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EbenBayer_2010G-_蘑菇会成为新型塑料吗_
So, I'd like to spend a few minutes with you folks today imagining what our planet might look like in a thousand years. 我希望花几分钟时间和你们聊聊 想象下一千年以后我们的星球看起来会是怎样的？
But before I do that, 但在这之前,
I need to talk to you about synthetic materials like plastics, which require huge amounts of energy to create and, because of their disposal issues , are slowly poisoning our planet. 我需要告诉你像塑料这样的花费巨大的 人力物力来制造的合成材料, 因为它们存在的废弃处理问题, 正在逐渐毒害我们的地球。
synthetic:adj.综合的;合成的,人造的;n.合成物; disposal:n.处理;清除;去掉;(企业、财产等的)变卖; issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数)
I also want to tell you and share with you how my team and I have been using mushrooms over the last three years. 我也想与大家分享 我和我的团队 如何在过去的三年中使用蘑菇。
Not like that. (Laughter) 不是那样子（笑声）
We're using mushrooms to create an entirely new class of materials, which perform a lot like plastics during their use, but are made from crop waste and are totally compostable at the end of their lives. 我们正使用蘑菇来创造一种全新的材料。 使用起来和塑料一样, 但是是以农作物废料来制造的 并且在他们的使用寿命结束后完全降解于大自然中。
perform:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好); compostable:adj.可降解的;可以制作成肥料的;
(Cheering) （欢呼）
But first, 但首先,
I need to talk to you about what I consider one of the most egregious offenders in the disposable plastics category . 我需要和大家聊下我认为在 可降解塑料中最差的品种。
egregious:adj.惊人的;过分的;恶名昭彰的; offenders:n.罪犯(offender的复数);冒犯者; disposable:adj.可任意处理的;可自由使用的;用完即可丢弃的; category:n.种类,分类;[数]范畴;
This is a material you all know is Styrofoam , but I like to think of it as toxic white stuff . 你们都知道有一种叫做泡沫塑料的材料, 我认为这种一种白色污染。
Styrofoam:n.泡沫聚苯乙烯; toxic:adj.有毒的;中毒的; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
In a single cubic foot of this material -- about what would come around your computer or large television -- you have the same energy content of about a liter and a half of petrol . 当你购买电脑或者大尺寸的电视机 大约会带有一立方英尺的泡沫塑料－ 它们对能源的消耗相当于 一升半的石油。
cubic:adj.立方体的,立方的; content:n.内容,目录;满足;容量;adj.满意的;vt.使满足; liter:n.(计量)公升(容量单位) petrol:n.(英)汽油;
Yet, after just a few weeks of use, you'll throw this material in the trash . 经过几周后的使用, 你把这玩艺扔进了垃圾筒,
trash:n.垃圾;废物;v.丢弃;修剪树枝;
And this isn't just found in packaging. 它们不仅仅被用作包装材料。
20 billion dollars of this material is produced every year, in everything from building materials to surfboards to coffee cups to table tops. 每年大约200亿美元的泡沫塑料被生产出来, 用来制造各种产品包括建材,冲浪板 到咖啡杯和桌面。
surfboards:n.冲浪板;vi.以冲浪板滑水;
And that's not the only place it's found. 它们也不仅仅只出现在这些产品中。
The EPA estimates , in the United States, by volume , this material occupies 25 percent of our landfills . 根据环保署的估算,在美国, 按体积来算,这种材料占据了4分之一的垃圾填埋场。
estimates:n.估计;估价;估计的成本;v.估价;估算(estimate的第三人称单数和复数) United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) volume:n.体积;容积;音量;响度;一册;合订本 occupies:v.使用,占用;使用(房屋、建筑);居住;侵占;占据;(occupy的第三人称单数) landfills:n.废物填埋地(或场);废物填埋;填埋的废物;(landfill的复数)
Even worse is when it finds its way into our natural environment -- on the side of the road or next to a river. 更糟糕的是当它进入我们的自然环境－ 出现在路边或者河边。
on the side of:拥护…;站在…一边;赞助;
If it's not picked up by a human, like me and you, it'll stay there for thousands and thousands of years. 如果不被人回收,比如我们, 它就会再那待上成千上万年。
