本集內容

Can trees help climate change? 植樹是否有助于應對氣候變化？

學習要點

有關 “research（研究）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

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.

英國斯塔福德郡的一片森林被改造成了一個高科技實驗室。這里的研究人員們正在分析調查這些樹木是如何消耗碳的，而要找到答案實屬不易。在一項不尋常的實驗中，額外的二氧化碳通過管道被輸送到樹木當中，以創造出預計在本世紀中葉出現的大氣條件。這里還放置了儀器，用來測量森林會作何反應。

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.

負責這項實驗的科學家說，還有許多東西需要學習。他還擔心政府和企業都急于植樹，認為這是應對氣候變化的簡單解決辦法。

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.

羅伯·麥肯基教授     英國伯明翰大學
“如果你試圖用樹木來收拾我們排放污染物造成的混亂，你其實是把那些樹置于一個急劇變化的氣候中，它們將難以適應。”

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.

這個裝置追蹤記錄二氧化碳是如何移動的。在健康的森林里，二氧化碳不僅被樹木吸收，一些也會被釋放出來。

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.

這里的科學家在查明碳流入及流出森林的方式，這比你想的要復雜得多。因此，如果大規模植樹是應對氣候變化的一個解決方案，那么這些樹木就必須受到監測和照料，這不僅需要幾十年時間，也許需要幾百年的時間。

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.

在諸多挑戰當中，種植的任務是最簡單的一項。來自加拿大的謝爾比·巴伯一天能種多達4000棵樹。

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

BBC通訊員     大衛·舒克曼
“人們說要在全球各地種植數百萬，甚至數十億棵樹。你覺得實際上能做到嗎？”

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.

謝爾比·巴伯     種植者
“這是完全有可能的，只要有足夠的人和合適的人群。我個人在三年內就種下了50多萬棵樹。”

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

一旦種下樹，樹木就需要生存，專家們正在混種不同類型的樹，以將樹木患病的風險降到最低。

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.

埃莉諾·圖     英格蘭林業
“這個做法有點像是在確保你不要孤注一擲，你是在分散風險。這樣一來，如果林地某區域的樹木由于任何原因而無法存活，不論是因患病還是無法承受未來的氣候條件，那么森林里還有其它部分是健康的，可以填補這些空白。”

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.

突然間出現了一種大規模植樹的勢頭，而規模之大是前所未見的。所以，重要的是要用確保森林茁壯生長的方式來植樹，使其真正地有助于應對氣候變化。

詞匯

experiment 實驗

instruments 儀器，器械

tracks 追蹤記錄

monitored 被監測

don't put all your eggs in one basket 別孤注一擲

問題答案

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