I'm Alex. I'm Marko,

我是亞歷克斯。 我是馬爾科。

and you are watching Vagabrothers.

而你正在觀看《流浪兄弟》。

And in this episode we'll be exploring one of the most unique places on earth:

而在這一集，我們將探索地球上最獨特的地方之一。

the Aral Sea.

鹹海。

We've spent the last week traveling to the Silk Road cities of Uzbekistan,

上週，我們在烏茲別克斯坦的絲綢之路城市進行了旅行。

and they were all beautiful.

而且它們都很美。

But now we're traveling to the northwestern corner of the country

但現在我們正在前往該國的西北角

to experience one of the worst ecological disasters on earth.

來經歷地球上最嚴重的生態災難之一。

The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest inland sea.

鹹海曾經是第四大內陸海。

Now, it's a giant desert bed full of rusting ships and broken dreams.

現在，它是一個巨大的沙漠床，充滿了生鏽的船隻和破碎的夢想。

What happened?

發生了什麼事？

To find out, we're hopping in these trucks

為了找到答案，我們將跳上這些卡車

and driving the last stretch of the road

和駕駛最後一段路的人

from Nukus all the way to the water's edge.

從努庫斯一直到水邊。

You're watching Vagabrothers,

您正在觀看的是《流浪兄弟》（Vagabrothers）。

and this is the journey to the Aral Sea.

而這是前往鹹海的旅程。

Well, we have been driving for essentially the entire day.

好吧，我們基本上已經開了一整天的車。

We left Khiva at 7 a.m. this morning.

我們今天早上7點離開希瓦。

We drove to Nukus, switched vehicles into 4x4 vehicles,

我們驅車前往努庫斯，將車輛換成4x4車。

and now we have just arrived to Moynak.

而現在我們剛剛抵達莫伊納克。

This is essentially kind of the end of the road.

這基本上是一種道路的終點。

It used to be right on the water.

它以前就在水邊。

It's no longer right on the water.

它不再是在水邊了。

But we're staying at a little guest house.

但我們住在一個小招待所。

We're going to get some food,

我們要去弄點吃的。

kind of get a lay of the land,

樣得到一個土地的佈局。

and then go and take a look at the ship graveyard.

然後去看一下船的墓地。

So we're sitting down to lunch right here.

所以我們就在這裡坐下來吃午飯。

We got some pickled food, some stew with lamb and potatoes and some tea.

我們得到了一些醃製的食物，一些燉羊肉和洋芋，還有一些茶。

This house belongs to a family

這所房子屬於一個家庭

that used to work in the fishing industry.

曾經在捕魚業工作的人。

But like a lot of the local population, without that industry here,

但就像很多當地人一樣，如果這裡沒有這個產業。

they're pivoting towards tourism.

他們正在向旅遊業轉移。

We've been looking on Google Maps to just try

我們一直在谷歌地圖上尋找，只是想試試

to put into perspective where we are because

來看待我們所處的位置，因為

we're kind of at the convergence of all of the "stans."

我們正處於所有 "粉絲 "的匯合點。

But we're in a place that's called the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, which means

但我們在一個叫卡拉卡爾帕克斯坦自治共和國的地方，這意味著

the Land of the Men in the Black Hats.

戴黑帽的人的土地。

And if you do look on the map,

而如果你真的在地圖上看。

it's pretty incredible because we are

這是很不可思議的，因為我們是

smack dab in the middle of Central Asia.

恰好位於中亞的中間位置。

I'm standing now at what used to be the bottom of the Aral Sea.

我現在站在曾經是鹹海底部的地方。

There used to be a hundred ships here,

這裡曾經有一百條船。

but the mayor cleaned up the place and sold the rest for scrap metal.

但市長清理了這個地方，並將剩下的東西賣給了廢金屬。

So there's only about ten that remain right here.

所以這裡只剩下大約10個。

But this is really a surreal experience

但這真的是一種超現實的體驗

because the water used to be going as far back as you can see,

因為水曾經一直流到你能看到的後面。

and now it's this kind of bizarre playground.

而現在是這種奇怪的遊樂場。

But to answer our question about how the Aral Sea disappeared in just a few decades,

但要回答我們關於鹹海是如何在短短几十年內消失的問題。

we have to start with a story of the American Civil War.

我們必須從美國南北戰爭的故事開始。

The story of how these ships became marooned 100 kilometers from the Aral Sea

這些船隻如何在距離鹹海100公里處擱淺的故事

starts with the American Civil War.

從美國南北戰爭開始。

During the Industrial Revolution,

在工業革命期間。

the United States grew rich on cotton grown in the South,

美國依靠在南方種植的棉花而變得富有。

picked by slave labor and sold to the

由奴隸勞動者採摘並賣給

European textile industry for a very high price.

