So I've had the great privilege of traveling to some incredible places, photographing these distant landscapes and remote cultures all over the world. I love my job.
我曾有幸游览过 一些非常不可思议的地方, 为世界上那些遥远大陆的风光和文化拍摄照片。 我爱我的工作。
But people think it's this string of epiphanies and sunrises and rainbows, when in reality, it looks more something like this.
大家可能以为我的工作 应该伴随着一连串的顿悟、 日出和彩虹, 可是在现实中, 它往往是这样的。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
This is my office.
这就是我的办公室。
We can't afford the fanciest places to stay at night, so we tend to sleep a lot outdoors. As long as we can stay dry, that's a bonus. We also can't afford the fanciest restaurants. So we tend to eat whatever's on the local menu. And if you're in the Ecuadorian Páramo, you're going to eat a large rodent called a cuy.
我们无法得到最理想的过夜之所, 所以我们常常…露宿野外。 我们只要能保持干燥, 就已经是一种福利了。 我们也不能去最理想的餐馆用餐, 所以我们要入乡随俗地吃当地食物。 如果你去到厄瓜多尔的 Páramo, 你将能吃到一种超大的天竺鼠。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
But what makes our experiences perhaps a little bit different and a little more unique than that of the average person is that we have this gnawing thing in the back of our mind that even in our darkest moments, and those times of despair, we think, "Hey, there might be an image to be made here, there might be a story to be told."
但是真正让我们的经历与众不同的, 就是在我们脑海深处 总是会有一种声音, 即便在我们最黑暗的时刻, 在那些绝望的瞬间 , 我们还是会想到: “嘿,我们该为这里拍张照片, 这里的故事应该让更多人知道。 ”
And why is storytelling important? Well, it helps us to connect with our cultural and our natural heritage. And in the Southeast, there's an alarming disconnect between the public and the natural areas that allow us to be here in the first place. We're visual creatures, so we use what we see to teach us what we know.
为什么讲故事如此重要? 因为,它是自然遗产 与我们的文化之间连接的纽带。 在美国东南部, 敲响了公众与自然区域之间 彼此失联的警钟。 而这片自然区域 恰恰是我们生存的最初条件。 我们是视觉生物, 所以我们用自己看到的 去教授我们所知道的。
Now the majority of us aren't going to willingly go way down to a swamp. So how can we still expect those same people to then advocate on behalf of their protection? We can't.
现在我们中的大多数人 都非常不愿意踏入一片沼泽。 对吧? 所以我们要如何继续期待 这些人会成为 提倡保护湿地的表率呢? 我们做不到。
So my job, then, is to use photography as a communication tool, to help bridge the gap between the science and the aesthetics, to get people talking, to get them thinking, and to hopefully, ultimately, get them caring.
所以我的工作就是, 用摄影作为传达工具, 在科学与美学之间 搭起一座桥梁。 让人们讨论, 让人们思考, 然后最终希望, 让他们关心。
I started doing this 15 years ago right here in Gainesville, right here in my backyard. And I fell in love with adventure and discovery, going to explore all these different places that were just minutes from my front doorstep. There are a lot of beautiful places to find. Despite all these years that have passed, I still see the world through the eyes of a child and I try to incorporate that sense of wonderment and that sense of curiosity into my photography as often as I can.
15年前,我就从这里起步, 从Gainesville, 就从我的后院开始。 我爱上了冒险、发现 以及去探索所有的那些 与众不同之处, 哪怕它们离我家只有几分钟的路程。 我发现, 可以找到那么多美丽的地方。 即便这么多年过去, 我依然用孩童的目光 去看待这个世界, 并且我每次都尽力 将我的惊叹、 我的好奇 融入到我的摄影里。
And we're pretty lucky because here in the South, we're still blessed with a relatively blank canvas that we can fill with the most fanciful adventures and incredible experiences. It's just a matter of how far our imagination will take us. See, a lot of people look at this and they say, "Oh yeah, wow, that's a pretty tree." But I don't just see a tree -- I look at this and I see opportunity. I see an entire weekend. Because when I was a kid, these were the types of images that got me off the sofa and dared me to explore, dared me to go find the woods and put my head underwater and see what we have.
