Now, I'm an ethnobotanist. That's a scientist who works in the rainforest to document how people use local plants. I've been doing this for a long time, and I want to tell you, these people know these forests and these medicinal treasures better than we do and better than we ever will. But also, these cultures, these indigenous cultures, are disappearing much faster than the forests themselves. And the greatest and most endangered species in the Amazon Rainforest is not the jaguar, it's not the harpy eagle, it's the isolated and uncontacted tribes.
我是名民族植物学家。 我在热带雨林工作, 记录人们如何使用当地植物。 我做这项工作很久了, 我可以告诉大家, 这些人对当地森林和里面医药珍宝的了解 比我们多得多,永远多得多。 但是,这些文化, 这些土著文化, 消失得比森林还快。 在亚马逊热带雨林中, 最伟大而最濒危的物种 不是美洲豹, 也不是美洲角雕, 而是与世隔绝的人类部落。
Now four years ago, I injured my foot in a climbing accident and I went to the doctor. She gave me heat, she gave me cold, aspirin, narcotic painkillers, anti-inflammatories, cortisone shots. It didn't work. Several months later, I was in the northeast Amazon, walked into a village, and the shaman said, "You're limping." And I'll never forget this as long as I live. He looked me in the face and he said, "Take off your shoe and give me your machete." (Laughter) He walked over to a palm tree and carved off a fern, threw it in the fire, applied it to my foot, threw it in a pot of water, and had me drink the tea. The pain disappeared for seven months. When it came back, I went to see the shaman again. He gave me the same treatment, and I've been cured for three years now. Who would you rather be treated by? (Applause) Now, make no mistake — Western medicine is the most successful system of healing ever devised, but there's plenty of holes in it. Where's the cure for breast cancer? Where's the cure for schizophrenia? Where's the cure for acid reflux? Where's the cure for insomnia? The fact is that these people can sometimes, sometimes, sometimes cure things we cannot. Here you see a medicine man in the northeast Amazon treating leishmaniasis, a really nasty protozoal disease that afflicts 12 million people around the world. Western treatment are injections of antimony. They're painful, they're expensive, and they're probably not good for your heart; it's a heavy metal. This man cures it with three plants from the Amazon Rainforest.
四年前,我在爬山时伤了脚, 我去看医生。 她给我进行热疗, 进行冰疗,用阿司匹林, 用麻醉止痛剂,抗炎药, 注射可的松。 没有疗效。 几个月后, 我在亚马逊东北部, 我走进一个村落, 萨满说,“你跛了。” 这一幕我一生都不会忘记。 他看着我的脸,对我说, “脱鞋,把你的砍刀给我。” (笑声) 他走向一棵棕榈树, 切下来一片蕨, 扔到火里, 然后敷在我脚上, 然后又扔进了一壶水中, 让我把那个当茶喝了。 整整七个月,我再也没疼过。 复发后,我又去见萨满。 他对我进行同样的疗法, 现在我已经痊愈三年了。 你想让谁给你治病? (鼓掌) 别误会 — 西医 是人类发明的最成功的医疗体系, 但它也有缺陷。 乳腺癌的疗法在哪里? 神经分裂症的疗法在哪里? 胃酸倒流的疗法在哪里? 失眠症的疗法在哪里? 事实是,这些土著人 在有些时候,能治疗 我们治不了的病。 这是一位亚马逊东北部的药师 在治疗利什曼病。 利什曼病是一种非常恶心的原虫疾病, 全世界超过一千两百万人受其困扰。 西医的疗法是进行锑注射。 这种疗法让人很痛苦,也很昂贵, 而且这种疗法对病人的心脏也可能有副作用。 锑是重金属。 这名药师能用三种亚马逊雨林的草药来进行治疗。
This is the magic frog. My colleague, the late great Loren McIntyre, discoverer of the source lake of the Amazon, Laguna McIntyre in the Peruvian Andes, was lost on the Peru-Brazil border about 30 years ago. He was rescued by a group of isolated Indians called the Matsés. They beckoned for him to follow them into the forest, which he did. There, they took out palm leaf baskets. There, they took out these green monkey frogs — these are big suckers, they're like this — and they began licking them. It turns out, they're highly hallucinogenic. McIntyre wrote about this and it was read by the editor of High Times magazine. You see that ethnobotanists have friends in all sorts of strange cultures. This guy decided he would go down to the Amazon and give it a whirl, or give it a lick, and he did, and he wrote, "My blood pressure went through the roof, I lost full control of my bodily functions, I passed out in a heap, I woke up in a hammock six hours later, felt like God for two days." (Laughter) An Italian chemist read this and said, "I'm not really interested in the theological aspects of the green monkey frog. What's this about the change in blood pressure?" Now, this is an Italian chemist who's working on a new treatment for high blood pressure based on peptides in the skin of the green monkey frog, and other scientists are looking at a cure for drug-resistant Staph aureus. How ironic if these isolated Indians and their magic frog prove to be one of the cures.
