【TED】化作春泥更护花

TED 甲申同文翻译 2021-03-17

My name is Katrina Spade, and I grew up in a medical family where it was fairly normal to talk about death and dying at the dinner table. But I didn't go into medicine like so many of my family members. Instead, I went to architecture school to learn how to design. And while I was there, I began to be curious about what would happen to my physical body after I died. What would my nearest and dearest do with me?

我是卡缇娜·丝蓓，出生于医学世家。在我家的餐桌上谈论死亡不足为奇，但不像我的家人们，我没有选择从医，我去到了建筑学院学习设计。在那儿，我开始感到好奇，我逝世后，我的遗体会经受什么，我的亲朋们会如何对待我的遗体？

So if the existence and the fact of your own mortality doesn't get you down, the state of our current funerary practices will. Today, almost 50 percent of Americans choose conventional burial. Conventional burial begins with embalming, where funeral staff drain bodily fluid and replace it with a mixture designed to preserve the corpse and give it a lifelike glow. Then, as you know, bodies are buried in a casket in a concrete-lined grave in a cemetery. All told, in US cemeteries, we bury enough metal to build a Golden Gate Bridge, enough wood to build 1,800 single family homes, and enough formaldehyde-laden embalming fluid to fill eight Olympic-size swimming pools.

如果你终将死亡的既定事实不会击溃你，现今的葬礼习俗将会使你失望。现在，有将近50%的美国人会选择常规埋葬，传统的埋葬要先防腐，殡葬人员会先排尽体液，将其替换为可以保存尸体的混合物，让尸体栩栩如生。然后，如你所知，尸体会被放进棺材里，埋在墓园里混凝土浇筑的墓穴中。总而言之，在美国墓园里，我们埋了足够修建一座金门大桥的金属，足够建造1800个独栋住宅的木材，足够多的甲醛防腐液，足以填满8个奥运会泳池。

In addition, cemeteries all over the world are reaching capacity. Turns out, it doesn't really make good business sense to sell someone a piece of land for eternity.

除此之外，全球的墓地都接近饱和事实证明，卖别人一块永生之地，并非好的生财之道。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Whose idea was that?

这是谁的主意？

In some places, you can't buy a plot no matter how much money you have. As a result, cremation rates have risen fast. In 1950, if you suggested your grandmother be incinerated after she died, you'd probably be kicked from the family deathbed. But today, almost half of Americans choose cremation, citing simpler, cheaper and more ecological as reasons. I used to think that cremation was a sustainable form of disposition, but just think about it for a second. Cremation destroys the potential we have to give back to the earth after we've died. It uses an energy-intensive process to turn bodies into ash, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. All told, cremations in the US emit a staggering 600 million pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. The truly awful truth is that the very last thing that most of us will do on this earth is poison it.

在某些地方，无论你有多少钱都不能买到一块墓地，因此，越来越多人选择了火葬。在20世纪50年代，如果你建议祖母死后火葬，你极可能被赶出家门，但现在，有约一半的美国人会选择火葬，因为它更为简便，便宜，有利于生态平衡，我曾认为火葬是符合可持续发展的殡葬方式，但经过深思熟虑。其实火葬破坏了我们死后回馈地球的可能性，它消耗大量能源将我们化为灰土，污染了空气，也加剧了气候的变化。总而言之，美国每年火葬会排放高达6亿磅的二氧化碳，真正可怕的是，我们大多数人在地球上所做的最后一件事是毒害地球。

It's like we've created, accepted and death-denied our way into a status quo that puts as much distance between ourselves and nature as is humanly possible. Our modern funerary practices are designed to stave off the natural processes that happen to a body after death. In other words, they're meant to prevent us from decomposing. But the truth is that nature is really, really good at death. We've all seen it. When organic material dies in nature, microbes and bacteria break it down into nutrient-rich soil, completing the life cycle. In nature, death creates life.

这像是我们创造，接受，拼死否认，我们离间了自己与大自然的现状，我们设计现有的殡葬方式来避免死后尸体的自然腐化。换句话说，这阻止了我们的分解，但事实是，大自然真的很擅长处理遗体。我们都清楚，当有机体自然死亡后，微生物和细菌会将其分解为营养丰富的土壤完成生命循环，在自然界中，死亡成就了生命。

Back in architecture school, I was thinking about all this, and I set out on a plan to redesign death care. Could I create a system that was beneficial to the earth and that used nature as a guide rather than something to be feared? Something that was gentle to the planet? That planet, after all, supports our living bodies our whole lives.

回到建筑学院，我思来想去，计划重新设定殡葬方式。我能否重建一个系统？一个对地球有益，向自然界学习，而不是畏惧它，对世界温柔以待的系统？毕竟，这颗行星维持着我们的身体、我们的生命。

And while I was mulling this all over over the drawing board, the phone rang. It was my friend Kate. She was like, "Hey, have you heard about the farmers who are composting whole cows?" And I was like, "Mmmm."