而且我们非常幸运 因为在南部, 我们何其有幸地拥有 这么一块空白的画布, 我们可以在上面填满 最富有想象力的冒险 和难以置信的体验。 想象力有多远,我们就走多远。 很多人看着这张照片说道: “噢!对!哇哦!这棵树真漂亮。” 可是我看到的不仅仅是树, 当我望着这张照片时,我看到的是契机, 我一整个周末都在看。 因为当我还是个孩子的时候, 就是这类照片 让我离开沙发 激励我去探索, 激励我去寻找森林, 让我潜入水底去探查里面装着什么。
And folks, I've been photographing all over the world and I promise you, what we have here in the South, what we have in the Sunshine State, rivals anything else that I've seen. But yet our tourism industry is busy promoting all the wrong things. Before most kids are 12, they'll have been to Disney World more times than they've been in a canoe or camping under a starry sky. And I have nothing against Disney or Mickey; I used to go there, too. But they're missing out on those fundamental connections that create a real sense of pride and ownership for the place that they call home.
诸位,我在全世界拍摄无数照片。 我保证, 我们在南部所拥有的, 我们在阳光之州(佛罗里达)所拥有, 足以媲美任何我曾见过的风景。 但是我们的旅游业却在极力推销 那些错误的东西。 大部分的孩子在他们12岁前, 去迪斯尼世界的次数 远远超出他们在布满繁星的星空下 乘驾独木舟或露营的次数。 当然我并非反对迪斯尼和米老鼠 ——我小时候也去过那儿。 但他们因此错失了那些基本的联系, 那些为他们带来切实的 骄傲和归属感的联系, 是他们与自己故乡之间的联系。
And this is compounded by the issue that the landscapes that define our natural heritage and fuel our aquifer for our drinking water have been deemed as scary and dangerous and spooky. When our ancestors first came here, they warned, "Stay out of these areas, they're haunted. They're full of evil spirits and ghosts." I don't know where they came up with that idea. But it's actually led to a very real disconnect, a very real negative mentality that has kept the public disinterested, silent, and ultimately, our environment at risk. We're a state that's surrounded and defined by water, and yet for centuries, swamps and wetlands have been regarded as these obstacles to overcome. And so we've treated them as these second-class ecosystems, because they have very little monetary value and of course, they're known to harbor alligators and snakes -- which, I'll admit, these aren't the most cuddly of ambassadors.
这是一系列互相关联的问题: 就是这些被定义为自然遗产的风景, 补充着我们的地下蓄水层, 为我们提供饮用水。 而我们却认为它们是可怕、 危险和令人毛骨悚然的。 当我们的祖先第一次踏上这片土地, 他们警告说, “远离那些区域,那儿闹鬼。 那儿充满了恶灵与幽魂。” 我不知道他们这些想法 是从哪儿得来的。 但它确实造成了一种失联, 一种非常消极的心理, 使得公众保持漠视和沉默, 最终,让我们的环境处于危险之中。 我们是一个 由水包围和构成的州, 可是几个世纪以来, 沼泽与湿地曾经被视为 是我们需要克服的障碍物。 因此我们将其当做是 次要的生态系统, 因为它们没有太大的经济效益。 当然,里面也是短吻鳄和蛇类的避风港—— 我不得不承认, 他们并非这片土地最可爱的使者。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So it became assumed, then, that the only good swamp was a drained swamp. And in fact, draining a swamp to make way for agriculture and development was considered the very essence of conservation not too long ago.