Perhaps even worse is when it finds its way into our oceans, like in the great plastic gyre , where these materials are being mechanically broken into smaller and smaller bits, but they're not really going away. 更坏的情况是 当它们进入到海洋中,就好像太平洋上的庞大的塑料漩涡, 这些材料被机械化地 粉碎成无数小碎片, 但是它们并没有消失。
gyre:n.回转;旋回;旋转;vi.旋回; mechanically:adv.机械地;呆板地;物理上地;
They're not biologically compatible . 它们也不与自然兼容。
biologically:adv.生物学上,生物学地; compatible:adj.兼容的;能共处的;可并立的;
They're basically fouling up 它们基本上就是在堵塞
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; fouling:n.污染;污垢;v.犯规(foul的ing形式);弄脏;
Earth's respiratory and circulatory systems. 地球的呼吸循环系统。
respiratory:adj.呼吸的; circulatory:adj.循环的;
And because these materials are so prolific , because they're found in so many places, there's one other place you'll find this material, styrene , which is made from benzene , a known carcinogen . 这些材料的量太大了, 它们几乎无所不在, 还有一个地方你会发现这种材料,苯乙烯 它是由苯制成,一种已知的致癌物。
prolific:adj.多产的;丰富的; styrene:n.[有化]苯乙烯,苏合香烯; benzene:n.[有化]苯; carcinogen:n.致癌物质;
You'll find it inside of you. 你会在你自己的身体里发现它。
So, for all these reasons, 由于这些原因,
I think we need better materials, and there are three key principles we can use to guide these materials. 我认为我们需要更好的材料, 对这些材料我们有三个关键的原则。
principles:n.原则;主义;本质;政策;(principle的复数)
The first is feedstocks. 首先是原料。
Today, we use a single feedstock , petroleum , to heat our homes, power our cars and make most of the materials you see around you. 今天我们使用单一的原料,石油, 来加热房间,驱动车辆 制造绝大多数你周围的东西。
feedstock:n.原材料; petroleum:n.石油;
We recognize this is a finite resource , and it's simply crazy to do this, to put a liter and a half of petrol in the trash every time you get a package. 我们明白这是一种有限的资源, 而每次你拿到一个包装就把一升半的 石油扔进垃圾筒也很疯狂。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; finite:adj.有限的;限定的;n.有限之物; resource:n.资源;资料;才智;财力;v.向…提供资金(或设备);
Second of all, we should really strive to use far less energy in creating these materials. 第二,我们真的需要大量减少 用来制造这些材料的能源。
strive:v.力求;斗争;反抗;(strive的第三人称单数)
I say far less, because 10 percent isn't going to cut it. 我说大量减少,因为10％不会起什么大作用。
We should be talking about half, a quarter, one-tenth the energy content. 我们应该起码讲一半,或者四分之一, 甚至十分之一。
And lastly, and I think perhaps most importantly, we should be creating materials that fit into what I call nature's recycling system. 最后,我认为可能最重要的是, 我们应该创造能够适合 自然循环系统的材料。
recycling:n.(资源,垃圾的)回收利用;v.回收;再循环利用(recycle的现在分词);
This recycling system has been in place for the last billion years. 这循环系统已经存在了上亿年的时间。
I fit into it, you fit into it, and a hundred years tops, my body can return to the Earth with no preprocessing. 我能溶解于其中,你也可以, 一百年以后,我的身体可以不用处理就回归到地球。
Yet that packaging I got in the mail yesterday is going to last for thousands of years. 而我昨天收到的邮件包装 则会待上千年。
This is crazy. 这太夸张了。
But nature provides us with a really good model here. 但是自然给我们提供了一个非常好的模范。
When a tree's done using its leaves -- its solar collectors , these amazing molecular photon capturing devices -- at the end of a season, it doesn't pack them up, take them to the leaf reprocessing center and have them melted down to form new leaves. 当一个树使用了它的叶子－ 它的太阳能收集器,这些了不起的分子大小的光子捕获设备－ 在季末的时候, 它没有把叶子包装好,送到一个树叶处理中心 溶解它们来制造新的树叶。
