TED演讲：纽约垃圾大发现（中英双语）

英语自学网

　　每天的垃圾谁来为我们清扫?家住美国纽约的人类学家Robin
Nagle发现纽约市民每天要产出11000吨的垃圾。清洁工人是怎样面对我们每天丢弃的垃圾的呢?Robin开上垃圾车亲自体验清洁工的生活，希望人们在路上遇到他们时少一次躲闪，而是多说一声“谢谢”。
       
        　　What I discovered in New York City trash
        　　New York City residents produce 11,000 tons of garbage every day. Every
day! This astonishing statistic is just one of the reasons Robin Nagle started a
research project with the city's Department of Sanitation. She walked the
routes, operated mechanical brooms, even drove a garbage truck herself—all so
she could answer a simple-sounding but complicated question: who cleans up after
us?
        　　Robin Nagle is an anthropologist with a very particular focus...
garbage.
        　　Why you should listen：
        　　Robin Nagle has been the anthropologist-in-residence at the Department of
Sanitation in New York City since 2006.
        　　Nagle's fascination with trash stems from her desire to understand the
all-too-often invisible infrastructure that guides the flow of garbage through a
megalopolis like New York. After all, the city produces 11,000 tons of rubbish
each day... and all of that has to be dealt with somewhere and by someone. If
not, damaging health problems and consequences for all. So why do sanitation
workers experience such stigma, all too often scorned and berated while on the
job? Nagle, who is also director of NYU's Draper Interdisciplinary Master's
program in humanities and social thought, determined to find out. She got her
sanitation worker license and has spent much time with workers on the job,
getting an up-close view of the city's garbage and the systems in place to deal
with it.
        　　Her book, Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the
Sanitation Workers of New York City was published in 2013 by Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. See also the profile of her work -- and a photoessay of her favorite
places in New York City.
        　　What others say：
        　　"The mission of Nagle’s new book, “Picking Up,” isn’t just to make us take
note of sanitation workers (“san men,” not “garbagemen,” please). She also
argues something larger: They are New York’s Most Essential. “Sanitation,” she
writes, “is the most important uniformed force on the street.”" — New York
Times
            
            

enthree

        　　0:11 I was about 10 years old on a camping trip with my dad in the
Adirondack Mountains, a wilderness area in the northern part of New York State.
It was a beautiful day. The forest was sparkling. The sun made the leaves glow
like stained glass, and if it weren't for the path we were following, we could
almost pretend we were the first human beings to ever walk that land.
        　　0:36 We got to our campsite. It was a lean-to on a bluff looking over a
crystal, beautiful lake, when I discovered a horror. Behind the lean-to was a
dump, maybe 40 feet square with rotting apple cores and balled-up aluminum foil,
and a dead sneaker. And I was astonished, I was very angry, and I was deeply
confused. The campers who were too lazy to take out what they had brought in,
who did they think would clean up after them?
        　　1:08 That question stayed with me, and it simplified a little. Who cleans
up after us? However you configure or wherever you place the us, who cleans up
after us in Istanbul? Who cleans up after us in Rio or in Paris or in London?
Here in New York, the Department of Sanitation cleans up after us, to the tune
of 11,000 tons of garbage and 2,000 tons of recyclables every day. I wanted to
get to know them as individuals. I wanted to understand who takes the job.
What's it like to wear the uniform and bear that burden?
        　　1:46 So I started a research project with them. I rode in the trucks and
walked the routes and interviewed people in offices and facilities all over the
city, and I learned a lot, but I was still an outsider. I needed to go
deeper.
        　　2:01 So I took the job as a sanitation worker. I didn't just ride in the
trucks now. I drove the trucks. And I operated the mechanical brooms and I
plowed the snow. It was a remarkable privilege and an amazing education.
            
            

enfive

        　　2:15 Everyone asks about the smell. It's there, but it's not as prevalent
as you think, and on days when it is really bad, you get used to it rather
quickly. The weight takes a long time to get used to. I knew people who were
several years on the job whose bodies were still adjusting to the burden of
bearing on your body tons of trash every week.
        　　2:37 Then there's the danger. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
sanitation work is one of the 10 most dangerous occupations in the country, and
I learned why. You're in and out of traffic all day, and it's zooming around
you. It just wants to get past you, so it's often the motorist is not paying
attention. That's really bad for the worker. And then the garbage itself is full
of hazards that often fly back out of the truck and do terrible harm.
        　　3:02 I also learned about the relentlessness of trash. When you step off
the curb and you see a city from behind a truck, you come to understand that
trash is like a force of nature unto itself. It never stops coming. It's also
like a form of respiration or circulation. It must always be in motion.
        　　3:22 And then there's the stigma. You put on the uniform, and you become
invisible until someone is upset with you for whatever reason like you've
blocked traffic with your truck, or you're taking a break too close to their
home, or you're drinking coffee in their diner, and they will come and scorn
you, and tell you that they don't want you anywhere near them. I find the stigma
especially ironic, because I strongly believe that sanitation workers are the
most important labor force on the streets of the city, for three reasons. They
are the first guardians of public health. If they're not taking away trash
efficiently and effectively every day, it starts to spill out of its
containments, and the dangers inherent to it threaten us in very real ways.
Diseases we've had in check for decades and centuries burst forth again and
start to harm us. The economy needs them. If we can't throw out the old stuff,
we have no room for the new stuff, so then the engines of the economy start to
sputter when consumption is compromised. I'm not advocating capitalism, I'm just
pointing out their relationship. And then there's what I call our average,
necessary quotidian velocity. By that I simply mean how fast we're used to
moving in the contemporary day and age. We usually don't care for, repair,
clean, carry around our coffee cup, our shopping bag, our bottle of water. We
use them, we throw them out, we forget about them, because we know there's a
workforce on the other side that's going to take it all away.
            