这个是魔蛙。 我已故的同事洛伦·麦金太尔, 他发现了亚马逊的河源湖, 秘鲁安第斯的麦金太尔湖, 他30年前在秘鲁巴西边境迷路了。 他被一群叫做Matsés的与世隔绝的印第安人救了下来。 他们示意他跟随他们进入丛林,他照做了。 在那里,他们拿出了棕榈树叶筐, 里面他们拿出了这种绿色的猴蛙 — 个头都是大家伙,有这么 — 然后他们开始舔这种蛙。 这种蛙有高度的致幻作用。 麦金太尔把这个写了出来,《鼎盛时期》杂志的编辑看了。 从中你可以看出民族植物学家在各种奇怪的圈子都有朋友。 这名编辑决定自己去亚马逊爽一下, 舔一下,他真这样做了,他写到, “我的血压爆表了, 我对我的身体机能完全失去了控制。 我昏厥了, 六个小时后我在一张吊床里醒来, 两天内都觉得自己跟神仙似的。” (笑声) 一位意大利化学家读后说, “我对这种绿猴蛙魔幻的一面没太大兴趣, 可这个血压变化是怎么回事?” 现在,这名意大利化学家 正在研究新的治疗高血压的方法, 用的就是绿猴蛙皮肤中的肽, 而其他科学家也正在研究用这个肽来 治疗耐药性的金黄色葡萄球菌。 如果这些隔绝的印第安人和他们的魔蛙 是答案的话,那该有多讽刺。
Here's an ayahuasca shaman in the northwest Amazon, in the middle of a yage ceremony. I took him to Los Angeles to meet a foundation officer looking for support for monies to protect their culture. This fellow looked at the medicine man, and he said, "You didn't go to medical school, did you?" The shaman said, "No, I did not." He said, "Well, then what can you know about healing?" The shaman looked at him and he said, "You know what? If you have an infection, go to a doctor. But many human afflictions are diseases of the heart, the mind and the spirit. Western medicine can't touch those. I cure them." (Applause)
这里是一位亚马逊西北部的死藤水萨满, 在卡皮木仪式中。 我带他去洛杉矶见一位基金会工作人员, 寻求资金来保护他们的文化。 这个工作人员看了看这位药师,说, “你没上过医学院吧?” 萨满回答,“没有。” 他说,“那么,对治病你能懂什么?” 萨满看着他,说, “你知道么?如果你有感染,那你去看医生。 但很多人类疾病是心灵,头脑,和灵魂的病。 西医治不了。我能。” (掌声)
But all is not rosy in learning from nature about new medicines. This is a viper from Brazil, the venom of which was studied at the Universidade de São Paulo here. It was later developed into ACE inhibitors. This is a frontline treatment for hypertension. Hypertension causes over 10 percent of all deaths on the planet every day. This is a $4 billion industry based on venom from a Brazilian snake, and the Brazilians did not get a nickel. This is not an acceptable way of doing business.
