of wild adventure in the tropics

在熱帶從事野外探險活動，

working as an investigative journalist

擔任調查記者，

in some of the most bewitching parts of the world.

輾轉在世界上最迷人的一些地方。

I was as reckless and foolish as only young men can be.

當時我年輕氣盛，無知無畏。

This is why wars get fought.

這正是引發戰爭的原因。

But I also felt more alive than I've ever done since.

但那也是我活得最有意義的時期。

And when I came home, I found the scope of my existence

當我回到家，發現自己的存在感

gradually diminishing

漸漸薄弱，

until loading the dishwasher seemed like an interesting challenge.

甚至把碗放進洗碗機都是有趣的挑戰。

And I found myself sort of

我覺得自己

scratching at the walls of life,

就像在生活的牆上不住地撓，

as if I was trying to find a way out

試圖找到一條出路，

into a wider space beyond.

想找有更廣闊地一片天。

I was, I believe, ecologically bored.

我相信，那時我是真的窮極無聊。

Now, we evolved in rather more challenging times than these,

如今，我們進化到了一個更具挑戰性的時代，

in a world of horns and tusks and fangs and claws.

一個充斥著尖角、獠牙、利齒、堅爪的世界。

And we still possess the fear and the courage

我們依舊有恐懼和勇氣

and the aggression required to navigate those times.

以及馳騁於這個時代所需要的上進心。

But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands,

但在這個舒適、安全、擁擠的地盤上，

we have few opportunities to exercise them

我們很少有機會練習，

without harming other people.

而不會傷害到其他人。

And this was the sort of constraint that I found myself

這就是我所遭遇到的

bumping up against.

瓶頸。

To conquer uncertainty,

要克服不確定，

to know what comes next,

知道什麼可能發生，

that's almost been the dominant aim of industrialized societies,

這幾乎就是工業社會的主導目標，

and having got there, or almost got there,

當目標達成，或即將達成的時候，

we have just encountered a new set of unmet needs.

又會出現新的需求。

We've privileged safety over experience

我們看重安全甚於經驗 ，

and we've gained a lot in doing so,

我們從中獲益匪淺，

but I think we've lost something too.

但我認為其中也有損失。

Now, I don't romanticize evolutionary time.

我並沒有把演化的過程理想化。

I'm already beyond the lifespan of most hunter-gatherers,

我已經比那些狩獵-採集的原始人長命很多了，

and the outcome of a mortal combat between me

如果殊死搏鬥的一方是我——

myopically stumbling around with a stone-tipped spear

目光短淺，跌跌撞撞，拿著石尖矛的原始人，

and an enraged giant aurochs

而對方是頭被激怒的巨型歐洲野牛

isn't very hard to predict.

結果並不難預測。

Nor was it authenticity that I was looking for.

我也並非在找尋真實性。

I don't find that a useful or even intelligible concept.

這根本不是個有用而清晰的概念。

I just wanted a richer and rawer life

我只想要過一種更豐富、更天然的生活，

than I've been able to lead in Britain, or, indeed,

相較於在英國，或者

that we can lead in most parts of the industrialized world.

在世界上大多數的工業國家過的日子。

And it was only when I stumbled across an unfamiliar word

直到我偶然認識了一個不熟悉的詞彙，

that I began to understand what I was looking for.

我才開始理解自己尋覓的是什麼。

And as soon as I found that word,

一找到這個詞，

I realized that I wanted to devote

我就知道我會願意

much of the rest of my life to it.

將餘生的大部分精力投入其中。

The word is "rewilding,"

就是“野化” (rewilding) 一詞，

and even though rewilding is a young word,

即使是一個新興詞彙，

it already has several definitions.

它也已經擁有很多種定義。

But there are two in particular that fascinate me.

但其中有兩種深得我心。

The first one is the mass restoration

第一種是-大規模的復原生態系統。

of ecosystems.

第一種是-大規模的復原生態系統。

One of the most exciting scientific findings

在過去半個世紀中

of the past half century

最讓人振奮的科學發現之一

has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades.