collectors:n.收藏家;收集者;聚集剂;[电子]集电极(collector的复数); molecular:adj.[化学]分子的;由分子组成的; photon:n.[物]光子;辐射量子;见光度(等于lightquantum); capturing:v.俘虏;捕获;攻占;夺得;(capture的现在分词) devices:n.[机][计]设备;[机]装置;[电子]器件(device的复数); reprocessing:v.再加工;重新处理;使再生;回收(废料);(reprocess的现在分词) melted:v.(使)熔化,融化;(使)软化,变得温柔;(melt的过去分词和过去式)
It just drops them, the shortest distance possible, to the forest floor, where they're actually upcycled into next year's topsoil . 它仅仅是让叶子掉落, 这是到达地面最短的距离, 在那里它们会再循环进入明年的表层土壤。
topsoil:n.表层土;上层土;
And this gets us back to the mushrooms. 让我们回到蘑菇。
Because in nature, mushrooms are the recycling system. 因为在大自然中, 蘑菇是循环系统。
And what we've discovered is, by using a part of the mushroom you've probably never seen -- analogous to its root structure; it's called mycelium -- we can actually grow materials with many of the same properties of conventional synthetics . 我们发现的是 使用蘑菇身上你可能从来没看见过的一部分－ 类似它的根结构,叫做菌丝体－ 我们可以生长出和传统 合成材料有着相同属性的材料。
analogous:adj.类似的;[昆]同功的;可比拟的; mycelium:n.菌丝;菌丝体; conventional:adj.符合习俗的,传统的;常见的;惯例的; synthetics:n.人工合成(绝缘)材料;
Now, mycelium is an amazing material, because it's a self-assembling material. 菌丝体是一种很棒的材料, 因为它是一种自我组合材料。
self-assembling:自组装;自组装分子;自我组装;
It actually takes things we would consider waste -- things like seed husks or woody biomass -- and can transform them into a chitinous polymer , which you can form into almost any shape. 它将被我们认为是废料的－ 比如种子外壳或者木质生物质－ 转化成角质状的聚合物, 这种聚合物可以被加工成任何形状。
husks:n.茧衣;外皮(husk的复数形式);v.除去…的外皮(husk的单数第三人称形式); woody:adj.木质的;多树木的;木头似的; biomass:n.(单位面积或体积内的)[生态]生物量; transform:v.使改变;使改观;使转换;n.[数]变换式;[化]反式; polymer:n.[高分子]聚合物;
In our process, we basically use it as a glue . 在我们的流程中, 我们把它当作黏合剂来使用。
glue:n.胶;胶水;v.粘贴;
And by using mycelium as a glue, you can mold things just like you do in the plastic industry, and you can create materials with many different properties, materials that are insulating , fire-resistant , moisture-resistant , vapor-resistant -- materials that can absorb impacts , that can absorb acoustical impacts. 通过使用菌丝体作为黏合剂, 就可以像在塑料行业一样把东西塑造成任何形状, 可以创造许多种不同属性的材料, 隔音的,防火的, 防潮的,防蒸汽的－ 防震的,还有消音的材料。
mold:n.模具;模型;霉菌;类型;v.用可塑材料塑成;浇铸;发霉; insulating:adj.起隔热(或隔音、绝缘)作用的; v.使免除; (insulate的现在分词) fire-resistant:adj.耐火的(等于fire-retardnat);防火的; moisture-resistant:adj.防潮的;耐湿的;抗湿的; absorb:v.吸收;使并入;吞并;同化;理解;吸收;耗费;承受; impacts:n.影响; v.有影响,有作用; acoustical:adj.[声]声学的;听觉的;音响的;
But these materials are grown from agricultural byproducts , not petroleum. 不过它们全都是从农作物副产品中生长出来的, 而不是石油,
agricultural:adj.农业的;农艺的; byproducts:n.副产品;
And because they're made of natural materials, they are 100 percent compostable in you own backyard . 因为它们是用天然材料制成, 它们是百分之百可以 在你的后院降解的。
backyard:n.后院;后庭;
So I'd like to share with you the four basic steps required to make these materials. 我想要和大家分享制造这些材料 所需的4个基本步骤。
The first is selecting a feedstock, preferably something that's regional , that's in your area, right -- local manufacturing . 首先是选择原料, 最好是本地的,在你的区域就可以获得－ 本地制造。
preferably:adv.较好;宁可,宁愿;更适宜; regional:adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的; manufacturing:n.制造业;工业;v.制造;生产(manufacture的现在分词);
The next is actually taking this feedstock and putting in a tool, physically filling an enclosure , a mold, in whatever shape you want to get. 下一步把这些原料放进一个工具, 把它们填进一个模具, 可以是你希望的任何形状。