但是从自然中提炼新药物也并不是那么美好。 这是条巴西毒蛇, 毒液经圣保罗大学研究, 后来发展成ACE抑制剂。 治疗高血压的尖端药物。 地球上人类每天超过10%的死亡 是因为高血压。 这是个价值40亿美元的行业, 用的就是巴西蛇的毒液, 但巴西人却一分钱也没得到。 这样的做法是不可接受的。
The rainforest has been called the greatest expression of life on Earth. There's a saying in Suriname that I dearly love: "The rainforests hold answers to questions we have yet to ask." But as you all know, it's rapidly disappearing. Here in Brazil, in the Amazon, around the world. I took this picture from a small plane flying over the eastern border of the Xingu indigenous reserve in the state of Mato Grosso to the northwest of here. The top half of the picture, you see where the Indians live. The line through the middle is the eastern border of the reserve. Top half Indians, bottom half white guys. Top half wonder drugs, bottom half just a bunch of skinny-ass cows. Top half carbon sequestered in the forest where it belongs, bottom half carbon in the atmosphere where it's driving climate change. In fact, the number two cause of carbon being released into the atmosphere is forest destruction.
热带雨林被称作地球上最伟大的生态体系。 苏里南有一句谚语我很喜欢: “热带雨林中有我们还未知晓的问题的答案。” 但是正如大家都知道的,热带雨林正在快速消失。 在巴西是这样,在亚马逊是这样, 在全世界也是。 我从一架小飞机上拍了这张照片, 当时正在飞过Xingu土著保护区的东部边境, 是从马托格罗索州到这里的西北部。 照片的上半部分, 你能看到是印第安人的居住地。 中间的线 是保护区的东部边界。 上半部分印第安人,下半部分白人。 上半部分是奇妙的医药, 下半部分就是一群脑残。 上半部分碳被储存在他们所属的森林中, 下半部分碳排放到大气中, 导致气候变化。 事实上,大气碳排放的 第二个原因就是 森林破坏。
But in talking about destruction, it's important to keep in mind that the Amazon is the mightiest landscape of all. It's a place of beauty and wonder. The biggest anteater in the world lives in the rain forest, tips the scale at 90 pounds. The goliath bird-eating spider is the world's largest spider. It's found in the Amazon as well. The harpy eagle wingspan is over seven feet. And the black cayman — these monsters can tip the scale at over half a ton. They're known to be man-eaters. The anaconda, the largest snake, the capybara, the largest rodent. A specimen from here in Brazil tipped the scale at 201 pounds.
说到破坏, 很重要的是要记得 亚马逊是最神奇的景观。 壮丽的地方,神奇的地方。 世界上最大的食蚁兽 就生活在热带雨林, 重达90磅。 巨型的捕鸟蛛, 世界上最大的蜘蛛, 也是在亚马逊。 美洲角雕翼展超过7英尺, 还有黑鳄鱼 — 这些巨兽体重超过半吨。 他们据称能食人。 还有水蟒,最大的蛇类, 水豚,最大的啮齿类。 巴西的一个标本 重达201磅。
Let's visit where these creatures live, the northeast Amazon, home to the Akuriyo tribe. Uncontacted peoples hold a mystical and iconic role in our imagination. These are the people who know nature best. These are the people who truly live in total harmony with nature. By our standards, some would dismiss these people as primitive. "They don't know how to make fire, or they didn't when they were first contacted." But they know the forest far better than we do. The Akuriyos have 35 words for honey, and other Indians look up to them as being the true masters of the emerald realm. Here you see the face of my friend Pohnay. When I was a teenager rocking out to the Rolling Stones in my hometown of New Orleans, Pohnay was a forest nomad roaming the jungles of the northeast Amazon in a small band, looking for game, looking for medicinal plants, looking for a wife, in other small nomadic bands. But it's people like these that know things that we don't, and they have lots of lessons to teach us.
让我们来看看这些生物的家园, 亚马逊东北部, Akuriyo部落的所在地。 与世隔绝的部落在我们的想象中 是神秘而有代表性的。 他们是最了解自然的人。 他们是真正与自然 和谐相处的人。 用我们的标准来看,有人会觉得他们原始。 “他们不会生火。 起码刚跟外界接触时,他们不会。” 但他们对森林的了解远远多于我们。 Akuriyos人有35种词汇形容蜂蜜, 其他印第安人将他们视为 热带雨林中真正的大师。 这是我的朋友博奈。 当我还年轻,在家乡新奥尔良 听滚石乐队的歌时, 博奈就已经在森林游牧, 漫步在亚马逊东北部的丛林中, 和小群落一起,打猎, 寻找草药, 从别的小游牧群落中 寻找配偶。 正是他们这种人有 我们不知道的智慧, 他们有很多东西能教给我们。
However, if you go into most of the forests of the Amazon, there are no indigenous peoples. This is what you find: rock carvings which indigenous peoples, uncontacted peoples, used to sharpen the edge of the stone axe. These cultures that once danced, made love, sang to the gods, worshipped the forest, all that's left is an imprint in stone, as you see here.
