I want to say a word for nature

關於自然，我有一個單純的想法，

because we haven't talked that much about it the last couple days.

我想為自然講幾句話，

I want to say a word for the soil and the bees and the plants and the animals,

因為我們這幾天都沒怎麼談到大自然。

and tell you about a tool, a very simple tool that I have found.

我要為土壤、蜜蜂、植物和動物說幾句話，

Although it's really nothing more than a literary conceit; it's not a technology.

並向大家介紹我所發現的一個相當簡單的工具，

It's very powerful for, I think, changing our relationship to the natural world

它其實只不過是一種想法，不算是什麼科技，

and to the other species on whom we depend.

但我認為它有能力改變我們跟大自然的關係，

And that tool is very simply, as Chris suggested,

也能改變我們與我們所仰賴的生物間的關係。

looking at us and the world from the plants' or the animals' point of view.

這個工具就像克里斯所說的一樣簡單，

It's not my idea, other people have hit on it,

就是從植物或動物的觀點來看我們人類和看這個世界。

but I've tried to take it to some new places.

這不是我獨到的見解，先前就有人提過了，

Let me tell you where I got it.

但我希望能以新的角度來詮釋。

Like a lot of my ideas, like a lot of the tools I use,

我的靈感是從哪裡來的呢？

I found it in the garden; I'm a very devoted gardener.

就如同我想出的其他點子跟工具一樣，

And there was a day about seven years ago: I was planting potatoes,

我是在花園裡找到靈感的。我是一個認真的園丁，

it was the first week of May --

七年前的某一天，我在種馬鈴薯，

this is New England, when the apple trees are just vibrating with bloom;

那時是五月的第一個星期，

they're just white clouds above.

我住在新英格蘭，蘋果花正迎風搖曳，

I was here, planting my chunks,

像一朵朵白雲高掛在天上，

cutting up potatoes and planting it,

我則忙著栽種馬鈴薯，

and the bees were working on this tree;

一塊塊的切好，種進土裡。

bumblebees, just making this thing vibrate.

蜜蜂們也在樹梢間穿梭忙碌著，

And one of the things I really like about gardening

大黃蜂飛舞著，樹枝因而顫動。

is that it doesn't take all your concentration,

我喜歡園藝，

you really can't get hurt -- it's not like woodworking --

其中一個原因是我不需要太專心，

and you have plenty of kind of mental space for speculation.

這不像木工，你不會因為不專心而弄傷自己，

And the question I asked myself that afternoon in the garden,

你可以放手讓思緒在別處飛舞。

working alongside that bumblebee,

那天下午，我和大黃蜂一起在花園裡工作，

was: what did I and that bumblebee have in common?

我問了我自己一個問題：

How was our role in this garden similar and different?

我倆有何相似之處？

And I realized we actually had quite a bit in common:

我倆在這花園裡所扮演的角色，有何相似或相異之處?

both of us were disseminating the genes of one species and not another,

這時我才發現，我們其實有很多共同點。

and both of us -- probably, if I can imagine the bee's point of view --

我們都在為我們選定的品種傳播基因，

thought we were calling the shots.

而且如果我能聽得見蜜蜂的心思，它一定也和我一樣

I had decided what kind of potato I wanted to plant --

覺得我們是萬物的主宰。

I had picked my Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn, or whatever it was --

我決定要種哪個品種的馬鈴薯，

and I had summoned those genes from a seed catalog across the country,

不管是什麼品種，都是我做決定選的，

brought it, and I was planting it.

我從全國的種子目錄裡挑選我要的種子，

And that bee, no doubt, assumed that it had decided,

帶回來並把它種下。

"I'm going for that apple tree, I'm going for that blossom,

而蜜蜂也認為它有決定權，

I'm going to get the nectar and I'm going to leave."

我要去那棵蘋果樹，我要去那朵花，

We have a grammar that suggests that's who we are;

我要去採花蜜，我要走了。

that we are sovereign subjects in nature, the bee as well as me.

