Every summer, my family and I travel across the world, 3,000 miles away to the culturally diverse country of India. Now, India is a country infamous for its scorching heat and humidity. For me, the only relief from this heat is to drink plenty of water. Now, while in India, my parents always remind me to only drink boiled or bottled water, because unlike here in America, where I can just turn on a tap and easily get clean, potable water, in India, the water is often contaminated. So my parents have to make sure that the water we drink is safe.
每年夏天我和我的家人 都會橫跨世界 到 4800 公里之外、 文化多樣的印度旅行。 印度是一個因炎熱 和潮濕而出名的國家。 對我來說,唯一能讓我從 這灼熱中解脫的,就是喝水。 在印度的時候, 我父母總是提醒我 只能喝燒過的水或瓶裝水, 因為與美國這裡不同, 這裡水龍頭流的都是 乾淨的自來水, 但是在印度,水常常是被汙染的。 所以我父母必須確保 我們喝的水是安全的。
However, I soon realized that not everyone is fortunate enough to enjoy the clean water we did. Outside my grandparents' house in the busy streets of India, I saw people standing in long lines under the hot sun filling buckets with water from a tap. I even saw children, who looked the same age as me, filling up these clear plastic bottles with dirty water from streams on the roadside. Watching these kids forced to drink water that I felt was too dirty to touch changed my perspective on the world. This unacceptable social injustice compelled me to want to find a solution to our world's clean water problem. I wanted to know why these kids lacked water, a substance that is essential for life. And I learned that we are facing a global water crisis.
然而我很快就意識到 不是每個人都像我們一樣幸運, 能喝到乾淨的水。 我看到在我祖父母的房子外, 在印度的大街小巷裡, 人們在大太陽下排著長隊, 從水龍頭往桶裡接水。 我甚至看到 一些看起來和我一樣大的孩子, 裝滿整塑膠瓶 路邊小河裡的髒水。 我看到這些孩子 不得不喝 我連碰都覺得髒的水, 我的世界觀因此改變了。 這種令人不能接受的社會不公義 促使我想要找到 解決世界淨水問題的方法。 我想要知道為什麼這些 孩子如此缺水, 它可是生命的必需品。 我發現我們正面臨著 全球水源危機。
Now, this may seem surprising, as 75 percent of our planet is covered in water, but only 2.5 percent of that is freshwater, and less than one percent of Earth's freshwater supply is available for human consumption. With rising populations, industrial development and economic growth, our demand for clean water is increasing, yet our freshwater resources are rapidly depleting. According to the World Health Organization, 660 million people in our world lack access to a clean water source. Lack of access to clean water is a leading cause of death in children under the age of five in developing countries, and UNICEF estimates that 3,000 children die every day from a water-related disease.
這可能令你驚訝, 因為地球表面的 75% 都是水, 但是只有 2.5% 是淡水, 而淡水中只有不到 1%, 可以供人類使用。 隨著人口的增長, 工業和經濟的發展, 我們對乾淨水的需求越來越大, 但我們的淡水資源正被迅速地消耗。 根據世界衛生組織的數據, 世界上有 6 億 6 千萬人 缺少淨水資源。 缺少淨水資源是發展中國家 五歲以下兒童死亡的主要原因。 聯合國兒童基金會估計 每天有 3000 名兒童死於 與水有關的疾病。
So after returning home one summer in eighth grade, I decided that I wanted to combine my passion for solving the global water crisis with my interest in science. So I decided that the best thing to do would be to convert my garage into a laboratory.
所以國中二年級的夏天 我回家的時候, 我決定要把 我對解決全球水源危機的熱情, 與我對科學的興趣結合起來。 於是我決定 把我的車庫改裝成實驗室。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Actually, at first I converted my kitchen into a laboratory, but my parents didn't really approve and kicked me out.
其實最開始我把家裡 廚房改成了實驗室, 但我父母並不贊成,把我趕出去了。
I also read a lot of journal papers on water-related research, and I learned that currently in developing countries, something called solar disinfection, or SODIS, is used to purify water. In SODIS, clear plastic bottles are filled with contaminated water and then exposed to sunlight for six to eight hours. The UV radiation from the sun destroys the DNA of these harmful pathogens and decontaminates the water. Now, while SODIS is really easy to use and energy-efficient, as it only uses solar energy, it's really slow, as it can take up to two days when it's cloudy. So in order to make the SODIS process faster, this new method called photocatalysis has recently been used.