歐洲紡織業的價格非常高。

But when the American Civil War broke out,

但當美國內戰爆發後。

the supply was cut off,

供應被切斷了。

and Europeans had to find a new supplier of cotton.

而歐洲人不得不尋找新的棉花供應商。

In step the Russian Czars who saw the perfect opportunity to fill the gap in the

俄國沙皇看到了完美的機會，填補了中國的空白。

market with their newly conquered lands in Central Asia,

他們在中亞新徵服的土地上的市場。

which could be perfect for growing cotton,

這可能是種植棉花的完美選擇。

if only they could get water into the desert.

如果他們能把水弄到沙漠裡就好了。

So they diverted some of the rivers flowing into the Aral Sea without too much of an impact on the environment.

是以，他們將一些流入鹹海的河流改道，沒有對環境造成太大影響。

After the Communist Revolution,

共產主義革命之後。

Lenin advocated for turning the area into a self-sufficient cotton belt of the Soviet Union saying,

列寧主張將該地區變成蘇聯的自給自足的棉花帶，他說。

"Irrigation will do more to revive the area and regenerate it and make the transition to socialism more certain."

"灌溉將為該地區的復興和再生做更多工作，並使其更有把握地過渡到社會主義。"

And it worked for a while.

而且這在一段時間內是有效的。

In the 1930s Uzbekistan was exporting cotton worldwide,

1930年代，烏茲別克斯坦向全世界出口棉花。

and the area prospered.

而該地區也是以繁榮起來。

There were plenty of fish in the sea.

海里有很多魚。

Tourists actually came and visited the beaches here, and

遊客們實際上是來參觀這裡的海灘的，而且

the Soviet Union was the world's leading cotton producer

蘇聯是世界上主要的棉花生產國

with over 70 percent of it coming from Uzbekistan,

其中70％以上來自烏茲別克斯坦。

irrigated by the rivers that flowed into the Aral Sea.

由流入鹹海的河流灌溉。

Then in the 1950s the Soviet government attempted an overly ambitious

然後在20世紀50年代，蘇聯政府嘗試了一個過於雄心勃勃的

irrigation project that tipped the ecological scales too far.

灌溉項目使生態天平傾斜得太厲害。

Between 1960 and 1980

1960年至1980年間

the water levels here dropped 20 full meters

這裡的水位下降了整整20米

leaving the Moynak fishing fleet

離開莫伊納克漁船隊

marooned and leaving the remaining seawater

被放逐而留下剩餘的海水

so salty that all the fish died.

太鹹了，所有的魚都死了。

By 1984 industry in the area had dried up, just like the lake,

到1984年，該地區的工業已經乾涸，就像湖泊一樣。

leaving Moynak and its fishing fleet a ghost town.

使莫伊納克和它的漁船隊成為一個鬼城。

It's just really hard to imagine that this was floating at one time

只是真的很難想象，這一度是漂浮在空中的。

and that where we're standing was a body of water.

而我們所站的地方是一個水體。

Well, now we have swung over to the museum,

好了，現在我們已經轉到了博物館。

the ecological museum,

生態博物館。

just to see what used to be here.

只是想看看這裡曾經的情況。

So here behind me are some images from NASA that show how the sea has dried up over the years.

是以，在我身後有一些來自美國國家航空航天局的圖片，顯示了多年來海水乾涸的情況。

As you can see it not only shrinks in size, but also color.

正如你所看到的，它不僅尺寸縮小，而且顏色也縮小了。

It's actually a hundred thousand tons of salt that's been mixed up with all the chemicals and fertilizers and pesticides

這實際上是十萬噸鹽，與所有化學品、化肥和殺蟲劑混合在一起。

that they used in irrigating the cotton fields that have made it basically poisonous,

他們在灌溉棉田時使用的 "水"，使其基本上是有毒的。

and that goes up in the atmosphere.

並上升到大氣中。

It's been spread all the way around the world.

它已經在世界各地傳播開來。

We are on a mission to get a bottle of vodka

我們的任務是獲得一瓶伏特加酒

to go with dinner because it's cold,

來搭配晚餐，因為它很冷。

and there's not a lot to do in ways of entertainment out here.

而且這裡沒有很多娛樂活動可做。

So vodka will have to check all the boxes.

是以，伏特加將必須滿足所有條件。

Cold as hell. We are here in the middle of December.

冷得要命。 我們在這裡是在12月中旬。

So it's a very, very cold time of year.

是以，這是一年中非常、非常寒冷的時刻。

There's no cloud in the sky;

天空中沒有云。

so there's really not that much heat trapped here.

所以這裡真的沒有那麼多的熱量被困。

It's going to get dark fast,

天很快就要黑了。

stay dark until about 8 o'clock in the morning.