当我在画板上自由思索这些时，电话响了，是我的朋友凯特打来的她说，“你听说过农民们会把整头牛做为堆肥吗？” 我的反应是，“嗯......”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Turns out that farmers in agricultural institutions have been practicing something called livestock mortality composting for decades. Mortality composting is where you take an animal high in nitrogen and cover it with co-composting materials that are high in carbon. It's an aerobic process, so it requires oxygen, and it requires plenty of moisture as well. In the most basic setup, a cow is covered with a few feet of wood chips, which are high in carbon, and left outside for nature, for breezes to provide oxygen and rain to provide moisture. In about nine months, all that remains is a nutrient-rich compost. The flesh has been decomposed entirely, as have the bones. I know.

事实证明，农业机构的农民们几十年来一直在践行死亡畜禽尸体堆肥，死亡堆肥是把含氮量高的动物尸体用含碳量高的堆肥材料覆盖，这是个有氧分解的过程，需要氧气参与，也需要足够的水分，最基本的做法的是，用含碳量高的木屑覆盖奶牛，放在户外，微风会带来氧气，雨露会提供水分，大约九个月后，留下的是营养丰富的堆肥，肉体已完全被分解，骸骨也是一样，我们都知道。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So I would definitely call myself a decomposition nerd, but I am far, far from a scientist, and one way you can tell this is true is that I have often called the process of composting "magic."

我自称为研究分解的书呆子，但我远不及科学家，这显而易见，我总是视堆肥的过程为“魔术” 。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So basically, all we humans need to do is create the right environment for nature to do its job. It's like the opposite of antibacterial soap. Instead of fighting them, we welcome microbes and bacteria in with open arms. These tiny, amazing creatures break down molecules into smaller molecules and atoms, which are then incorporated into new molecules. In other words, that cow is transformed. It's no longer a cow. It's been cycled back into nature. See? Magic.

总的来说，我们需要做的是，为自然界的分解创造合适的环境条件和抗菌皂相反，不是消灭细菌。我们张开双臂，欢迎微生物和细菌，这些小而神奇的生物将分子分解为更小的原子，而后又合成新的分子。换句话说，牛被重塑了，它不再是一头牛，它循环回到了大自然中，看到了吧？这就是魔术。

You can probably imagine the light bulb that went off in my head after I received that phone call. I began designing a system based on the principles of livestock mortality composting that would take human beings and transform them into soil.

或许你可以感受到我脑中的灵光一现，在我接到电话后，我开始设计一个系统，基于死亡畜禽尸体堆肥的原理，能将人类化为土壤的系统。

Fast-forward five years and the project has grown in ways I truly never could have imagined. We've created a scalable, replicable non-profit urban model based on the science of livestock mortality composting that turns human beings into soil. We've partnered and collaborated with experts in soil science, decomposition, alternative death care, law and architecture. We've raised funds from foundations and individuals in order to design a prototype of this system, and we've heard from tens of thousands of people all over the world who want this option to be available. OK. In the next few years, it's our goal to build the first full-scale human composting facility right in the city of Seattle.

五年后，这一项目的发展超乎我的想象，我们创建了一个可扩展的、可复制的非营利性城市模式，基于死亡畜禽尸体堆肥的科学原理，能将人类化为土壤的模式，我们和土壤科学、分解、替代性死亡护理、法律、建筑行业的专家们合作。我们从基金会及个人那儿筹集资金，来建立系统的雏形，我们听到了全球成千上万人们的呼吁，想要这一方式生效，好吧！在未来的几年里，我们的目标是在西雅图建立第一个全面的人类堆肥设施。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Imagine it, part public park, part funeral home, part memorial to the people we love, a place where we can reconnect with the cycles of nature and treat bodies with gentleness and respect.

想象一下，一个集合了公园、殡仪馆、纪念逝去亲人为一体的地方，在这儿我们可以与大自然的循环重新连接，温柔并充满敬意地对待遗体。

The infrastructure is simple. Inside a vertical core, bodies and wood chips undergo accelerated natural decomposition, or composting, and are transformed into soil. When someone dies, their body is taken to a human composting facility. After wrapping the deceased in a simple shroud, friends and family carry the body to the top of the core, which contains the natural decomposition system. During a laying in ceremony, they gently place the body into the core and cover it with wood chips. This begins the gentle transformation from human to soil. Over the next few weeks, the body decomposes naturally. Microbes and bacteria break down carbon, then protein, to create a new substance, a rich, earthy soil. This soil can then be used to grow new life. Eventually, you could be a lemon tree.