但是,如果你去亚马逊森林的大多数地方, 你见不到土著部落。 你能看到的是, 与世隔绝的土著部落磨斧头时 在石头上留下的痕迹。 这些曾经跳舞, 繁衍,赞颂神明, 崇拜森林的群落, 现在只留在岩石的痕迹中,就像这张图里的这样。
Let's move to the western Amazon, which is really the epicenter of isolated peoples. Each of these dots represents a small, uncontacted tribe, and the big reveal today is we believe there are 14 or 15 isolated groups in the Colombian Amazon alone.
我们再去看看西亚马逊, 那里是与世隔绝的部落的中心。 这里每一个点都代表着 一个小的,未曾联系过的部落, 现在我们认为单单在哥伦比亚亚马逊 就有14或15个隔绝部落。
Why are these people isolated? They know we exist, they know there's an outside world. This is a form of resistance. They have chosen to remain isolated, and I think it is their human right to remain so. Why are these the tribes that hide from man? Here's why. Obviously, some of this was set off in 1492. But at the turn of the last century was the rubber trade. The demand for natural rubber, which came from the Amazon, set off the botanical equivalent of a gold rush. Rubber for bicycle tires, rubber for automobile tires, rubber for zeppelins. It was a mad race to get that rubber, and the man on the left, Julio Arana, is one of the true thugs of the story. His people, his company, and other companies like them killed, massacred, tortured, butchered Indians like the Witotos you see on the right hand side of the slide.
为什么这些人与世隔绝? 他们知道我们存在,他们知道有外界世界。 这是一种反抗。 他们选择保持隔绝, 我觉得他们有权利这样做。 为什么这些部落会躲着人? 这是为什么。 很显然,部分是起源于1492年。 但是在上世纪开始出现 橡胶贸易。 对天然橡胶的需求, 而天然橡胶来自亚马逊, 促成了植物界的淘金热潮。 橡胶用于自行车胎, 橡胶用于汽车轮胎, 橡胶用于齐柏林飞艇。 橡胶被人们疯抢, 而左边这个人,朱利奥·阿拉纳, 是这个故事中最混蛋的恶棍。 他的人,他的公司, 还有其他的类似公司, 谋杀,屠杀,虐待,屠宰了Witoto等印第安部落, 幻灯片右边就是。
Even today, when people come out of the forest, the story seldom has a happy ending. These are Nukaks. They were contacted in the '80s. Within a year, everybody over 40 was dead. And remember, these are preliterate societies. The elders are the libraries. Every time a shaman dies, it's as if a library has burned down. They have been forced off their lands. The drug traffickers have taken over the Nukak lands, and the Nukaks live as beggars in public parks in eastern Colombia. From the Nukak lands, I want to take you to the southwest, to the most spectacular landscape in the world: Chiribiquete National Park. It was surrounded by three isolated tribes and thanks to the Colombian government and Colombian colleagues, it has now expanded. It's bigger than the state of Maryland. It is a treasure trove of botanical diversity. It was first explored botanically in 1943 by my mentor, Richard Schultes, seen here atop the Bell Mountain, the sacred mountains of the Karijonas. And let me show you what it looks like today. Flying over Chiribiquete, realize that these lost world mountains are still lost. No scientist has been atop them. In fact, nobody has been atop the Bell Mountain since Schultes in '43. And we'll end up here with the Bell Mountain just to the east of the picture. Let me show you what it looks like today.
