English 中文網 漫畫網 愛新聞iNews 翻譯論壇
    中國網站品牌欄目(頻道)
    當前位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> 新聞播報> Normal Speed News VOA常速

    Trashing America's throw-away culture

    [ 2010-11-09 16:49]     字號 [] [] []  
    免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報:移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

    Annie Leonard has dedicated herself to changing America's throw-away culture. The Berkeley, California resident has been obsessed with stuff for more than 20 years - both good stuff that is thrown out and toxic stuff that poisons the planet and its people.

    Early awareness

    Annie Leonard grew up in Seattle, Washington, spending her summers in the forests of the Cascade Mountains. Her school promoted environmental issues, so it's no wonder she wanted to be a public lands and forest activist.

    "It wasn't until I went to college in New York City that I became obsessed with garbage," she says.

    Walking to class at Barnard College, it was hard not to notice the shoulder-high piles of garbage bags stacked along the city streets. Wondering what was inside, Leonard started what was to become a lifelong habit. She opened a garbage bag.

    Nearly half the trash inside was paper. Her mind made the immediate connection to the clear cut areas of her beloved Northwest forests where the trees had been cut down for lumber and pulp. Her next stop was New York City's 890-hectare landfill, to see what else was being thrown away. She found mounds of appliances, shoes, clothing, electronics, books and food packaging as far as she could see.

    "I was really struck by both the scale of it - how could we have created a society that is based on and dependent on so much destruction of resources, but also the secrecy of it," says Leonard. "How could I have gone all the way until I was nearly 20 before I'd ever been to a dump?"

    Life-changing visit

    That visit to the dump changed Leonard's life. For her senior undergraduate project, she wrote a paper on why New York City should not burn garbage in municipal incinerators and suggested alternatives for disposal. At Cornell University graduate school, she studied city and regional planning with a focus on garbage.

    Leonard spent the next 10 years with various environmental groups in Washington, lobbying for recycling programs and tougher regulations on trash disposal. But her success in Congress had an unexpected negative result in corporate boardrooms.

    To avoid the new laws, Leonard says, many companies started to ship their regular and hazardous waste overseas. So she moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to work on a global campaign to stop the export of waste from the richest countries to the poorest. Her job was to track the waste from the United States to where it ended up in Africa, Latin America, and East and South Asia.

    Trash Investigator

    "I went to Bangladesh, for example, to interview farmers who had taken fertilizer that was contaminated with our hazardous waste and spread it on their farms," she says. "I went to South Africa under apartheid where United States companies were sending very toxic mercury waste that was dumped in a black township there where the people were not able to leave and had to use the water that had become contaminated for drinking and bathing and some cooking."

    Leonard's 10 years as an investigator took her to dumps, mines, factories and sweatshops in 40 countries. She learned about the life cycle of every manufactured product she could - from cell phones to toothbrushes - and concluded that the world needed to know that cycle, too.

    Considering how much of the world's trash comes from the United States, Leonard decided that the fight for a solution had to be centered there. So she settled in Berkeley, California, and started an educational campaign. She produced a 20-minute video for YouTube called "The Story of Stuff." She figured if she got 50,000 views, it would be a success.

    "To my complete shock, I got 50,000 views in a day. We are now at over 10 million views from people in over 223 countries and territories, according to Google Analytics."

    'The Story of Stuff'

    Leonard also received more than 100,000 emails asking for more specific information. That's when she decided to put it all in a book, also called "The Story of Stuff." In it, she outlines where stuff comes from and where is goes. Looking at the five different stages, she followed products from extraction all the way to disposal.

    Leonard has been accused of being anti-capitalist and anti-stuff, but insists that, actually, she is pro-stuff, although, she admits, most of her possessions are second-hand.

    "I want us to appreciate and value and have reverence for our stuff more. I want us to look at something, whether it's an electronic gadget or a piece of furniture or a piece of clothing, and think about the effort and the energy and the material and the work that went into making that thing."

    As she travels around the country, speaking at colleges, conferences and houses of worship, the 45-year old activist is often asked how she can maintain a hopeful outlook. She says it's because she is convinced that the toxic trash situation doesn't have to be as dire as it is now.

    She points to emerging science fields such as biomimicry, where industries imitate nature to design more sustainable and healthier products. She also touts the burgeoning green chemistry movement, which tries to minimize the generation and use of toxic materials. But mostly, she says, she's hopeful that growing public awareness and desire for a new approach will bring about the changes she'd like to see.

    Related stories:

    南非推廣干廁 政府花錢買尿

    德國郵政也低碳 人人都當快遞員

    Oil-tainted waste raises health, environmental concerns

    日政府呼吁民眾早睡早起 減少碳排放

    (來源:VOA 編輯:陳丹妮)

     
    中國日報網英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
     

    關注和訂閱

    人氣排行

    翻譯服務

    中國日報網翻譯工作室

    我們提供:媒體、文化、財經法律等專業領域的中英互譯服務
    電話:010-84883468
    郵件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn
     
     
    亚洲成a人片在线观看无码| 国产 欧美 亚洲 中文字幕| 天堂无码久久综合东京热| 中文字幕欧美在线| 4hu亚洲人成人无码网www电影首页| 国产成人无码区免费内射一片色欲| 久久中文字幕无码专区| 久久AV无码精品人妻糸列 | 中文字幕有码无码AV| 国产 日韩 中文字幕 制服| 国产免费无码一区二区| 免费无码又爽又刺激一高潮| 日本中文字幕电影| 亚洲国产精品无码久久九九 | 无码A级毛片免费视频内谢| 中文在线最新版天堂8| 毛片一区二区三区无码| 日韩乱码人妻无码系列中文字幕| 最好看的电影2019中文字幕| 中文字幕在线免费观看| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码喷水| 亚洲精品人成无码中文毛片| av无码久久久久不卡免费网站| 免费无码中文字幕A级毛片| 国产成人无码av| 国产成人无码AV麻豆| 在线观看中文字幕| 日韩中文字幕在线播放| 香蕉伊蕉伊中文视频在线| 亚洲日韩v无码中文字幕| 国产亚洲精久久久久久无码AV| 人妻少妇伦在线无码专区视频| 色综合久久无码中文字幕| 无码人妻精品一区二区在线视频| 亚洲AV无码一区二区乱子伦| 无码无套少妇毛多18PXXXX| 亚洲av无码专区国产乱码在线观看 | 久久无码AV一区二区三区| 日日日日做夜夜夜夜无码| 亚洲精品一级无码中文字幕 | 熟妇人妻系列aⅴ无码专区友真希|