本集内容

Can trees help climate change? 植树是否有助于应对气候变化？

学习要点

有关 “research（研究）” 的词汇

边看边答

Why do experts mix the types of trees they plant?

文字稿

A forest in Staffordshire (in the UK) transformed into a hi-tech laboratory. Researchers here are investigating how the trees use carbon, and it's difficult to find out. In an unusual experiment, extra carbon dioxide is piped to the trees, to create the kind of atmospheric conditions expected in the middle of the century. And instruments measure how the forest reacts.

英国斯塔福德郡的一片森林被改造成了一个高科技实验室。这里的研究人员们正在分析调查这些树木是如何消耗碳的，而要找到答案实属不易。在一项不寻常的实验中，额外的二氧化碳通过管道被输送到树木当中，以创造出预计在本世纪中叶出现的大气条件。这里还放置了仪器，用来测量森林会作何反应。

The scientist in charge says there's still a lot to learn. And he worries that governments and companies are rushing to plant trees as an easy answer to climate change.

负责这项实验的科学家说，还有许多东西需要学习。他还担心政府和企业都急于植树，认为这是应对气候变化的简单解决办法。

Professor Rob MacKenzie, University of Birmingham
If you try and use trees to tidy up the mess that we're making through emissions, you are putting those trees into a very rapidly changing climate and they will struggle to adapt.

罗伯·麦肯基教授     英国伯明翰大学
“如果你试图用树木来收拾我们排放污染物造成的混乱，你其实是把那些树置于一个急剧变化的气候中，它们将难以适应。”

This device tracks the movement of carbon dioxide. In a healthy forest, the gas is not only absorbed by the trees but some is released as well.

这个装置追踪记录二氧化碳是如何移动的。在健康的森林里，二氧化碳不仅被树木吸收，一些也会被释放出来。

What scientists here are finding out is the way carbon flows into a forest and out of it, is a lot more complicated than you might think. So, if mass tree planting is meant to be a solution to tackling climate change, the trees are going to have to be monitored and cared for, over not just decades, but maybe centuries as well.

这里的科学家在查明碳流入及流出森林的方式，这比你想的要复杂得多。因此，如果大规模植树是应对气候变化的一个解决方案，那么这些树木就必须受到监测和照料，这不仅需要几十年时间，也许需要几百年的时间。

Of all the challenges, the task of planting is the simplest. Shelby Barber from Canada can do an amazing 4,000 trees in a day.

在诸多挑战当中，种植的任务是最简单的一项。来自加拿大的谢尔比·巴伯一天能种多达4000棵树。

BBC reporter, David Shukman
People talking about planting millions, billions of trees around the world. Is it possible do you think, physically?

BBC通讯员     大卫·舒克曼
“人们说要在全球各地种植数百万，甚至数十亿棵树。你觉得实际上能做到吗？”

Shelby Barber, planter
It's definitely possible with the right amount of people, the right group of people. I've personally, in three years, planted just over half a million trees.

谢尔比·巴伯     种植者
“这是完全有可能的，只要有足够的人和合适的人群。我个人在三年内就种下了50多万棵树。”

Once planted the trees need to survive, and experts are mixing different types to minimise the risk of disease.

一旦种下树，树木就需要生存，专家们正在混种不同类型的树，以将树木患病的风险降到最低。

Eleanor Tew, Forestry England
It's a bit like making sure you don't put all your eggs in one basket, you're spreading out your risk. And then if one part of that woodland fails, for whatever reason – it gets a disease, it can't tolerate future climatic conditions, there are other parts of the forest that are healthy and able to fill in those gaps.

埃莉诺·图     英格兰林业
“这个做法有点像是在确保你不要孤注一掷，你是在分散风险。这样一来，如果林地某区域的树木由于任何原因而无法存活，不论是因患病还是无法承受未来的气候条件，那么森林里还有其它部分是健康的，可以填补这些空白。”

Suddenly there's momentum to plant trees on a scale never seen before. So what matters is doing it in a way that ensures the forests thrive - so they really do help with climate change.

突然间出现了一种大规模植树的势头，而规模之大是前所未见的。所以，重要的是要用确保森林茁壮生长的方式来植树，使其真正地有助于应对气候变化。

词汇

experiment 实验

instruments 仪器，器械

tracks 追踪记录

monitored 被监测

don't put all your eggs in one basket 别孤注一掷

问题答案

Because experts want to minimise the risk of disease for trees.