我們都習慣以這種角色自居，

I plant the potatoes, I weed the garden, I domesticate the species.

認為自己是大自然的主宰，蜜蜂和我都這麼想。

But that day, it occurred to me:

我種下馬鈴薯，我除掉雜草，我培育這些品種。

what if that grammar is nothing more than a self-serving conceit?

可是就在那一天，我突然發覺，

Because, of course, the bee thinks he's in charge or she's in charge,

這種想法或許只是我們自欺欺人的妄想？

but we know better.

當然，蜜蜂也認為自己有主宰權，

We know that what's going on between the bee and that flower

但我們知道不是這樣，

is that bee has been cleverly manipulated by that flower.

我們很清楚蜜蜂和花之間是怎麼回事，

And when I say manipulated, I'm talking about in a Darwinian sense, right?

蜜蜂其實是被那朵聰明的花操縱著。

I mean it has evolved a very specific set of traits --

我所謂的「操縱」，是以進化論的角度來講，

color, scent, flavor, pattern -- that has lured that bee in.

花朵發展出一套獨特的特徵來誘惑蜜蜂，

And the bee has been cleverly fooled into taking the nectar,

包括顏色、氣味、味道和花色等。

and also picking up some powder on its leg,

蜜蜂被花朵巧妙地拐來採蜜，

and going off to the next blossom.

採蜜時一些花粉會沾到腳上，

The bee is not calling the shots.

並隨著蜜蜂到下一朵花上。

And I realized then, I wasn't either.

蜜蜂不是花朵的主宰，

I had been seduced by that potato and not another

我發現我也不是馬鈴薯的主宰。

into planting its -- into spreading its genes, giving it a little bit more habitat.

我被這種馬鈴薯誘惑，卻沒有被其他品種誘惑，

And that's when I got the idea, which was, "Well, what would happen

因此我種植這種馬鈴薯，為它傳播基因，用更多的田來繁殖它。

if we kind of looked at us from this point of view of these other species who are working on us?"

就在這時我有了這個想法，

And agriculture suddenly appeared to me not as an invention, not as a human technology,

何不從這些利用我們的生物的角度來審視自己？

but as a co-evolutionary development

以這種觀點來看，農業就不再是人類的發明，也不是人類的科技，

in which a group of very clever species, mostly edible grasses, had exploited us,

而是種同步進化的發展。

figured out how to get us to basically deforest the world.

這一群很聰明的植物，大部分都是可食的穀物，利用了我們，

The competition of grasses, right?

讓我們來為它們砍伐森林，拓展耕種面積，

And suddenly everything looked different.

這簡直就是植物之間的競爭，對嗎？

And suddenly mowing the lawn that day was a completely different experience.

以這種觀點來看事情，每一件事都有不同的意義了，

I had thought always -- and in fact, had written this in my first book;

就連割草這件事，也變成了一個前所未有的經驗。

this was a book about gardening --

我在我的第一本書裡提及一件事，那是一本談園藝的書，

that lawns were nature under culture's boot,

我提到我一直認為

that they were totalitarian landscapes,

草坪是被踐踏在人類文化腳下的大自然，

and that when we mowed them we were cruelly suppressing the species

是專制人類塑造出的景觀，

and never letting it set seed or die or have sex.

每次我們割草，我們就是在殘忍的壓制它，

And that's what the lawn was.

不讓它自由播種、死亡或交配，

But then I realized, "No, this is exactly what the grasses want us to do.

這就是草坪。

I'm a dupe. I'm a dupe of the lawns, whose goal in life is to outcompete the trees,

但我發現，「不，這其實正是草所期望的，

who they compete with for sunlight."

我是個傻瓜，我上了草的當！草生存的目標就是戰勝大樹，

And so by getting us to mow the lawn, we keep the trees from coming back,

戰勝一直與它競爭陽光的大樹。」

which in New England happens very, very quickly.