所以就变成了这样一种假设: 对我们来说最好的沼泽, 就是一片干涸的沼泽。 事实上, 直到不久前,人们还认为 排干沼泽为农业和开发铺路, 才是从本质上保护了生态。
But now we're backpedaling, because the more we come to learn about these sodden landscapes, the more secrets we're starting to unlock about interspecies relationships and the connectivity of habitats, watersheds and flyways. Take this bird, for example: this is the prothonotary warbler. I love this bird because it's a swamp bird, through and through, a swamp bird. They nest and they mate and they breed in these old-growth swamps in these flooded forests. And so after the spring, after they raise their young, they then fly thousand of miles over the Gulf of Mexico into Central and South America. And then after the winter, the spring rolls around and they come back. They fly thousands of miles over the Gulf of Mexico. And where do they go? Where do they land? Right back in the same tree. That's nuts. This is a bird the size of a tennis ball -- I mean, that's crazy! I used a GPS to get here today, and this is my hometown.
但是现在我们改变了想法, 因为我们越深入去了解 这些丰泽的景色, 我们解锁的奥秘就越多: 关于各个物种间的关系, 他们栖息地之间的关联, 分布流域和迁徙路线。 以这种鸟为例: 这是一只蓝翅黄森莺。 我喜欢这种鸟,因为它是一种沼泽鸟, 彻彻底底的沼泽鸟。 它们从筑巢到交配到繁育, 都在这片古老的沼泽, 这片被水浸没的森林中。 春天过后, 等它们把雏鸟哺育成年, 它们将飞越数千英里的墨西哥湾 进入中美洲和南美洲。 当寒冬过去, 春天重临大地, 它们便会返航。 它们再次飞越数千英里 横跨墨西哥湾。 它们去了哪里?它们在哪着陆? 它们回到了去年的那棵树上。 这太迷人了。 这种鸟的体型只有网球大小—— 我觉得,这太离奇了! 我今天是靠GPS导航才来到这个场馆, 而且这还是在我的家乡。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
It's crazy. So what happens, then, when this bird flies over the Gulf of Mexico into Central America for the winter and then the spring rolls around and it flies back, and it comes back to this: a freshly sodded golf course?
太不可思议了。 而现在发生的是: 当这种鸟横跨墨西哥湾 到中美洲过冬, 然后春天到来时,它会再飞回来, 它发现……: 一个全新的草地高尔夫球场?
This is a narrative that's all too commonly unraveling here in this state. And this is a natural process that's occurred for thousands of years and we're just now learning about it. So you can imagine all else we have to learn about these landscapes if we just preserve them first. Now despite all this rich life that abounds in these swamps, they still have a bad name.
这个故事在我们州 诸多未解之谜里 是再寻常不过的一个了。 这些自然历程存在数千年之久, 而我们直到最近才开始了解它。 所以你可以想象,这片风景中 还有多少这样的事情需要去了解, 但前提是我们要保护它们。 现在虽然有如此丰富的物种 生活在沼泽中, 它们却始终恶名昭彰。
Many people feel uncomfortable with the idea of wading into Florida's blackwater. I can understand that. But what I loved about growing up in the Sunshine State is that for so many of us, we live with this latent but very palpable fear that when we put our toes into the water, there might be something much more ancient and much more adapted than we are. Knowing that you're not top dog is a welcomed discomfort, I think. How often in this modern and urban and digital age do you actually get the chance to feel vulnerable, or consider that the world may not have been made for just us?
许多人想到自己跋涉在 佛罗里达的黑水河中时 会觉得不舒服。 我懂这种感觉。 但我之所以喜欢 在阳光之州(佛罗里达)长大, 是因为对我们大多数人来说, 我们生活在一种潜在的, 却极易察觉的恐惧中: 那就是,当我们将脚趾探入水中, 水中可能存在着某些 比我们更加古老、 比我们更加适应这个环境的生物。 认识到自己并非这里的主宰, 这种不安的感觉 是值得体验的,我认为。 在这个现代化、城市化和数字化的时代, 你有多少机会去感到弱势? 或者意识到这个世界 未必是为我们而建造的?
So for the last decade, I began seeking out these areas where the concrete yields to forest and the pines turn to cypress, and I viewed all these mosquitoes and reptiles, all these discomforts, as affirmations that I'd found true wilderness, and I embrace them wholly. Now as a conservation photographer obsessed with blackwater, it's only fitting that I'd eventually end up in the most famous swamp of all: the Everglades.