基础设施很简单，在垂直的主设施里，遗体和木屑经过加速后的自然分解，或是堆肥，转化为土壤。人们逝世后，遗体会被运往遗体堆肥设施，用简单的裹尸布包裹后，亲友会将遗体送去自然分解设施的顶部。举行仪式时，遗体被送入主设施，并被木屑掩埋，遗体开始缓慢转变为土壤。在接来下的几周时间里，遗体自然分解，微生物和细菌分解碳，蛋白质创造新的物质—— 肥沃的土壤。这样的土壤可以孕育新的生命，最终，你可能成了一颗柠檬树。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Yeah, thank you.

谢谢你们

(Applause)

（掌声）

Who's thinking about lemon meringue pie right now?

此刻，有人在想柠檬塔吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

A lemon drop? Something stronger?

柠檬糖？或是更棒的东西？

So in addition to housing the core, these buildings will function to support the grieving by providing space for memorial services and end-of-life planning. The potential for repurposing is huge. Old churches and industrial warehouses can be converted into places where we create soil and honor life.

所以，除了主设施外，这一建筑也能安抚悲痛，通过提供纪念服务和临终计划的场所，这有着巨大的再利用潜力。旧教堂和工业仓库会被改建为生产土壤和尊敬生命的地方。

We want to bring back the aspect of ritual that's been diluted over the past hundred years as cremation rates have risen and religious affiliation has declined. Our Seattle facility will function as a model for these places all over the world. We've heard from communities in South Africa, Australia, the UK, Canada and beyond. We're creating a design toolkit that will help others design and build facilities that will contain technical specifications and regulatory best practices. We want to help individuals, organizations, and down the road, municipalities design and build facilities in their own cities. The idea is that every one of these places should look and feel completely different with the same system inside. They're really meant to be designed for the neighborhood in which they reside and the community which they serve.

回到仪式方面，随着火葬率的上升，宗教信仰的衰弱，在过去的几百年里，仪式被时间冲谈。西雅图的这一设施会成为全球的榜样，南非、澳大利亚、英国、加拿大和其它各地的社区都有联系我们。我们正在设计一款可以帮助他人设计并修建设施的工具包，其中包含技术规范和最佳监管方式。我们想帮助个体、组织更近一步，帮助政府当局设计并修建他们自己的设施。我们认为，每一个地方的外观和感觉都应完全不同，系统却是一致的，这意味着为居住的环境及服务的社区进行设计。

The other idea is for supportive staff to be on hand to help families with the care and preparation of loved ones' bodies. We're banishing practices that bewilder and disempower and creating a system that is beautiful and meaningful and transparent. We believe that access to ecological death care is a human right.

另一个想法是支持员工及时帮助家人处理遗体，我们拒绝迷茫、无助的想法，创建一个美丽、充满意义的、公开透明的系统，我们相信人人都有权利选择生态死亡护理，这是天赋人权。

OK, so you know the old saying, if you can compost a cow, you can compost a human?

古语有云，如果牛可以堆肥，人也可以。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Turns out, it's true. Since 2014, we've been running a pilot project in the hills of North Carolina with the Forensic Anthropology Department at Western Carolina University. Six donor bodies have been covered in wood chips, oxygen provided by breezes, microbes and bacteria doing their jobs. This pilot program has allowed us to demonstrate that it's possible to harness the incredible power of natural decomposition to turn human bodies into soil, and we're working with other universities as well. Soil scientists at Washington State University, the grad students, anyway, are working to compost teeth with amalgam fillings so that we can understand what happens to the mercury therein. Next up, we'll be beginning experiments to determine what happens to chemo drugs and pharmaceuticals during the composting process, and whether additional remediation will be needed.

事实证明，这是真理。直至2014年，我们已同西卡罗来纳州大学法医人类学系合作，在北卡罗莱纳的小山上试点运行，六具捐献遗体被埋在木屑下，由微风供氧，微生物和细菌进行分解。试点让我们证明了这是可行的，我们可以借助自然分解不可思议的力量将人体化为土壤，我们也和其它大学达成了合作，华盛顿州立大学的土壤学家及研究生们正在堆肥充满汞合金的牙齿，以便我们了解在这一过程中的汞会发生什么。下一步，我们将继续试验，明确化疗药物在堆肥中会发生什么变化，是否需要额外的处置。

By the way, composting creates a great deal of heat, especially this particular type of composting. One week after we began composting our fifth donor body, the temperature inside that mound of wood chips reached 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine harnessing that heat to create energy or comfort the grieving on a cold day.

顺便一提堆肥会大量产热尤其是这种类型的堆肥第五具捐献遗体分解一周后木屑内的温度达到了华氏158度想象利用这种热能创造能量或是给寒冷的日子带来慰藉

The death care revolution has begun. It's an exciting time to be alive.

死亡护理革命已然拉开序幕，这是令生者振奋的时刻

Thank you.

谢谢你们

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编辑：甲申同文翻译

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