一直到早上8點左右，天都是黑的。

You can tell why places like this have a problem sometimes with drinking

你可以知道為什麼像這樣的地方有時會有喝酒的問題

because that's one of the only things you can do out here.

因為這是你在這裡唯一能做的事情之一。

Well, it is 8:18 in the morning.

嗯，現在是早上8點18分。

It's minus 8 degrees Celsius outside,

外面是零下8攝氏度的天氣。

and we've piled back into the cars and we're leaving Moynak,

而我們已經堆回了汽車，我們要離開莫伊納克。

and we're going to be essentially driving into what was once the Aral Sea.

我們將基本上駛入曾經是鹹海的地方。

The goal today is to reach what's left of the sea.

今天的目標是到達大海的剩餘部分。

It's over a hundred kilometres away.

它有一百多公里遠。

We just finished driving across the bottom of the basin and came up this mountain.

我們剛開完車穿過盆地底部，來到這座山上。

It just gives some perspective on how much water has vanished

它只是讓人們對消失的水的數量有了一些看法

because at the bottom of the basin we were 60 meters underwater and now even coming up top,

因為在盆地的底部，我們在水下60米處，現在甚至來到了上面。

we still would be underwater.

我們仍然會在水下。

Yeah, it's insane to think that this landscape...

是的，認為這種景觀是瘋狂的，...

when you look at it now, you could never imagine that there was water here, ever.

當你現在看到它時，你永遠無法想象這裡有水，永遠。

But to know that there was over a hundred feet of water,

但要知道，那裡有超過一百英尺的水。

it's just pretty mind-boggling because there's nothing out here now.

它只是相當令人費解，因為現在這裡什麼都沒有。

We've seen a skull of a bull on the side of the road.

我們在路邊看到過一個公牛的頭骨。

We've seen like a flock of birds, and

我們看到像一群鳥，和

that's pretty much it.

基本上就是這樣了。

When you think about it, it's really not that different than

當你考慮到這一點時，它真的與以下情況沒有什麼不同

the Grand Canyon or some other places in the United States that used to be underneath an ocean.

美國的大峽谷或其他一些曾經在海洋之下的地方。

It's just that it happened so much faster,

只是，它發生得太快了。

and it happened directly because of mankind.

而它的發生直接是因為人類。

And you can see, I found this on the bottom of the ground over there,

你可以看到，我在那邊的地面底部發現了這個。

and this is something that

而這是一個

you find in other parts of the world that used to be under the ocean.

你在世界其他地方發現的，曾經在海洋之下的地方。

But in those other places,

但在其他那些地方。

the ocean was there around the time of the dinosaurs,

海洋在恐龍時代就存在了。

like hundreds of millions of years ago,

像幾億年前。

and here it's only fifty years ago, sixty years ago.

而這裡只是五十年前，六十年前的事情。

Our driver was saying that when he was a kid,

我們的司機在他還是個孩子的時候就這樣說了。

he used to come out here and go swimming back at the fishing village we used to be at,

他過去常來這裡，在我們過去的漁村游泳。

and locals there definitely remember it being a normal port,

而那裡的當地人肯定記得它是一個正常的港口。

and yet now it's so far from that.

而現在卻離這一點如此之遠。

Now, we're starting to climb up into a plateau.

現在，我們開始爬升到一個高位。

You can see geologically lots of levels of sediment that's been deposited over the millennia,

你可以看到地質學上有很多層次的沉積物，這些沉積物是在幾千年來沉積下來的。

but we're going to continue driving.

但我們要繼續開車。

Supposedly, we're going to go into some canyons and then eventually

據稱，我們將進入一些峽谷，然後最終

into what's left of the sea.

進入海里剩下的東西。

This behind me is what's left of the Aral Sea.

我身後的這個地方是鹹海的遺蹟。

It's now one tenth of the size that it once was,

現在它的規模只有以前的十分之一。

originally the fourth largest Inland sea in the world.

原為世界第四大內海。

The situation today is not looking good.

今天的情況看起來並不樂觀。

In order to fix this problem,

為了解決這個問題。

they would have to stop producing cotton here in Uzbekitan,

他們將不得不停止在烏茲別克坦這裡生產棉花。

which is a major part of the economy,

這也是經濟的一個主要部分。

and it does not look like that's going to happen.

而這看起來並不像會發生。

Without diverting water away from cotton production,

在不挪用棉花生產用水的情況下。

most experts believe that the sea will dry up entirely by 2025.

大多數專家認為，到2025年大海將完全乾涸。

The sand that's left here is toxic.

留在這裡的沙子是有毒的。

It's going up into the air and spreading across the entire atmosphere

它正在上升到空中，並在整個大氣層中擴散

throughout the world and locals here have a higher rate of cancer,

在整個世界範圍內，這裡的當地人的癌症發病率更高。

tuberculosis, and anemia because of the pesticides used in growing cotton.