所以在过去的十年间, 我开始探寻这些区域: 从钢筋丛林到真正的森林, 从松树林到柏木林, 然后我看遍了所有的蚊子和爬虫类, 去体验这些不适, 来确认自己找到了真正的荒野, 我拥抱这所有的一切。 现在,身为一个执着于 黑水河环境保护的摄影师, 我终于找到了唯一适合我的地方, 也是所有的沼泽地中最著名的: 佛罗里达大沼泽地(Everglades).
Growing up here in North Central Florida, it always had these enchanted names, places like Loxahatchee and Fakahatchee, Corkscrew, Big Cypress. I started what turned into a five-year project to hopefully reintroduce the Everglades in a new light, in a more inspired light. But I knew this would be a tall order, because here you have an area that's roughly a third the size the state of Florida, it's huge. And when I say Everglades, most people are like, "Oh, yeah, the national park." But the Everglades is not just a park; it's an entire watershed, starting with the Kissimmee chain of lakes in the north, and then as the rains would fall in the summer, these downpours would flow into Lake Okeechobee, and Lake Okeechobee would fill up and it would overflow its banks and spill southward, ever slowly, with the topography, and get into the river of grass, the Sawgrass Prairies, before meting into the cypress slews, until going further south into the mangrove swamps, and then finally -- finally -- reaching Florida Bay, the emerald gem of the Everglades, the great estuary, the 850 square-mile estuary.
在佛罗里达州中北部长大, 这儿总有一些充满魔力的地名, 像 Loxahatchee 、Fakahatchee, Corkscrew(螺丝锥),Big Cypress(大丝柏)…… 我启动了一个 为期五年的企划, 希望以一种崭新、 更具启发性的角度 向世人重新介绍大沼泽地。 但我知道这会非常辛苦, 因为它大约占去了佛罗里达州 三分之一的面积,它太大了。 当我说到大沼泽地的时候, 可能大部分人会说, 「哦,对,是那个国家公园。」 但是大沼泽地不仅仅是公园; 它是一整片流域, 一整片发源于北方湖泊的基西米河流域, 当夏天雨季来临, 倾盆大雨注入奥科乔比湖, 奥科乔比湖水满涨时,会漫过堤岸 顺着地势缓慢地向南方流去, 最后进入青草之湖—— 索格拉斯大草原, 在进入大片松柏林之前, 它们会一直向北方蔓延流入红树林沼泽, 最终抵达佛罗里达湾, 犹如大沼泽地上的祖母绿宝石, 这片壮阔的港湾, 有着850平方英里。
So sure, the national park is the southern end of this system, but all the things that make it unique are these inputs that come in, the fresh water that starts 100 miles north. So no manner of these political or invisible boundaries protect the park from polluted water or insufficient water. And unfortunately, that's precisely what we've done. Over the last 60 years, we have drained, we have dammed, we have dredged the Everglades to where now only one third of the water that used to reach the bay now reaches the bay today. So this story is not all sunshine and rainbows, unfortunately. For better or for worse, the story of the Everglades is intrinsically tied to the peaks and the valleys of mankind's relationship with the natural world.
所以可以确定的是,国家公园只是 这整个系统的最南端, 但是让它变得与众不同的是, 那些从100英里外的北方 奔腾而至的淡水。 没有任何政策或是无形的约束 可以保护公园远离水污染或干旱。 不幸的是,(干旱和水污染) 正是我们造成的。 过去60年中, 我们泄水、筑坝、挖掘大沼泽地 以至于现在抵达佛罗里达湾 的水量只有过去的三分之一。 所以,这个故事里不全是 阳光和彩虹——很遗憾。 无论好坏与否, 有关大沼泽地的故事, 本质上表现了人类和自然界之间 忽冷忽热的关系。
But I'll show you these beautiful pictures, because it gets you on board. And while I have your attention, I can tell you the real story. It's that we're taking this, and we're trading it for this, at an alarming rate. And what's lost on so many people is the sheer scale of which we're discussing. Because the Everglades is not just responsible for the drinking water for 7 million Floridians; today it also provides the agricultural fields for the year-round tomatoes and oranges for over 300 million Americans. And it's that same seasonal pulse of water in the summer that built the river of grass 6,000 years ago. Ironically, today, it's also responsible for the over half a million acres of the endless river of sugarcane. These are the same fields that are responsible for dumping exceedingly high levels of fertilizers into the watershed, forever changing the system.
