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The earth has an elegant cycle of life.
地球有一个十分巧妙的生命周期。
It’s the story of carbon.
因为整个周期都在围绕碳展开。
And over billions of years, it has evolved to look something like this.
经过了数十亿年的积累，这个周期逐渐演成了这个样子。
And it starts with a plant.
一切还要从一株植物说起。
Plants and microorganisms absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
植物和微生物会吸收大气层中的二氧化碳。
Then they use energy from the sun to convert that carbon into oxygen…
然后利用来自太阳的光能将二氧化碳转化为氧气...
And sugar, which they use to grow.
以及糖分，这种糖分又被它们用于自身的生长。
And as they grow, they emit some carbon back into the atmosphere.
但植物在生长的过程中也会向大气中释放碳。
But all plants eventually die.
不过，植物最终都会死亡。
And some are consumed by bacteria — others by larger beasts.
有些被细菌消化了——其他的则被更大的动物吃掉了。
These animals eat plants for energy.
这些动物吃掉植物是为了获取能量。
And they breathe out carbon.
但这些动物也会呼出二氧化碳。
But eventually, those animals die, too.
不过，这些动物最终也难逃一死。
And they end up in the ground.
并就此长眠于地下。
Meanwhile, a similar thing happens in the ocean.
与此同时，海洋里也在上演类似的剧情。
Coral and plankton need carbon from the water to survive.
珊瑚和浮游生物需要水中的碳来维持生存。
Luckily, the ocean has carbon because it absorbs some from the atmosphere.
幸运的是，海洋中有碳，因为海洋会从大气中吸收碳。
And, when rain falls to the earth, it grabs some carbon from the atmosphere...
雨水降临在大地上时也从大气中
... and from rocks...
......从岩石中带走部分碳......
… and flows into the ocean, where the coral and plankton use carbon to grow.
...然后流入海洋，那片珊瑚和浮游生物
Or other animals use it to grow.
以及其他动物依赖碳生存的地方。
But just like animals, the coral and plankton die, too.
不过，和其他动物一样，珊瑚和浮游生物也会死亡。
In short, all living things are made of carbon
简而言之，所有生物都是由碳构成的，
— and they eventually end up in the ground.
——所有动物最终也都会被埋于地下。
Some of that carbon will eventually get back to the atmosphere.
其中一些碳最终会回到大气层中。
But some of it normally stays in the ground.
但还有一些通常都永远地留在了地下。
Usually, dead things decay and turn into rocks.
通常，死去的东西都会腐烂并变成岩石。
Eventually, they’re crushed — and extreme heat and pressure causes them to melt…
最终，岩石被粉碎——而高温和压力又会将它们融化…
and emit the carbon, which is trapped underground.
并释放出原本被困在地下的碳。
Over time, that trapped carbon eventually escapes into the atmosphere — when volcanoes erupt.
随着时间的推移，这些原本被困在地下的碳最终会释放到大气中 - 当火山爆发的时候
And the cycle starts again.
由此，新一轮的循环又开始了。
But occasionally, dead plants and animals don't turn into rock.
不过，少数情况下，死去的植物和动物并不会变成岩石。
They don't decay fast enough, so they turn into oil, coal, or natural gas…
由于腐烂的速度不够快，它们最终变成了石油，煤炭或天然气......
This carbon gets stuck in the ground.
这种碳也被困在了地下。
This is the elegant system that keeps carbon cycling through Earth at a steady pace.
这就是那个保持碳在地球的表面和内部以稳定的节奏往复的巧妙循环。
Carbon in the atmosphere keeps some heat from leaving Earth.
大气中的碳能阻止一部分热量离开地球。
It keeps Earth at a stable temperature.
从而让地球始终维持在稳定的温度条件下。
But very recently, one of these animals started to dig up the carbon in the ground.
然而最近，地球上的动物中有一种开始挖掘地下的碳了。
They took the carbon that was stuck in the ground and put it back into the atmosphere.
把原本埋在地下的碳又释放回了大气里。
And they did this so much — in such a short time span — that this cycle was disrupted.
力度如此之大——再加上如此短暂的时间——以致于地球的生命周期由此被打破。
Too much carbon was being put into the atmosphere.
太多太多的碳被排放到了大气中。
Heat that would normally be able to escape bounced back and stayed on Earth.
原本能够离开地球的热量也反弹回来继续留在地球上了。
And Earth started to get warmer and warmer.
地球开始变得越来越暖。
Really recently, just a few months ago,
最近，也就是几个月前，
more than 100 bipedal scientists said they might only have 12 years to stop a disastrous amount of warming.
100多名研究双足动物的科学家表示，他们阻止灾难性变暖发生的时间已经只剩12年了。
So these animals need to not only stop putting carbon in the atmosphere, but also get carbon out of the atmosphere.
所以，这些动物不仅需要停止往大气中投入碳，还要把碳从大气中赶出去。
They found that one way to remove carbon is to grow more plants.
他们发现，种植更多植物能够消除碳。
They could stop cutting down trees.
他们可以停止砍伐树木。
Or raise livestock in ways that help restore grass.
也可以以帮助恢复草地的方式饲养牲畜。
Another way is to let plants suck up carbon from the atmosphere —— but then burn them for energy.
还有一个办法是让植物吸收来自大气的碳——但接着要烧掉植物以获取能量。
And then trapping the carbon they emit underground.
之后再把它们释放的碳束缚在地下。
They could also build machines to suck air from the atmosphere and filter out the carbon.
他们还可以制造可以吸入空气，从大气中过滤掉碳的机器。
But they haven't figured out how to do this fast enough.
但他们还是没能找到足够快的办法。
There are many ways these animals can tweak this cycle to suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
这些动物原本有很多方法可以调整这个循环，将碳从大气中吸走。
A combination of them is probably the best way forward.
而将所有的办法结合起来可能又是最好的办法。
But, first, these animals need to figure out how to stop putting it there in the first place.
但首先，这些动物的当务之急是弄清楚如何停止往大气中释放更多的碳。