            

enfive

        　　4:59 So I want to suggest today a couple of ways to think about sanitation
that will perhaps help ameliorate the stigma and bring them into this
conversation of how to craft a city that is sustainable and humane. Their work,
I think, is kind of liturgical. They're on the streets every day, rhythmically.
They wear a uniform in many cities. You know when to expect them. And their work
lets us do our work. They are almost a form of reassurance. The flow that they
maintain keeps us safe from ourselves, from our own dross, our cast-offs, and
that flow must be maintained always no matter what.
        　　5:45 On the day after September 11 in 2001, I heard the growl of a
sanitation truck on the street, and I grabbed my infant son and I ran downstairs
and there was a man doing his paper recycling route like he did every Wednesday.
And I tried to thank him for doing his work on that day of all days, but I
started to cry. And he looked at me, and he just nodded, and he said, "We're
going to be okay. We're going to be okay." It was a little while later that I
started my research with sanitation, and I met that man again. His name is
Paulie, and we worked together many times, and we became good friends.
        　　6:26 I want to believe that Paulie was right. We are going to be okay. But
in our effort to reconfigure how we as a species exist on this planet, we must
include and take account of all the costs, including the very real human cost of
the labor. And we also would be well informed to reach out to the people who do
that work and get their expertise on how do we think about, how do we create
systems around sustainability that perhaps take us from curbside recycling,
which is a remarkable success across 40 years, across the United States and
countries around the world, and lift us up to a broader horizon where we're
looking at other forms of waste that could be lessened from manufacturing and
industrial sources. Municipal waste, what we think of when we talk about
garbage, accounts for three percent of the nation's waste stream. It's a
remarkable statistic.
        　　7:26 So in the flow of your days, in the flow of your lives, next time you
see someone whose job is to clean up after you, take a moment to acknowledge
them. Take a moment to say thank you.
        　　7:43 (Applause)
            
            