由於種植棉花時使用的殺蟲劑，導致了結核病和貧血。

Well, we've made it to the water's edge and the first thing

好了，我們已經到了水邊，第一件事就是

that I've noticed is the smell.

我注意到的是它的氣味。

It smells pretty bad.

它聞起來很糟糕。

It's salty, super salty smell but also kind of

它是鹹的，超級鹹的味道，但也有一種

what it smells like when something's dying

什麼是死亡的味道？

and like decomposing.

並喜歡分解。

There's also this really large like gyrating foam.

還有這個非常大的像迴旋的保麗龍。

There's just foam coming off the edge of the sea.

只有保麗龍從海的邊緣冒出來。

I've never really seen anything quite like it.

我從來沒有真正見過這樣的事情。

It's very bizarre.

這是非常奇怪的。

We've made it.

我們已經成功了。

We're here at the edge of what's left of the Aral Sea, and

我們在鹹海所剩無幾的邊緣，而

I feel sad. I feel really sad.

我感到悲傷。我真的感到悲傷。

I mean, this is like.... I love the ocean.

我的意思是，這就像....我愛大海。

I love lakes. I love water and

我愛湖泊。我愛水和

to see the magnitude and the scale of

來看其程度和規模。

this environmental catastrophe

這場環境災難

and to be on the edge of what's left of

並在所剩無幾的邊緣上

this lake and smell it.

這個湖，聞一聞。

It smells so bad.

它聞起來很糟糕。

It's crazy. It's all done by man.

這很瘋狂。這都是由人做的。

It really puts a lot of stuff into perspective nowadays

如今，它真的把很多東西都看透了

Yeah, you can see the satellite photos show how much the lake has receded.

是的，你可以看到衛星照片顯示湖水已經退去了多少。

This is really the only part that's left.

這確實是唯一剩下的部分。

I think as the first place that I've really been to, as kind of a dark tourism theme,

我認為作為我真正去過的第一個地方，作為一種黑暗的旅遊主題。

I think it's weird to come to a place and

我認為，來到一個地方，並且

kind of be looking at someone else's situation

看別人的情況

and be able to be here for a day and then leave.

並能夠在這裡呆上一天，然後離開。

But I think it makes you empathetic for the people who live here,

但我認為這讓你對生活在這裡的人產生了同情。

and it's also a situation I think that affects everyone.

而這也是我認為影響到每個人的情況。

When we drove in here,

當我們驅車來到這裡時。

there were these two handmade airplanes

有這兩架手工製作的飛機

that were kind of hobbled together

是一種步履蹣跚地走在一起

from pieces of driftwood and a nail and then kind of like planted into the earth.

漂流木和釘子的碎片，然後有點像種植在地球上。

I just found those planes really symbolic,

我只是發現那些飛機真的很有象徵意義。

whoever made those

誰做的這些

was dreaming of hopping on an airplane and

夢想著跳上一架飛機，然後......"。

leaving this place and I just feel really

離開這個地方，我只是覺得真的

humble and lucky to be able to do that.

謙虛和幸運的是，能夠做到這一點。

It's a crazy place to wrap up for our time here in Uzbekistan

這是一個瘋狂的地方，可以為我們在烏茲別克斯坦的工作做個總結。

because this is so different than the rest of our trip.

因為這與我們旅行的其他部分是如此不同。

We have seen some beautiful places.

我們已經看到了一些美麗的地方。

Uzbekistan is a lovely country.

烏茲別克斯坦是一個可愛的國家。

We've gone to some historic cities.

我們已經去了一些歷史悠久的城市。

And I think the theme that you see in this part of the world is that it's a place

我認為你在世界這個地方看到的主題是，它是一個地方

where you see empires come and fall, and

在那裡你可以看到帝國的誕生和衰落，以及

we've seen the high point of civilizations

我們已經看到了文明的高點

like in Samarkand, the Silk Road cities, and the Timurid Empire

如撒馬爾罕、絲綢之路城市和帖木兒帝國

and the Greeks and everything like that.

和希臘人以及諸如此類的一切。

And then you see the low watermark of civilizations.

然後你看到文明的低水位。

And in a way, this is really the low watermark of the Soviet ambitions

在某種程度上，這確實是蘇聯野心的低水位線

in trying to build a vast,

在試圖建立一個龐大的。

a prosperous region here,

這裡是一個繁榮的地區。

and then seeing those plans collapse into this.

然後看到這些計劃崩塌成這樣。

Honestly, I have enjoyed my time here in Uzbekistan.

說實話，我很享受在烏茲別克斯坦的日子。

I think that this is a part of the world that gets overlooked quite often, and

我認為這是世界上經常被忽視的一部分，而且

I doubt most people watching this would be able to find Uzbekistan on a map