就是廣泛存在的營養級聯。

A trophic cascade is an ecological process

營養級聯是一種生態過程，

which starts at the top of the food chain

從食物鏈頂端開始，

and tumbles all the way down to the bottom,

自上而下到達底部，

and the classic example is what happened

最經典例子就是

in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States

在美國黃石國家公園

when wolves were reintroduced in 1995.

1995年的狼群放歸。

Now, we all know that wolves kill various species of animals,

我們都知道狼會殺死多種動物，

but perhaps we're slightly less aware

但我們可能不太清楚

that they give life to many others.

牠們也孕育了許多其他的物種。

It sounds strange, but just follow me for a while.

聽起來挺奇怪，但請聽我道來。

Before the wolves turned up,

在狼群回歸之前，

they'd been absent for 70 years.

牠們已絕跡70年了。

The numbers of deer, because there was nothing to hunt them,

因為沒有天敵，鹿的數量

had built up and built up in the Yellowstone Park,

在黃石公園中不斷增加，

and despite efforts by humans to control them,

就算人類想過辦法控制，

they'd managed to reduce much of the vegetation there

牠們還是幾乎將當地植被

to almost nothing, they'd just grazed it away.

破壞殆盡。

But as soon as the wolves arrived,

一旦狼群到來，

even though they were few in number,

雖然數量並不多，

they started to have the most remarkable effects.

效果卻是驚人的。

First, of course, they killed some of the deer,

首先，牠們殺了部份的鹿，

but that wasn't the major thing.

但這不是最重要的。

Much more significantly,

更重要的是，

they radically changed the behavior of the deer.

牠們從根本上改變了鹿群的行為。

The deer started avoiding certain parts of the park,

鹿群開始回避國家公園中的一些地方，

the places where they could be trapped most easily,

那些牠們最容易被捕獵的地方，

particularly the valleys and the gorges,

特別是一些溪谷和峽谷，

and immediately those places started to regenerate.

那裡的（植被）立馬得到了新生。

In some areas, the height of the trees

有些地方的樹在六年裡就長了五倍高。

quintupled in just six years.

有些地方的樹在六年裡就長了五倍高。

Bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen

光禿禿的山谷沒多久 就有了樹林，長滿了山楊、

and willow and cottonwood.

柳樹和棉白楊。

And as soon as that happened,

樹一長出來，

the birds started moving in.

鳥類就開始加入。

The number of songbirds, of migratory birds,

鳴禽數量和候鳥數量

started to increase greatly.

開始急速成長。

The number of beavers started to increase,

河狸數量也開始增加，

because beavers like to eat the trees.

因為牠們喜愛的食物來自於樹木。

And beavers, like wolves, are ecosystem engineers.

河狸，就像狼一樣，是生態系統的工程師。

They create niches for other species.

牠們為其他物種創造獨特的生存空間。

And the dams they built in the rivers

在河裡築起的小水壩

provided habitats for otters and muskrats

為水獺、麝鼠、

and ducks and fish and reptiles and amphibians.

鴨子、魚類、爬行動物 和兩棲動物提供了棲息地。

The wolves killed coyotes, and as a result of that,

狼群殺死郊狼，結果

the number of rabbits and mice began to rise,

兔子和老鼠的數量開始增加，

which meant more hawks, more weasels,

帶來更多的鷹、黃鼠狼、

more foxes, more badgers.

狐狸和獾。

Ravens and bald eagles came down to feed

渡鴉和禿鷹落地來吃

on the carrion that the wolves had left.

狼群留下的腐骨。

Bears fed on it too, and their population began to rise as well,

熊也吃這個，而熊的數量增加，

partly also because there were more berries

部分原因是有更多的漿果

growing on the regenerating shrubs,

結在新生的灌木上，

and the bears reinforced the impact of the wolves

熊還增強了狼群產生的影響，

by killing some of the calves of the deer.

牠們捕殺鹿的幼崽。

But here's where it gets really interesting.