但是我要给你们展示一些美丽的照片, 因为这样才能让你们进入状态。 当你们的注意力被吸引过来时, 我将告诉你们真正的故事。 我们最初拥有的是这个, 但我们以惊人的速度 把它变成了这番景象。 而我们所进行的大量讨论 对许多人来说是不能理解的。 因为大沼泽地所承担的不仅仅是 为七百万佛罗里达居民提供饮用水; 如今它还承载了大量农田, 提供全年的西红柿和橘子, 给三亿多美国人。 同样在夏季汛期的涨水 在六千年前形成了青草之湖。 讽刺的是,今天, 它却养育着超过50万英亩的 无尽的甘蔗田。 这也意味着在同样的这片 土地和流域中 施用了极为过量的肥料, 且永远的改变了这里的生态系统。
But in order for you to not just understand how this system works, but to also get personally connected to it, I decided to break the story down into several different narratives. And I wanted that story to start in Lake Okeechobee, the beating heart of the Everglade system. And to do that, I picked an ambassador, an iconic species. This is the Everglade snail kite. It's a great bird, and they used to nest in the thousands, thousands in the northern Everglades. And then they've gone down to about 400 nesting pairs today. And why is that? Well, it's because they eat one source of food, an apple snail, about the size of a ping-pong ball, an aquatic gastropod.
为了让你们不仅仅是了解 这一系统如何运作, 同样能与它产生更切身的联系, 我决定把故事打乱 放进几段不同的故事中。 我想从奥科乔湖比开始我们的故事, 它是大沼泽地生态系统 跳动的心脏。 为此,我挑选了一位亲善大使, 一种标志性的生物。 那就是大沼泽地食螺鸢。 一种非常漂亮的鸟, 它们曾经筑有数以千计的巢穴, 在沼泽地的北方。 可现在它们的筑巢数量 已经下降到大约400个左右。 为什么会这样? 因为它们食物单一,只吃苹果螺, 一种大小如乒乓球 的水产软体动物。
So as we started damming up the Everglades, as we started diking Lake Okeechobee and draining the wetlands, we lost the habitat for the snail. And thus, the population of the kites declined. And so, I wanted a photo that would not only communicate this relationship between wetland, snail and bird, but I also wanted a photo that would communicate how incredible this relationship was, and how very important it is that they've come to depend on each other, this healthy wetland and this bird. And to do that, I brainstormed this idea. I started sketching out these plans to make a photo, and I sent it to the wildlife biologist down in Okeechobee -- this is an endangered bird, so it takes special permission to do. So I built this submerged platform that would hold snails just right under the water. And I spent months planning this crazy idea. And I took this platform down to Lake Okeechobee and I spent over a week in the water, wading waist-deep, 9-hour shifts from dawn until dusk, to get one image that I thought might communicate this. And here's the day that it finally worked:
所以当我们开始 在大沼泽地筑坝时, 当我们开始在奥科乔比湖 筑堤并排干湿地时, 我们毁掉了螺类的栖息地。 因此,食螺鸢的数量随之下降。 因此,我想要拍的照片不仅仅 是表达这种 湿地、螺类与鸟类的关系, 而且我还希望照片中能表达 这种关系的不可思议性, 和他们之间的相互相关性, 对于健康的湿地和鸟类来说 是多么的重要。 为此,我想到了这个办法。 我开始起草了这个拍摄计划, 并把它传给一名位于 奥科乔比湖的野生生物学家—— 这是一种濒临灭亡的鸟类 所有需要特别许可才行。 我制造了一个沉在水中的平台, 这样就会把苹果螺固定到水下。 我花了几个月的时间 去筹备这个疯狂的计划。 我把这个平台放入奥科乔比湖, 并在水里待了一个多星期, 水深及腰,从拂晓到黄昏 九个小时的移动, 只为拍下一张能表达 我的构想的照片。 这是我最终得偿所愿的那天;
[Video: (Mac Stone narrating) After setting up the platform, I look off and I see a kite coming over the cattails. And I see him scanning and searching. And he gets right over the trap, and I see that he's seen it. And he beelines, he goes straight for the trap. And in that moment, all those months of planning, waiting, all the sunburn, mosquito bites -- suddenly, they're all worth it. (Mac Stone in film) Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!]