enfour

        　　0:11 我10岁左右的时候， 有一次和爸爸一起去 阿第伦达克山脉露营。那是一片 位于纽约州北部的野生地带。 那天天气特别好。 森林里处处闪闪发光。
阳光照耀下，树叶闪闪地象晶莹的彩色玻璃。 如果没有脚下的小路， 我们完全可以假装我们是 首批到达这片树林的人类。
        　　0:36 我们最终到达了我们的营地。 那是一个在悬崖上的营地， 可以向下俯瞰一个水晶般晶莹美丽的湖泊。 后来我却发现了很糟糕的事。
就在悬崖营地的后面， 有个足足有 40 英尺见方的大垃圾堆。 里面有烂苹果核、 用过的铝箔纸、 和破旧的运动鞋。 我当时非常吃惊， 非常生气，也非常非常困惑。
来露营的人实在太懒了， 连自己带来的垃圾都不肯收拾。 他们觉得谁会替他们清理善后呢?
        　　1:08 这个问题一直困扰着我。 成了一个更精练的问题。 谁来清理我们留下的垃圾? 但是你可以把这个问题 放在任何你生活的地方。
在伊斯坦布清理我们留下的垃圾? 在里约清理我们留下的垃圾? 在巴黎或伦敦呢? 在纽约，这里， 是环卫部门清理我们留下的 多达11,000吨的垃圾
和每天2000吨的可回收垃圾。 我个人想去了解这些环卫工人， 我想知道谁在做这样的工作。 穿上环卫服 承担起这份责任的感觉是什么样?
        　　1:46 所以我开始了一项关于环卫工人的研究课题。 我坐在垃圾车上，沿着收垃圾的路线， 采访全纽约在办公室和工作现场 的环卫人员。 我学到了很多，
但我仍然是个局外人。 我需要更深入地了解。
        　　2:01 于是我真的找了份环卫工人的工作。 现在我不仅仅是坐在垃圾车里，我开着垃圾车。 我自己操纵着电动扫帚扫大街、在路上铲雪。
那可是一种非凡的特权， 也是令人叹服的受教育过程。
        　　2:15 每个人都会问到垃圾臭味。 是有臭味，但它不是你想的那样糟糕。 有的时候气味确实很臭。 但你很快就会适应了。 垃圾的重量却需要很长时间来适应。
我就知道即使有几年工作经验的熟练工， 他们的身体还试着在 适应每周 成吨的垃圾。
        　　2:37 那么这里面就存在着风险。 跟据劳动统计局的报告， 环卫工作是美国 十大最危险工种之一。 我后来慢慢明白了为什么。 你整天都在路上，
就身处车流之中。 来往的车辆只想着超过你， 开车的人往往不够小心。 对环卫工人来说，这实在太糟糕了。 还有呢，垃圾本身就充满了毒害，
这些毒物经常会从垃圾车里飘出， 造成可怕的伤害。
        　　3:02 我还了解到垃圾的残酷和可怕。 当你走下路沿， 在环卫车旁观察一个城市， 你会慢慢认识到垃圾 真的就像大自然本身的力量。
它从来都是源源而来的。 它也像呼吸或循环的一种形式。 它总是在动态中。
        　　3:22 最后一点，环卫工人被污名化。 当你穿上环卫制服，你被视而不见了。 直到有人找到什么理由难为你， 嫌你的环卫车阻碍交通呀，
嫌你在离他们家很近的地方休息呀， 嫌你在他们的小餐馆喝咖啡呀。 他们会走过来嘲笑你， 告诉你离他们远点。 我觉得这样的污名化非常地可笑， 因为我坚信环卫工人们
是城市街道上的 最重要的劳动力。 原因有三点。 他们是公共卫生的第一道屏障。 如果他们每天不 高效迅速地清理垃圾的话， 垃圾会从容器中泄露，
它本身的毒害会以一种非常真实的方式 威胁到我们的生活。 我们经过数个世纪和数十年攻克的疾病 会再次爆发，开始威胁我们的健康。 (第二)国民经济需要环卫工人。
如果我们不丢掉旧的东西， 我们就没有空间装新的东西。 那样的话，经济的引擎 就会停歇，因为人们的消费减少了。 我不主张资本主义，我在这里只是指出它们的关系。
(第三个原因)就是我称之为 我们平均、 必要、经常性的活动速度。 我的意思是说 在如今的年代和日子里，我们是如此地 习惯于奔忙。 我们通常不会在意、修理、
清洁、 随身携带 我们的咖啡杯，购物袋 和水瓶。 我们使用它们，然后扔掉它们，然后忘掉他们， 因为我们知道会有一支工作队伍 在一旁把这些东西清理掉。
        　　4:59 所以今天我想建议大家去 想想环卫工人的处境， 也许能够帮助他们正名。 把他们请来参与谈论 如何建设一个可持续的人道的城市。
我认为他们的工作是很崇高的， 他们每天按时地辛勤地在街上工作。 在很多城市他们穿着环卫服不停工作。 你知道他们会准时来清理垃圾。
是他们使我们可以安心于自己的工作。 他们几乎成了安心工作的保证。 他们所保持的工作流量 让我们自身安全无忧， 而不必担心我们剩下的糟粕和垃圾。
这样的工作流量不管怎样 都需要保持稳定性。
        　　5:45 2001年9月11日的第二天， 我听着街上环卫卡车咆哮而来， 我拉着年幼的儿子跑下楼。 有个回收报纸的工人 正在做他每周三都做的工作。
我要感谢他做的这些工作 在那么特殊的日子里， 但我忍不住哭了起来。 他望着我， 只是点点头，然后说， "我们会没事的。 我们会没事的。“ 后来在我刚刚开始
研究环卫工作的时候， 我再次遇见了那个人。 他的名字叫保利，我们多次一起工作过， 还成为了好朋友。
        　　6:26 我愿意相信保利的话是对的。 我们会没事的。 但我们作为这个星球的一份子， 我们需要努力地进行重建。 我们必须考虑到
所有的消耗，包括非常现实的劳动力 消耗。 而且我们需要更好地了解情况， 和各行业的 专家交流 我们自己的看法， 关于如何建立一个可持续发展体系的看法。
这或许把我们从街道垃圾回收， 这个成功地走过了40年历史， 跨越了美国在内的无数国家的工作， 引领到一个更大的范畴里。 我们可以考虑如何 减少
来自制造业和其他工业来源的垃圾。 城市垃圾，我们通常认识中的垃圾 其实只占国内垃圾总量的3%。 这是个惊人的数据。
        　　7:26 所以在你的生活的每一天， 在你生命之河里， 下一次当你看到有人在 清理你留下的垃圾时， 请找个时间向他们致意， 找个时间说声谢谢。
        　　7:43 (掌声)