我還讀了許多 關於水研究的學術論文, 我了解到現在在發展中國家, 一種叫太陽能消毒, 又叫陽光殺菌法的方法 被用來淨化水。 陽光殺菌法就是把裝著汙水的塑料瓶 放在陽光下曬 6 到 8 小時。 太陽的紫外線 能夠破壞有害病原體的 DNA, 從而淨水。 儘管陽光殺菌法很好用, 又因僅僅利用太陽能而節省能源, 這方法實在太慢了, 因為陰天的時候就要花兩天, 所以為了加快陽光消毒法的進程, 一項名為光催化法的技術 最近開始興起。
So what exactly is this photocatalysis? Let's break it down: "photo" means from the sun, and a catalyst is something that speeds up a reaction. So what photocatalysis is doing is it's just speeding up this solar disinfection process. When sunlight comes in and strikes a photocatalyst, like TiO2, or titanium dioxide, it creates these really reactive oxygen species, like superoxides, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. These reactive oxygen species are able to remove bacteria and organics and a whole lot of contaminants from drinking water.
光催化法到底是什麼呢? 我來解釋一下: 「光」指從太陽來, 催化劑是一種能使反應加速的物質。 所以光催化法 就是加速太陽能消毒的過程。 當陽光照射到光催化劑, 例如氧化鈦,或二氧化鈦, 會產生活性很強的氧化物, 比如超氧化物、過氧化氫和羥基。 這些活性氧類 可以消滅細菌和有機物 以及很多飲用水中的汙染物。
But unfortunately, there are several disadvantages to the way photocatalytic SODIS is currently deployed. See, what they do is they take the clear plastic bottles and they coat the inside with this photocatalytic coating. But photocatalysts like titanium dioxide are actually commonly used in sunscreens to block UV radiation. So when they're coated on the inside of these bottles, they're actually blocking some of the UV radiation and diminishing the efficiency of the process. Also, these photocatalytic coatings are not tightly bound to the plastic bottle, which means they wash off, and people end up drinking the catalyst. While TiO2 is safe and inert, it's really inefficient if you keep drinking the catalyst, because then you have to continue to replenish it, even after a few uses.
但不幸的是, 目前光催化太陽能消毒法 有一些缺陷。 比方說,現在大家的做法是, 把乾淨塑膠瓶的內壁塗上光催化劑。 但是像二氧化鈦一類的光催化劑, 其實常被用於防曬霜上 以抵擋紫外線。 所以當瓶子的內壁被塗滿二氧化鈦, 它們實際上就阻擋了一些紫外線, 而淨水的效率也就變低了。 並且這些光催化劑塗層 不是與塑膠瓶密不可分, 這就意味著它們會被洗掉, 而人們會喝掉一些催化劑。 儘管二氧化鈦對人體無害, 這還是會導致淨水效率低下, 因為催化劑被喝掉後, 總是需要補充。
So my goal was to overcome the disadvantages of these current treatment methods and create a safe, sustainable, cost-effective and eco-friendly method of purifying water. What started off as an eighth grade science fair project is now my photocatalytic composite for water purification. The composite combines titanium dioxide with cement. The cement-like composite can be formed into several different shapes, which results in an extremely versatile range of deployment methods. For example, you could create a rod that can easily be placed inside water bottles for individual use or you could create a porous filter that can filter water for families. You can even coat the inside of an existing water tank to purify larger amounts of water for communities over a longer period of time.
因此我的目標就是克服 目前淨水方法的缺陷, 發明一種安全、永續、 成本效益高、環保的淨水方法。 本來只是我國中二年級科展計畫, 現在變成我水源淨化的 光催化複合配方。 這個複合物包含二氧化鈦和水泥。 水泥使化合物可以塑形, 這就使運用方法很靈活。 例如,可以做成桿狀, 很容易放在瓶子裡供個人使用, 或者用多孔過濾網為家庭濾水。 你甚至可以把水箱內壁塗上催化劑, 在較長的時間內 為整個社區淨化大量水。
Now, over the course of this, my journey hasn't really been easy. You know, I didn't have access to a sophisticated laboratory. I was 14 years old when I started, but I didn't let my age deter me in my interest in pursuing scientific research and wanting to solve the global water crisis.
在整個過程中, 我的工作並不簡單。 我沒有精密的實驗室, 我當時只有 14 歲, 但我沒有讓年齡成為 我的興趣和科研追求的阻力。 我希望解決全球水資源危機。
See, water isn't just the universal solvent. Water is a universal human right. And for that reason, I'm continuing to work on this science fair project from 2012 to bring it from the laboratory into the real world. And this summer, I founded Catalyst for World Water, a social enterprise aimed at catalyzing solutions to the global water crisis.
水不只是通用的溶劑, 水是通用的人權。 正因如此, 我繼續著 2012 年科展項目, 把它們從實驗室帶入現實世界。 這個夏天,我成立了 「世界水的催化劑」, 一個致力於催化全球水源危機 解決方案的社會企業。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Alone, a single drop of water can't do much, but when many drops come together, they can sustain life on our planet. Just as water drops come together to form oceans, I believe that we all must come together when tackling this global problem.
一滴水不能做什麼, 但當許多滴水匯於一處, 就可以供養地球上的生命。 就像水滴匯成大海, 我相信我們必須合力 來解決這個全球問題。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)