另外還有更加有趣的地方。

The wolves changed the behavior of the rivers.

狼群改變了河流的習性。

They began to meander less.

河水的迂回減少了，

There was less erosion. The channels narrowed.

侵蝕減弱，河道變窄。

More pools formed, more riffle sections,

也形成更多池塘和淺灘，

all of which were great for wildlife habitats.

這些都是極佳的野生動物棲息地。

The rivers changed

河流因狼群而改變，

in response to the wolves,

河流因狼群而改變，

and the reason was that the regenerating forests

原因在於新生的樹林

stabilized the banks so that they collapsed less often,

穩固了河岸，滑坡減少，

so that the rivers became more fixed in their course.

河道也就更為固定。

Similarly, by driving the deer out of some places

另外，由於鹿群被趕出了一些區域，

and the vegetation recovering on the valley sides,

河谷坡上的植被復蘇，

there was less soil erosion,

植被能夠穩固土壤，

because the vegetation stabilized that as well.

因此水土流失也減少了。

So the wolves, small in number,

總之，僅僅是為數不多的狼，

transformed not just the ecosystem

不但轉變了黃石國家公園

of the Yellowstone National Park, this huge area of land,

廣闊土地上的生態系統，

but also its physical geography.

還轉變了這裡的地形地貌。

Whales in the southern oceans

南大洋中的鯨魚

have similarly wide-ranging effects.

也有類似的廣泛影響。

One of the many post-rational excuses

日本政府用此來解釋其捕鯨活動

made by the Japanese government for killing whales

其中一個理由是

is that they said, "Well, the number of fish and krill will rise

他們說：「魚類和磷蝦的數量會增加，

and then there'll be more for people to eat."

能為人類提供更多食物。」

Well, it's a stupid excuse, but it sort of

這愚蠢的藉口，

kind of makes sense, doesn't it,

聽起來似乎有點道理，

because you'd think that whales eat huge amounts

因為你覺得鯨魚要吃掉大量的

of fish and krill, so obviously take the whales away,

魚和磷蝦，顯然，把鯨魚拿掉，

there'll be more fish and krill.

魚和磷蝦就會增多。

But the opposite happened.

但事實情況正好相反。

You take the whales away,

把鯨魚拿掉後，

and the number of krill collapses.

磷蝦數量劇減。

Why would that possibly have happened?

怎麼會這那樣？

Well, it now turns out that the whales are crucial

現在人們發現鯨魚

to sustaining that entire ecosystem,

對維護整個生態系統至關重要。

and one of the reasons for this

其中一個原因是：

is that they often feed at depth

鯨魚在較深的水域進食，

and then they come up to the surface and produce

然後到水面排泄，

what biologists politely call large fecal plumes,

生物學家禮貌地稱之為大型糞便羽，

huge explosions of poop right across the surface waters,

巨量的糞便在表層水域，

up in the photic zone, where there's enough light

就是海洋的透光層，有足夠的光照

to allow photosynthesis to take place,

供（水生植物）進行光合作用，

and those great plumes of fertilizer

這些可觀的肥料糞便

stimulate the growth of phytoplankton,

刺激了浮游植物的增殖，

the plant plankton at the bottom of the food chain,

處於食物鏈底端的浮游植物，

which stimulate the growth of zooplankton,

促進了浮游動物的增殖，

which feed the fish and the krill and all the rest of it.

進而供養了魚類、磷蝦和其他生物。

The other thing that whales do is that,

鯨魚還有一個重要的任務：

as they're plunging up and down through the water column,

牠們在水體中上下穿梭，

they're kicking the phytoplankton

就能把浮游植物

back up towards the surface

重新攪回水面

where it can continue to survive and reproduce.

讓它們繼續生存和繁殖。

And interestingly, well, we know

有趣的是，

that plant plankton in the oceans

我們知道海洋中的浮游植物

absorb carbon from the atmosphere --

能吸收大氣層中的碳，

the more plant plankton there are,

浮游植物越多，