每次當我們割草或修剪樹葉，我們就抑制樹的生長，

So I started looking at things this way

要不然在新英格蘭，樹葉很容易就長回來。

and wrote a whole book about it called "The Botany of Desire."

我開始從這樣的角度來看事情，

And I realized that in the same way you can look at a flower

甚至寫了一本書叫《慾望植物園》。

and deduce all sorts of interesting things about the taste and the desires of bees --

我發現，以相同的角度來看待花朵，

that they like sweetness, that they like this color and not that color, that they like symmetry --

你就可以推測出蜜蜂的口味和需求，

what could we find out about ourselves by doing the same thing?

看它們是否喜歡甜味、喜歡某種顏色、喜歡對稱的花朵。

That a certain kind of potato, a certain kind of drug,

那麼，以同樣的角度來看我們自己，又可以發現什麼呢？

a sativa-indica Cannabis cross has something to say about us.

某種馬鈴薯、某種藥物、

And that, wouldn't this be kind of an interesting way to look at the world?

甚至是工業大麻和印度大麻的混種，都有對人類的觀察評語，

Now, the test of any idea -- I said it was a literary conceit --

用這種角度來觀察世界不是很有趣嗎?

is what does it get us?

我說過這個想法只是一種妄想，要證實這個想法

And when you're talking about nature, which is really my subject as a writer,

就得看我們從中學到什麼？

how does it meet the Aldo Leopold test?

當各位談到大自然，也就是我寫作的主題，

Which is, does it make us better citizens of the biotic community?

你一定想知道這個想法是否符合阿爾多．李奧帕得標準？

Get us to do things that leads to the support and perpetuation of the biota,

它能否幫助我們成為生物界的好公民？

rather than its destruction?

讓我們做出能支持生物圈永續生存的事，

And I would submit that this idea does this.

而不去破壞它？

So, let me go through what you gain when you look at the world this way,

我在此報告，這種想法確實能幫助我們做到這一切。

besides some entertaining insights about human desire.

讓我為各位介紹，你以這樣的角度看世界會有什麼好處，

As an intellectual matter, looking at the world from other species' points of view

先撇開有關人類慾望的有趣觀察不談，

helps us deal with this weird anomaly,

就身為有智能的人類來說，以其他生物的觀點來看世界，

which is -- and this is in the realm of intellectual history --

能幫助我們解釋這種怪異的現象，

which is that we have this Darwinian revolution 150 years ago ...

也就是在人類的歷史中，

Ugh. Mini-Me. (Laughter)

150年前所發生的達爾文革命...

We have this intellectual, this Darwinian revolution in which, thanks to Darwin,

啊！渺小的人類...

we figured out we are just one species among many;

感謝達爾文讓我們瞭解，

evolution is working on us the same way it's working on all the others;

我們只是眾多物種中的一種。

we are acted upon as well as acting;

我們跟其他生物一樣會演進，

we are really in the fiber, the fabric of life.

會影響別的物種，同時被別的物種影響，

But the weird thing is, we have not absorbed this lesson 150 years later;

我們的命運深深地交纏在一起。

none of us really believes this.

但奇怪的是，150年後竟然沒有人能記取教訓，

We are still Cartesians -- the children of Descartes --

沒有人真的相信達爾文的話。

who believe that subjectivity, consciousness, sets us apart;

我們還是笛卡爾的信徒，甚至是笛卡爾的後代，

that the world is divided into subjects and objects;

我們相信個人的主觀意識讓我們彼此不同，

that there is nature on one side, culture on another.

這個世界有主觀意識，也有客觀意識，

As soon as you start seeing things from the plant's point of view or the animal's point of view,

有大自然，也有人類文化。

you realize that the real literary conceit is that --

一旦我們開始以植物或動物的角度來觀察事情，

is the idea that nature is opposed to culture,

我們就會發現真正可笑的想法是：

the idea that consciousness is everything --

「大自然是和文化對立的」、

and that's another very important thing it does.