影片:(斯通旁白) 「平台布置好后, 我注视着它 然后我看到有一只鸢飞过香蒲。 它一直在扫视和搜寻着。 当它越过这个陷阱后, 我看到它有所察觉。 然后它直奔陷阱而去。 在那一刻, 这数月来的筹划、等待, 以及所有的晒伤和蚊虫叮咬, 瞬间,都值得了。」 (斯通在影片中说道) 「哦天啊,我简直不敢相信!」
You can believe how excited I was when that happened. But what the idea was, is that for someone who's never seen this bird and has no reason to care about it, these photos, these new perspectives, will help shed a little new light on just one species that makes this watershed so incredible, so valuable, so important. Now, I know I can't come here to Gainesville and talk to you about animals in the Everglades without talking about gators. I love gators, I grew up loving gators. My parents always said I had an unhealthy relationship with gators. But what I like about them is, they're like the freshwater equivalent of sharks. They're feared, they're hated, and they are tragically misunderstood. Because these are a unique species, they're not just apex predators. In the Everglades, they are the very architects of the Everglades, because as the water drops down in the winter during the dry season, they start excavating these holes called gator holes. And they do this because as the water drops down, they'll be able to stay wet and they'll be able to forage. And now this isn't just affecting them, other animals also depend on this relationship, so they become a keystone species as well. So how do you make an apex predator, an ancient reptile, at once look like it dominates the system, but at the same time, look vulnerable? Well, you wade into a pit of about 120 of them, then you hope that you've made the right decision.
你们简直不能想象 当时我有多么激动。 但是这个计划是针对那些 从未见过这种鸟、 也没有任何理由去关注这种鸟的人, 这些照片,这些新的认知, 将提供一个新的视角: 单单一个物种 就让这片流域变得如此不可思议, 如此珍贵和重要。 当然,我知道, 我总不能到了Gainesville 讲了那么多大沼泽地里的野生动物 却没有提到鳄鱼。 我爱鳄鱼, 从小就喜欢鳄鱼。 我的父母常说 我和短吻鳄有不正常的关系。 但我之所以喜欢它们, 是因为它们相当于淡水里的鲨鱼。 人们恐惧它、厌恶它, 它们一直悲惨地被误解。 因为它们是一种独特的生物, 而不仅仅是顶尖的猎食者。 在大沼泽地, 它们是大沼泽地出色的建筑师, 因为当冬季水位下降 进入枯水期, 它们开始挖掘短吻鳄洞穴。 它们这样做的原因是 当水位下降后, 它们依然可以保持潮湿 而且依然可以觅食。 当然,这不止造福它们, 其他的动物也依赖这种关系, 所以它们成了一种关键性的生物。 那么我们是怎么让一种顶尖猎食者、 一种古老的爬行生物, 乍看之下好像主宰着这一生态系统, 而同时,面对潜在的威胁却是脆弱的? 想要了解的话,就得走进 一个有120只短吻鳄的水坑…… 我真希望自己做出的是个正确的决定。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I still have all my fingers, it's cool.
