了土壤中的生物用武之地，
15:24
basically chewing through those roots, decomposing them --
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它们咀嚼着根群，将其分解--
15:28
the earthworms, the fungi, the bacteria -- and the result is new soil.
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蚯蚓、真菌、细菌--结果就是新的土壤诞生了。
15:34
This is how soil is created.
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土壤就是这样诞生的。
15:37
It's created from the bottom up.
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它们从底部向上形成。
15:38
This is how the prairies were built,
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这也是草原的形成原理，
15:40
the relationship between bison and grasses.
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野牛和草类的关系。
15:43
And what I realized when I understood this --
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当我意识到这点的时候我发觉--
15:46
and if you ask Joel Salatin what he is, he'll tell you he's not a chicken farmer,
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如果你问Joel Salatin他是干什么的，他会说他既不是养鸡的，
15:50
he's not a sheep farmer, he's not a cattle rancher; he's a grass farmer,
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也不是养羊的，他的农场也并非经营牛，他是一位种草的农夫，
15:55
because grass is really the keystone species of such a system --
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因为草类的的确确是这类系统的灵魂物种--
15:59
is that, if you think about it, this completely contradicts the tragic idea of nature we hold in our heads,
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如果你仔细的去思考，这和我们头脑中的悲剧自然论恰恰相反，
16:08
which is that for us to get what we want, nature is diminished.
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也就是我们予求予取，大自然却被消耗。
16:14
More for us, less for nature.
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我们得到越来越多，自然越来越少。
16:16
Here, all this food comes off this farm, and at the end of the season
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在这里，从农场里产出的所有事物，在季末
16:21
there is actually more soil, more fertility and more biodiversity.
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实际上会有更多的土壤，更多的肥料和更丰富的物种。
16:28
It's a remarkably hopeful thing to do.
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这是一件十分美好和有前途的事情。
16:31
There are a lot of farmers doing this today.
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有许多农夫都开始采用这种方法。
16:33
This is well beyond organic agriculture,
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要远远好于有机农业，
16:36
which is still a Cartesian system, more or less.
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也就是或多或少仍然是笛卡尔系统。
16:39
And what it tells you is that if you begin to take account of other species,
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我们从中得到的启发就是如果你考虑到其他的物种，
16:45
take account of the soil, that even with nothing more than this perspectival idea
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考虑到土壤，即使仅仅是用这种全局的观点
16:52
-- because there is no technology involved here except for those fences,
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--因为在这里几乎没有应用到任何科技，除了那几个栅栏而已，
16:56
which are so cheap they could be all over Africa in no time --
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而且它们也，你知道，非常便宜，很快就可以在非洲大范围应用--
17:01
that we can take the food we need from the Earth
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这样你就能，我们就可以从地球获取我们需要的食物，
17:05
and actually heal the Earth in the process.
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而且实际在这个过程中安抚我们的地球。
17:10
This is a way to reanimate the world,
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这是一种可以使地球重现活力的方法。
17:12
and that's what's so exciting about this perspective.
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这就是这种方法令人感到兴奋的地方。
17:14
When we really begin to feel Darwin's insights in our bones,
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我们可以真正从深处体会到达尔文理论的精髓，
17:18
the things we can do with nothing more than these ideas
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我们只需要应用这些观念
17:23
are something to be very hopeful about.
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就可以做到非常令人鼓舞的事情。
17:25
Thank you very much.
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非常感谢大家。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Michael Pollan - Environmental writerMichael Pollan is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which he explains how our food not only affects our health but has far-reaching political, economic, and environmental implications. His new book is In Defense of Food.
Why you should listen
Few writers approach their subjects with the rigor, passion and perspective that's typical of Michael Pollan. Whereas most humans think we are Darwin's most accomplished species, Pollan convincingly argues that plants — even our own front lawns — have evolved to use us as much as we use them.
The author and New York Times Magazine contributor is, as Newsweek asserts, “an uncommonly graceful explainer of natural science,” for his investigative stories about food, agriculture, and the environment. His most recent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, was named one of the top ten nonfiction titles of 2006.
As the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley, Pollan is cultivating the next generation of green reporters.
Michael Pollan | Speaker | TED.com