即便在今天,当土著部落走出丛林, 故事也往往没有好的结局。 这些是Nukak人。外界80年代时与他们联络。 1年之内,40岁以上的都死了。 要记得,他们是尚无文字的社会。 长者就是图书馆。 每次一位萨满死去, 就好像一个图书馆被烧毁。 他们被逼迫离开自己的土地。 毒贩们霸占了Nukak部落的土地。 他们在哥伦比亚东部的公园中 当起了乞丐。 从Nukak部落的土地,我带你去西南部, 来到世界最壮丽的景观: 奇里维克特国家公园。 它四周环绕着三个与世隔绝的部落, 在哥伦比亚政府和哥伦比亚同僚的努力下, 国家公园范围现在扩大了。 它比马里兰州的面积还大。 它是植物多样化的宝库。 奇里维克特山最早在1943年进行了植物学探索, 探索由我的导师,理查德·舒尔特斯进行。 这里看到的是他在贝尔山的顶端, 贝尔山是Karijona部落的圣山。 让我带你看看现在那里是什么样。 飞跃奇里维克特山, 这些与世隔绝的山仍旧是与世隔绝的。 没有科学家登顶过。 事实上,自舒尔特斯1943年以来, 再也没有人登顶过贝尔山。 我们前面就是贝尔山, 就在画面东部。 让我带你们看看它现在的样子。
Not only is this a treasure trove of botanical diversity, not only is it home to three isolated tribes, but it's the greatest treasure trove of pre-Colombian art in the world: over 200,000 paintings. The Dutch scientist Thomas van der Hammen described this as the Sistine Chapel of the Amazon Rainforest.
它不仅仅是植物多样化的宝库, 也不仅仅是三个与世隔绝部落的家园, 它还是世界上最伟大的 前哥伦布时期的艺术宝库, 拥有超过20万幅画作。 荷兰科学家托马斯·范德哈门 称其为亚马逊热带雨林的西斯廷圣母院。
But move from Chiribiquete down to the southeast, again in the Colombian Amazon. Remember, the Colombian Amazon is bigger than New England. The Amazon's a big forest, and Brazil's got a big part of it, but not all of it. Moving down to these two national parks, Cahuinari and Puré in the Colombian Amazon — that's the Brazilian border to the right — it's home to several groups of isolated and uncontacted peoples. To the trained eye, you can look at the roofs of these malocas, these longhouses, and see that there's cultural diversity. These are, in fact, different tribes. As isolated as these areas are, let me show you how the outside world is crowding in. Here we see trade and transport increased in Putumayo. With the diminishment of the Civil War in Colombia, the outside world is showing up. To the north, we have illegal gold mining, also from the east, from Brazil. There's increased hunting and fishing for commercial purposes. We see illegal logging coming from the south, and drug runners are trying to move through the park and get into Brazil. This, in the past, is why you didn't mess with isolated Indians. And if it looks like this picture is out of focus because it was taken in a hurry, here's why. (Laughter) This looks like — (Applause) This looks like a hangar from the Brazilian Amazon. This is an art exhibit in Havana, Cuba. A group called Los Carpinteros. This is their perception of why you shouldn't mess with uncontacted Indians.
从奇里维克特山向东南方去, 回到哥伦比亚亚马逊。 请记得,哥伦比亚亚马逊比新英格兰面积还广。 亚马逊是一大片森林, 巴西有很大一部分, 但不是全部。 来到这两个国家公园, 位于哥伦比亚亚马逊的 卡维纳里河国家公园和普伦国家公园 — 右边是巴西边境 — 是许多与世隔绝的部落 的家园。 如果你有能力,你能看出 这些是长屋的房顶, 看出那里的文化多样性。 这些其实是不同的部落。 尽管这些地方如此隔绝, 我来给你们看外界是如何进行侵蚀的。 这里,我们能看到普图马约河的贸易和运输增长。 随着哥伦比亚内战的结束, 外界开始侵入。 北边,有非法的金矿, 东边来自巴西的也有。 商业目的的狩猎和捕鱼活动也越来越多。 南边我们能看到非法采木, 毒贩子也想穿过国家公园 去巴西。 这就是为什么在过去,你别惹 与世隔绝的印第安人。 如果这张照片看起来有点失焦, 因为拍摄的时候匆匆忙忙,而这就是为什么。 (笑声) 这看起来像 — (掌声) 这看起来像是在巴西亚马逊的机库。 这其实是古巴哈瓦那的艺术展, 创作自一个叫做“Los Carpinteros”的组织。 这是他们想象中的你为什么别惹与世隔绝的的印第安人。
But the world is changing. These are Mashco-Piros on the Brazil-Peru border who stumbled out of the jungle because they were essentially chased out by drug runners and timber people. And in Peru, there's a very nasty business. It's called human safaris. They will take you in to isolated groups to take their picture. Of course, when you give them clothes, when you give them tools, you also give them diseases. We call these "inhuman safaris." These are Indians again on the Peru border, who were overflown by flights sponsored by missionaries. They want to get in there and turn them into Christians. We know how that turns out.