我的手指都还在,酷吧。
But I understand, I know I'm not going to rally you guys, I'm not going to rally the troops to "Save the Everglades for the gators!" It won't happen because they're so ubiquitous, we see them now, they're one of the great conservation success stories of the US. But there is one species in the Everglades that no matter who you are, you can't help but love, too, and that's the roseate spoonbill. These birds are great, but they've had a really tough time in the Everglades, because they started out with thousands of nesting pairs in Florida Bay, and at the turn of the 20th century, they got down to two -- two nesting pairs. And why? That's because women thought they looked better on their hats then they did flying in the sky. Then we banned the plume trade, and their numbers started rebounding. And as their numbers started rebounding, scientists began to pay attention, they started studying these birds.
但我知道,我并没要怂恿你们。 我不是在对你们宣扬说, 「为了短吻鳄去拯救大沼泽地吧!」 我不会那么做, 因为它们现在活的很滋润, 它们不再稀有了, 它们是美国环境保护的成功典范之一。 但大沼泽地里 有一种生物是你无论如何 都只能关爱,却无法保护的, 那就是玫瑰琵鹭。 这种鸟极其美丽, 但它们在大沼泽的生存却极其艰难。 因为它们最初在佛罗里达湾 筑有数以千计的巢穴, 但到了20世纪之交, 却仅剩两个——两个巢穴。 为什么? 因为女人们认为这种鸟 与其飞在天上, 不如做成她们的帽子更好看。 此后我们禁止了羽饰贸易,我们禁止了, 所以它们的数量开始回升。 当它们的数量开始回升后, 科学家才注意到它们, 并开始研究这些鸟类。
And what they found out is that these birds' behavior is intrinsically tied to the annual draw-down cycle of water in the Everglades, the thing that defines the Everglades watershed. What they found out is that these birds started nesting in the winter as the water drew down, because they're tactile feeders, so they have to touch whatever they eat. And so they wait for these concentrated pools of fish to be able to feed enough to feed their young. So these birds became the very icon of the Everglades -- an indicator species of the overall health of the system. And just as their numbers were rebounding in the mid-20th century -- shooting up to 900, 1,000, 1,100, 1,200 -- just as that started happening, we started draining the southern Everglades. And we stopped two-thirds of that water from moving south. And it had drastic consequences. And just as those numbers started reaching their peak, unfortunately, today, the real spoonbill story, the real photo of what it looks like is more something like this. And we're down to less than 70 nesting pairs in Florida Bay today, because we've disrupted the system so much. So all these different organizations are shouting, they're screaming, "The Everglades is fragile! It's fragile!" It is not. It is resilient. Because despite all we've taken, despite all we've done and we've drained and we've dammed and we've dredged it, pieces of it are still here, waiting to be put back together.
他们的研究发现 这些鸟的行为, 本质上与大沼泽地每年水位下降 及流域一切的循环周期息息相关。 他们发现: 这种鸟在冬天 水位下降的时候开始筑巢, 因为它们是感知型的进食动物, 必须通过触碰食物(来判断能否进食)。 所以它们会等待这些缩小后 的水池中的鱼长到足够大, 这样它们才有 足够的食物哺育雏鸟。 所以这种鸟成了 大沼泽地的象征—— 一种显示着整个生态系统 是否健康的风向标生物。 它们数量一直回升到二十世纪中叶—— 数量上升到900,1000,1100,1200 就像之前发生的一样, 我们开始排干南部的大沼泽地。 我们阻断了三分之二 流向南部的水。 而这造成了巨大的影响。 就在这种鸟的数量 到达一个高峰时, 非常不幸,今天, 玫瑰琵鹭真实的故事, 真正关于它们生存现状的照片 却是这样的。 今天佛罗里达湾仅有 不到70个巢穴, 因为我们极大地 扰乱了这里的生态系统。 所有的环保组织 都在吶喊,都在高呼, 「大沼泽地是脆弱的!是脆弱的!」 不是的。 它有极强的适应力。 无论我们掠夺多少, 无论我们对它做过什么, 无论我们排干、筑坝或是挖掘它, 那些碎片仍然在这, 等待我们将其复原。
And this is what I've loved about South Florida, that in one place, you have this unstoppable force of mankind meeting the immovable object of tropical nature. And it's at this new frontier that we are forced with a new appraisal. What is wilderness worth? What is the value of biodiversity, or our drinking water? And fortunately, after decades of debate, we're finally starting to act on those questions. We're slowly undertaking these projects to bring more freshwater back to the bay. But it's up to us as citizens, as residents, as stewards to hold our elected officials to their promises.
