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Hey there, welcome to Life Noggin.
嗨,歡迎收看 Life Noggin。
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There are currently over 7 billion humans inhabiting the Earth and that value is increasing exponentially.
現今,地球上有超過 70 億人居住,而且一直呈指數增長。
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So that has a lot of people wondering including me: "How many people can the Earth even hold?”
因此,這讓包括我在內的很多人都想知道:「地球到底能容納多少人呢?」
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It's estimated that, by the end of the century, the human population will be over 10 billion.
據估計,到本世紀末,人口將超過 100 億。
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And scientists are unsure whether this will be sustainable or not.
科學家們也不確定地球是否承受得住。
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To see why, let's start off by talking about my favorite subject: food.
為了探討原因,讓我們先討論我最喜歡的主題:食物。
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If you were to take all the land being used to raise livestock and put it on one continent, it would take up all of Africa.
如果可以把所有用來飼養牲畜的土地都放在一個大陸上,可以占據整個非洲 。
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In fact, it would actually be greater than Africa--between 8 to 9 billion acres.
其實,它會比非洲還要大——介於 80 億到 90 億英畝之間。
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And if we did the same thing for crop production, it would take up an area about the size of South America.
同樣的,如果換成是農作物生產的話,大約是整個南美洲的面積。
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But, after a while, the soil in these areas will degrade, meaning its fertility decreases.
但是一段時間後,這些地區的土壤會退化,這意味著土壤肥沃度下降。
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And it erodes, rendering it useless for growing crops.
土壤侵蝕使此地無法種植農作物。
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And not only that, but scientists are unsure if farmers could even maintain their current crop yields due to changes in the environment.
不僅如此,科學家們無法確定在環境的變化下,農民們是否能維持當今農作物的產量。
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See, the global average of carbon dioxide emissions per person is about 5 metric tons per year.
每年全球每人平均二氧化碳排放量約 5 公噸。
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But for Americans, that average is closer to 17 metric tons per year.
而美國人的平均則是,每年將近 17 公噸。
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And remember, this is per person.
而且記住,這只是一個人而已。
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So, if we have about 3 billion more people living on this planet, and they all adopt a lifestyle similar to an American, the effects of global warming will be worsened even more.
所以如果我們有超過 30 億人口生活在這個星球上,而他們的生活方式都和美國人相似的話,全球暖化造成的影響會更加嚴重。
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In fact, it's projected that the temperature of the Earth will increase by 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century.
事實上,預計到 21 世紀末,地球溫度將上升攝氏 2 度。
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And with that increase comes more extreme weather conditions, which would inevitably disrupt food production.
隨著溫度的上升導致氣候變得更極端,無可避免地,它將會擾亂糧食生產。
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So yeah, you know, not good.
沒錯,這很糟糕。
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Now, this can be partially remedied by everyone adopting a vegetarian diet, and reclaiming the land to grow more crops instead of raising livestock.
現在,這可以靠每個人都吃素來補救,開墾土地種植更多的農作物而不是飼養牲畜。
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But the crops won't be enough to feed an infinite number of people.
但這些農作物不夠養活無止盡增加人類。
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In fact, some scientists predict that it would only be enough to feed 10 billion people.
一些科學家預測那些農作物,只夠養活 100 億人口。
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And more than likely, most people won't switch to a vegetarian diet.
更有可能的是,大部分的人不會改吃素。
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After all, bacon is a beautiful thing that exists.
畢竟,培根是多麼美好的存在。
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And bacon on pizza, oh my God.
培根加在披薩上面,天啊。
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But what about the amount of available water?
但可用水資源的多寡呢?
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Humans are currently using up about 30 percent of the Earth's accessible renewable water supply, with the rest being used for agriculture.
目前,人類使用地球上約 30% 的可再生水資源於民生用水,而剩餘的則是用於農業用水。
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And the water available to some people in countries like Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Haiti isn't even clean enough to drink.
有些國家人民的飲用水甚至髒到不能喝,像是衣索比亞、高棉和海地等。
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So, the amount reaching humans would have to increase with an increasing population.
因此,隨著人口的增長,所需的水量就需要再增加。
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So, to answer the original question: the Earth may be able to hold a large number of people, perhaps even over 10 billion.
那麼,回到一開始的問題,答案是:地球也許能容納龐大的人口,甚至可能超過 100 億。
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But the quality of those people's lives would be much different than they are right now.
但到時候人們的生活品質一定會和現在差很多。
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So how many humans do you think the Earth can hold?
所以你覺得地球能容納多少人呢?
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Or do you think we're already there?
還是,你覺得已經到達極限了呢?
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Let me know in the comments below.
歡迎在底下留言讓我知道。
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Make sure you come back every Monday for a brand new video.
每週一敬請收看我們全新的影片。
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As always, I'm Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.
老話一句,我是 Blocko,這裡是 Life Noggin。
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Don't forget to keep on thinking!
別忘了要持續思考喔!