「意識代表一切」。

Looking at the world from other species' points of view

但以動植物的角度來看世界

is a cure for the disease of human self-importance.

還有另一個重要的功能，

You suddenly realize that consciousness --

就是去治療人類妄自尊大的毛病。

which we value and we consider

你會突然發現，我們所謂的意識，

the crowning achievement of nature,

我們所珍視的意識，

human consciousness -- is really just another set of tools for getting along in the world.

我們認為是大自然傑作的意識，

And it's kind of natural that we would think it was the best tool.

只不過是另一種讓我們得以在世上生存的工具罷了。

But, you know, there's a comedian who said,

一般人都自然地認為意識是最好的工具，

"Well, who's telling me that consciousness is so good and so important?

但就像一位喜劇演員所說過的：

Well, consciousness."

「是誰說意識有多好？有多重要？

So when you look at the plants, you realize that there are other tools

不過就是意識嘛。」

and they're just as interesting.

所以當你觀察植物時，你會發現他們也有自己的工具，

I'll give you two examples, also from the garden:

也是一樣的神奇。

lima beans. You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites?

我來舉兩個花園裡的例子，

It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world

例如青豆。你知道紅蜘蛛危害青豆時，青豆會怎樣嗎？

and summons another species of mite

它會散發出一種化學氣味，

that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean.

吸引另一種蜘蛛來，

So what plants have -- while we have consciousness, tool making, language,

攻擊紅蜘蛛，以保護青豆。

they have biochemistry.

人類有意識，可以運用工具和語言，

And they have perfected that to a degree far beyond what we can imagine.

植物則有自己的生化武器，

Their complexity, their sophistication, is something to really marvel at,

這種武器的精良程度遠超過我們所能想像，

and I think it's really the scandal of the Human Genome Project.

其複雜與精細度也是令人歎為觀止。

You know, we went into it thinking, 40,000 or 50,000 human genes

我認為這是人類基因組計劃的大醜聞，

and we came out with only 23,000.

因為一開始我們以為人類會有4、5萬個基因，

Just to give you grounds for comparison, rice: 35,000 genes.

可是卻只發現2萬3千個，

So who's the more sophisticated species?

再和稻米做比較：3萬5千個基因。

Well, we're all equally sophisticated.

到底誰才是比較複雜的物種呢？

We've been evolving just as long,

其實，我們一樣複雜，

just along different paths.

我們都花了同樣長的時間進化，

So, cure for self-importance, way to sort of make us feel the Darwinian idea.

只是循著不同的路徑進化而已。

And that's really what I do as a writer, as a storyteller,

所以，治療人類妄自尊大的解藥，也可以讓我們體會到達爾文的真意。

is try to make people feel what we know and tell stories that actually

而我，身為一個作家，一個說故事的人，

help us think ecologically.

就是要告訴大家我們知道的事、我們是如何成為人，

Now, the other use of this is practical.

幫助大家從生態的角度思考。

And I'm going to take you to a farm right now,

另一個例子很實際，

because I used this idea to develop my understanding of the food system

我要說的是─我要帶大家到農場去，

and what I learned, in fact, is that we are all, now, being manipulated by corn.

我以植物的觀點來看事情，也幫助我瞭解了整個食物鏈，

And the talk you heard about ethanol earlier today,

我發現，其實我們都被玉米操弄了。

to me, is the final triumph of corn over good sense. (Laughter) (Applause)

各位今天所聽到有關生化乙醇的演說，

It is part of corn's scheme for world domination.

在我看來，正是玉米的最終勝利。（笑）

(Laughter)

這是...（掌聲）這是玉米佔領地球的陰謀。

And you will see, the amount of corn planted this year will be up dramatically from last year

（笑聲）

and there will be that much more habitat

各位會發現，自去年以來，玉米的種植面積已大幅提升，

because we've decided ethanol is going to help us.

