Hard to picture?

很難想像是不是？

Then, imagine that you are all of humanity, and on a plate in front of you is the one lovely annual meal you make for yourself.

那麼，想像一下你就是所有人類，而在你面前的一盤食物是你犒賞自己這一年的大餐 。

You did all sorts of work putting that meal on your table.

你竭盡所能地勞動後才能把這頓飯放到你的餐桌上。

You must be eager to consume the fruits of your labor and the vegetables and meats and waffles of your labor, too, right?

你一定迫不及待吃掉你用勞動後換來的水果、蔬菜、肉和鬆餅，對不對？

Well, oddly enough, a third of that meal ends up in the trash.

但奇怪的是，這頓飯的三分之一最後會被丟到垃圾桶裡。

A third of the food we eat globally, an estimated 1.3 billion tons ends up as waste.

全球三分之一的食物，大約 13 億噸，最後都被當垃圾倒掉了。

All the work we put into producing that food is wasted.

為了生產那些食物而付出的努力也被浪費了。

And what's worse, it costs us.

更糟糕的是，我們還為此花了錢。

America alone spends an estimated 165 billion dollars a year managing food waste.

單就美國而言，每年就要花掉 1650 億美金來處理食物浪費。

We're wasting food, energy and money.

我們在浪費食品、能源、肉。

Perhaps worst of all, we're wasting the chance to change, to make the system of food consumption more efficient.

最糟的是，我們也在浪費改變的機會，一個能夠讓食物消耗系統更有效的機會。

If you want to bring on that change, you should know about a humble yet diligent and ever-so-crucial ally: the worm.

如果你想帶來改變，那便不能不知道一位不起眼但勤奮，而且很關鍵的盟友：蠕蟲。

Worms convert organic waste and other compostable products into natural fertilizers.

蠕蟲可以將有機垃圾和其他堆肥產品轉化為天然肥料。

Up to 75% of what we put in the waste stream can become food and bedding material for vermicomposting.

我們所丟棄的廢物有高達 75%的物質能被蠕蟲分解，並變成蚯蚓堆肥的墊材。

You can create a worm bin in your own home to see the composting process in action.

你可以在家做一個蚯蚓箱來觀察其分解的過程。

First off, you need worms and not your typical earthworms.

首先，你需要蚯蚓，但不是一般的蚯蚓。

You need redworms, eisenia foetida, the species responsible for most vermicomposting in North America.

你需要紅蟲，學名是水蚤， 在北美，大部份的蚯蚓分解都靠它。

These red wigglers are surface dwellers who don't burrow too deep,

這些蠕動的紅色蟲子多在表面活動，它們不會鑽得特別深，

They're optimal feeders around room temperature, and they're well-suited to converting organic waste into usable fertilizer.

它們最適宜室溫，而且它們很擅長將有機垃圾轉化為有用的肥料。

Now, your worms might be vermin, but they need a comfortable space to live and work:

雖然你的蟲子們屬於害蟲，但是牠們需要一個舒適的空間來生活和工作：

Some bedding materials, either shredded paper or cardboard. Some moisture, and, of course, food, namely, your leftovers, slightly decomposed table scraps.

牠們需要一些墊材，比如碎紙或者紙板，濕度， 當然，還要有食物，也就是你的廚餘，有點變質的殘羹剩飯。

The worms break down food waste and other organic matter into castings, a fancy synonym for worm poop.

蠕蟲將食物垃圾和其他有機物質分解成排泄物，也就是蠕蟲的大便。

Their excrement is absolutely teeming with microbes, which continue the decomposition process, making all those once-wasted nutrients available again as fertilizer.

牠們的糞便充滿了微生物，這些微生物使分解過程能夠進行， 讓那些一度被浪費的營養物質再一次轉化成肥料。

The timeline for the whole process varies depending on the quantity of worms, the temperature, and how much waste is added to the bin.

這整個過程所需的時間取決於蟲的數量、溫度，以及多少廚餘被放到蚯蚓箱裡。

And there's another timeline to consider.

還有另一個影響時間的因素要考慮。

In a healthy worm-bin habitat, worm reproduction will occur when the wigglers become sexually mature, indicated by an elongation of the segments into a bulbous structure.

在一個健康的蚯蚓箱的居住環境中，當蚯蚓性發育成熟時， 牠們就會開始繁殖，而身體的一節會腫大。

Three-month old wigglers can produce two to three semi-translucent yellow worm cocoons a week.

三個月大的蠕蟲能夠每週生產2到3個半透明的黃色蠕蟲繭。

You thought only moths and butterflies come out of cocoons?

你以為只有蛾和蝴蝶會從繭裡飛出來嗎？

Well, we can't all be majestic.

嗯……不是所有從繭裡出來的生物都會美美的啦。

It takes around 11 weeks for new babies to hatch.

大約需要 11 週的時間孵化出蟲寶寶。

When your bin seems to be full of living vermicelli noodles, it's time to share the bounty with your friends and start a vermicompost club.

當你的蚯蚓箱看起來充滿了一條又一條活起來的麵條時，你就可以和你的朋友分享，然後開始建立一個蚯蚓分解俱樂部了。

Or keep those worms to yourself and start a business.

或者自己留下這些蟲，開始做生意。

Vermicomposting isn't confined only to small worm bins, it's an emerging entrepreneurial enterprise.

蚯蚓分解不僅限於在一個小的蚯蚓箱裡， 它是一個新興的創業產業。

Large-scale facilities convert bulk organic waste and even manure into rich, black castings called black gold.

大規模的設備可以將大量的有機垃圾甚至是排泄物轉化成營養豐富的、黑色的排泄物，被稱為黑金。

Its value as a soil additive is unparalleled, and it can help plants resist harmful pathogens.

它作為泥土添加劑的價值無與倫比，同時它還可以幫植物抵抗有害的病原體。

The lack of available land in urban environments, coupled with growing interest in smaller-scale farming means there is a market for vermicomposting.

城市環境缺乏可用的土地，而越來越多人對小型農作物的種植開始有興趣，這位為蚯蚓分解提供了一個市場。

Many communities use composting as part of zero-waste strategies, and they can sell their worm-eaten table scraps to local farms, hungry for rich fertilizer.

許多社區把分解當作零垃圾策略的一部分，他們可以將蠕蟲可食的廚房垃圾賣給當地那些急需營養肥料的農場。

So, instead of wasting money, dumping wasted food in landfills, we can remake waste into an asset, putting it back into our food system to make it more sustainable, all with the help of the humble worm,

所以，無須再浪費金錢把浪費的食物掩埋， 我們可以變廢為寶， 把垃圾投放回我們的食品系統，讓其更能永續發展， 而這些都要歸功於那些不起眼的蠕蟲。

the tiny organism that can help us change the way we look at food's place in our lives and our place in the world, as long as we give the little guy a place at our table.

這樣小小的生物能幫助我們改變我們是怎麼看食物的，以及怎麼看人類在這個世界裡所扮演的角色， 只要我們給這些小傢伙們在餐桌上留個位置。

Well, not an actual seat at the table.

當然，並不是一個真正的位置。

A bin in the shed is fine.

棚子裡放個垃圾桶就好了。