这就是我热爱佛罗里达南部的原因。 因为在这里,你会看到: 人类不可阻挡的力量 遇上热带地区不可撼动的自然事物。 在这片新的疆域 我们被迫重新审视。 荒野的价值究竟是什么? 生物多样性有多珍贵? 我们饮用水呢? 幸运的是, 经过数十年争论, 我们终于对这些问题做出了行动。 我们开始逐渐实行这些计划, 将更多的淡水还给海湾。 但这取决于我们—— 作为公民,作为定居者,作为管理者 应当保障我们选出的议员 能履行他们的承诺。
What can you do to help? It's so easy. Just get outside, get out there. Take your friends out, take your kids out, take your family out. Hire a fishing guide. Show the state that protecting wilderness not only makes ecological sense, but economic sense as well. It's a lot of fun, just do it -- put your feet in the water. The swamp will change you, I promise.
你能做点什么吗? 非常简单。 只要走出去家门,到那些地方去。 带着你朋友,带着你的孩子, 带上你的家人一起走出去。 雇一个钓鱼顾问。 让政府看到:保护荒野 不仅对生态有好处, 也能创造经济效益。 那会很有趣,去做就对了—— 把你的脚伸入水中吧! 沼泽会改变你,我保证。
Over the years, we've been so generous with these other landscapes around the country, cloaking them with this American pride, places that we now consider to define us: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone. And we use these parks and these natural areas as beacons and as cultural compasses. And sadly, the Everglades is very commonly left out of that conversation. But I believe it's every bit as iconic and emblematic of who we are as a country as any of these other wildernesses. It's just a different kind of wild.
过去的这些年里, 我们对国内的其它风景如此慷慨, 将它们拥簇成美国之光。 我们认为它们代表了美国: 科罗拉多大峡谷,优胜美地,黄石公园。 我们将这些国家公园和自然区域 作为美国的灯塔和文化指南。 可悲的是,佛罗里达大沼泽地 却渐渐被人们遗忘了。 但我相信它的每一个部分 都是一种图腾和象征, 象征着我们的国家, 就像其它的荒野一样。 它是另一种与众不同的荒野。
But I'm encouraged, because maybe we're finally starting to come around, because what was once deemed this swampy wasteland, today is a World Heritage site. It's a wetland of international importance. And we've come a long way in the last 60 years. And as the world's largest and most ambitious wetland restoration project, the international spotlight is on us in the Sunshine State. Because if we can heal this system, it's going to become an icon for wetland restoration all over the world. But it's up to us to decide which legacy we want to attach our flag to.
但是我很欣慰, 因为或许我们终于醒来, 因为那个曾经被人们视为沼泽的湿地, 今天已经成了世界自然遗产。 它是世界级重要的湿地。 过去的六十年我们有所进展。 作为世界上最庞大、 最富雄心的湿地复原计划, 全世界的目光 都聚焦在我们阳光之州。 如果我们能修复这个生态系统, 它将成为一个全球的湿地修复典范。 但这一切都取决于我们想要 将怎样的荣誉赋予我们的国家。
They say that the Everglades is our greatest test. If we pass it, we get to keep the planet. I love that quote, because it's a challenge, it's a prod. Can we do it? Will we do it? We have to, we must. But the Everglades is not just a test. It's also a gift, and ultimately, our responsibility.
他们说:保护大沼泽地 是我们最伟大的考验。 如果我们通过了, 我们就有能力保护地球。 我喜欢这段话, 因为这是一项挑战,是一种激励。 我们能做到吗?我们愿意去做吗? 我们必须,也必然会做到。 因为大沼泽地并非只是一次考验。 它也是一件礼物, 而最终,是你我的义务。
Thank you.
谢谢大家。
(Applause)
(掌声)