因為人類認為自己需要生化乙醇，

So it helped me understand industrial agriculture,

將來玉米田面積將更大。

which of course is a Cartesian system.

這讓我...這讓我瞭解了工業化農業，

It's based on this idea that we bend other species to our will

這種農業當然也信奉笛卡兒的教條，

and that we are in charge, and that we create these factories

相信我們可以依照人類的意志栽種植物，

and we have these technological inputs and we get the food out of it

我們具有主控權，是我們創造了這種工廠，

or the fuel or whatever we want.

我們具有這種科技技術，我們可以栽種植物獲取食物，

Let me take you to a very different kind of farm.

或是取得燃油，或任何我們想要的東西。

This is a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

我們來看看另一種完全不同的農場，

I went looking for a farm where these ideas

這個農場位於維吉尼亞州的謝南德谷地，

about looking at things from the species' point of view are actually implemented,

我在那裡找到了一個

and I found it in a man. The farmer's name is Joel Salatin.

完全以植物的觀點看世界的農場，

And I spent a week as an apprentice on his farm,

農場主人是喬依．薩拉丁，

and I took away from this some of the most hopeful news about our relationship to nature

我花了一個星期的時間在他的農場裡參與實作。

that I've ever come across in 25 years of writing about nature.

我在那裡看到了人類與自然所能發展出最有希望的關係，

And that is this:

那是我25年來以大自然為素材的寫作經驗裡第一次看到，

the farm is called Polyface, which means ...

就是這個。

the idea is he's got six different species of animals, as well as some plants,

這個農場叫做「眾生農場」(Polyface)，

growing in this very elaborate symbiotic arrangement.

在這個農場，他以共生的方式，

It's permaculture, those of you who know a little bit about this,

養了六種不同的動物，還有一些植物。

such that the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the turkeys and the ...

他們採用永續農藝，你們懂一些的，

what else does he have?

牛、豬、羊、火雞和...

All the six different species -- rabbits, actually --

還有什麼呢？

are all performing ecological services for one another,

反正有六種不同的動物，對，還有兔子，

such that the manure of one is the lunch for the other

每一種動物都能為另一種動物提供生態服務，

and they take care of pests for one another.

像是某種動物的糞便可能就是另一種動物的食物，

It's a very elaborate and beautiful dance,

他們彼此也會互相幫忙抓害蟲。

but I'm going to just give you a close-up on one piece of it,

我很難描述，那真是大自然的精心設計，

and that is the relationship between his cattle and his chickens, his laying hens.

但我還是想讓你們看看其中一個實例，

And I'll show you, if you take this approach, what you get, OK?

就是牛和雞之間的關係，那種雞是蛋雞，

And this is a lot more than growing food, as you'll see;

我要告訴各位，如果你採用這種方法，會有什麼結果，好嗎？

this is a different way to think about nature

你會看到，這不僅僅只是人類在生產食物而已，

and a way to get away from the zero-sum notion,

這讓我們以另一種方式來思考大自然，

the Cartesian idea that either nature's winning or we're winning,

也讓我們擺脫零和遊戲，即笛卡兒

and that for us to get what we want, nature is diminished.

不是天勝就是人勝，

So, one day, cattle in a pen.

我們盡取所需，耗損自然的觀點。

The only technology involved here is this cheap electric fencing:

牧場的牛關在廉價電圍欄裡，

relatively new, hooked to a car battery;

是這裡唯一稱得上科技的東西，

even I could carry a quarter-acre paddock, set it up in 15 minutes.

只用個還算新的汽車電池供給電力，

Cows graze one day. They move, OK?

就連我也能在15分鐘內架設好約0.1公頃的圍欄。

They graze everything down, intensive grazing.

牛群們在牧場上吃草，輪流在不同地點放牧，

He waits three days,

他們會吃光所有的草，一點也不剩。

and then we towed in something called the Eggmobile.