但是世界在变化。 这些是Mashco-Piro人在巴西秘鲁边境, 他们逃出丛林 因为他们被驱赶出来, 被毒贩和采木的人。 在秘鲁,有个很邪恶的行业 叫人类游猎。 他们带你去隔绝部落照相。 当然,你给他们衣服,给他们工具, 你也带给他们疾病。 我们管这个叫“反人类游猎”。 这又是印第安人,在秘鲁边境, 被传教士带着飞到这里。 传教士想把他们变成基督徒。 我们都知道这样做的结果。
What's to be done? Introduce technology to the contacted tribes, not the uncontacted tribes, in a culturally sensitive way. This is the perfect marriage of ancient shamanic wisdom and 21st century technology. We've done this now with over 30 tribes, mapped, managed and increased protection of over 70 million acres of ancestral rainforest. (Applause)
能做些什么? 传播科技给已经有联系的部落, 不是隔绝的部落, 并在传播过程中照顾到他们的文化。 这是古老的萨满智慧与 21世纪科技的完美联姻。 我们已经跟超过30个部落合作了。 我们测绘了,管理了,并加强保护了 超过七千万英亩的古老热带雨林。 (掌声)
So this allows the Indians to take control of their environmental and cultural destiny. They also then set up guard houses to keep outsiders out. These are Indians, trained as indigenous park rangers, patrolling the borders and keeping the outside world at bay. This is a picture of actual contact. These are Chitonahua Indians on the Brazil-Peru border. They've come out of the jungle asking for help. They were shot at, their malocas, their longhouses, were burned. Some of them were massacred. Using automatic weapons to slaughter uncontacted peoples is the single most despicable and disgusting human rights abuse on our planet today, and it has to stop. (Applause)
这能让印第安人掌控 他们的环境和文化未来。 他们还设立了岗哨房, 不让外人进入。 这些是印第安人,经过受训成为巡山人, 在边境巡逻, 防止外部世界进入。 这是与部落接触时的照片。 他们是Chitonahua印第安部落, 位于巴西秘鲁边境。 他们从丛林中走出, 寻求帮助。 他们遭到枪击, 他们的长屋被焚毁。 他们有的人被屠杀。 使用自动化武器对付这些与世隔绝的部落 是我们地球上如今最可耻最可恶的 反人类行径,这一行径必须停止。 (掌声)
But let me conclude by saying, this work can be spiritually rewarding, but it's difficult and it can be dangerous. Two colleagues of mine passed away recently in the crash of a small plane. They were serving the forest to protect those uncontacted tribes. So the question is, in conclusion, is what the future holds. These are the Uray people in Brazil. What does the future hold for them, and what does the future hold for us? Let's think differently. Let's make a better world. If the climate's going to change, let's have a climate that changes for the better rather than the worse. Let's live on a planet full of luxuriant vegetation, in which isolated peoples can remain in isolation, can maintain that mystery and that knowledge if they so choose. Let's live in a world where the shamans live in these forests and heal themselves and us with their mystical plants and their sacred frogs.
在结尾,请让我说, 这一工作对心灵是很有好处的, 但也是困难的,还会是很危险的。 我的两个同事最近刚刚去世, 死于小型飞机坠毁。 他们在保护森林, 保卫这些隔绝的部落。 那么在结尾,问题是, 未来会怎么样。 这些是巴西的Uray部落。 他们的未来会怎样。 我们的未来会怎样? 让我们换个想法。 让我们一起建立一个更好的世界。 如果气候变化一定要发生, 那就让气候变好,而不是变坏。 让我们所生活的星球上 充满丰富的植被, 而隔绝的部落 能够保持隔绝, 能够继续那份神秘, 还有那些智慧, 如果他们愿意这样。 让我们所生活的世界里, 萨满生活在树林中, 用他们神秘的植物 和神圣的猴蛙, 治疗他们,还有我们。
Thanks again.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)