enclosure:n.附件;围墙;围场;
Then you actually grow the mycelium through these particles , and that's where the magic happens, because the organism is doing the work in this process, not the equipment. 接着就从这些粒子中生长出菌丝体, 这就是魔法发生的地方, 因为这个过程中主要是这些生物自己在工作, 而不是设备,
particles:n.微粒,粒子;粒子系统;碎木料(particle的复数形式); organism:n.生物;有机体;有机组织;(尤指)微生物;
The final step is, of course, the product, whether it's a packaging material, a table top, or building block . 最后一部,当然就是形成最终产品, 无论它是包装材料,桌面,还是建材。
Our vision is local manufacturing, like the local food movement, for production. 我们的愿景是本地化的制造, 就像本地食物运输那样生产。
vision:n.视力;美景;幻象;想象力;v.想象;显现;梦见;
So we've created formulations for all around the world using regional byproducts. 我们开发了利用全世界各地的不同的 农作副产品的生产模式。
formulations:构想,规划;[数]公式化;简洁陈述formulation的复数);
If you're in China, you might use a rice husk or a cottonseed hull . 如果你在中国,你可以使用稻壳 或者棉籽壳。
cottonseed:n.棉籽; hull:n.船体;船身;v.剥去(豌豆、大豆等的)外壳;摘掉(草莓的)花萼;
If you're in Northern Europe or North America , you can use things like buckwheat husks or oat hulls . 如果你在北欧或者北美, 可以用荞麦皮或者燕麦皮。
North America:n.北美洲; buckwheat:n.荞麦;荞麦粉;荞麦片;adj.蓼科植物的; oat:n.燕麦;麦片粥,燕麦粥; hulls:n.[植]外壳(hull的复数);可控点;v.[粮食]去壳(hull的第三人称单数);
We then process these husks with some basic equipment. 接着利用一些基本的设备来处理这些谷壳。
And I want to share with you a quick video from our facility that gives you a sense of how this looks at scale . 我想与你们分享一段在我们的厂房拍摄的短片 能让你感受一下实际的规模。
facility:n.设施;设备;特别装置;特色;场所;天资; scale:n.规模;比例;鳞;刻度;天平;数值范围;v.衡量;攀登;剥落;生水垢;
So what you're seeing here is actually cotton hulls from Texas, in this case. 你所看见的实际上是德州的棉籽壳。
It's a waste product . 这些是生产废料。
waste product:n.工业垃圾;(生产中的)无用副产品;
And what they're doing in our equipment is going through a continuous system, which cleans, cooks, cools and pasteurizes these materials, while also continuously inoculating them with our mycelium. 它们在这些设备中, 经过一个连续的系统, 清洁,烧煮,冷却, 对其使用使用巴氏消毒法消毒。 并不断将它们与我们的菌丝体接种。
continuously:adv.连续不断地; inoculating:[医]接种;灌输(inoculate的现在分词);
This gives us a continuous stream of material that we can put into almost any shape, though today we're making corner blocks. 这个流程提供给我们一个持续性的材料源 我们可以把它放进任何形状, 今天我们所做的是角块。
And it's when this lid goes on the part, that the magic really starts. 当把盖子掀开的时候, 魔法便开始了。
lid:n.盖子;(容器的)盖;vt.给…盖盖子;
Because the manufacturing process is our organism. 因为这个加工过程是这些生物。
It'll actually begin to digest these wastes and, over the next five days, assemble them into biocomposites. 它们开始消化这些废料 然后在接下来的五天里面, 将它们组织成生物复合材料。
digest:n.摘要;文摘;概要;汇编;v.消化;领会;领悟;理解; assemble:vt.集合,聚集;装配;收集;vi.集合,聚集;
Our entire facility is comprised of thousands and thousands and thousands of these tools sitting indoors in the dark, quietly self-assembling materials -- and everything from building materials to, in this case, a packaging corner block. 我们整个厂房 由千千万万这样的工具组成。 它们在黑暗中安静地进行着材料地自我组装－ 所有材料,从建筑材料到 在这个案例中, 包装用的角块。
comprised:v.包含(comprise的过去分词);由…组成; indoors:adv.在室内,在户内;
So I've said a number of times that we grow materials. 我几次提到我们是生长材料。
And it's kind of hard to picture how that happens. 不过具体发生了什么还有点难以描述。
So my team has taken five days-worth of growth, a typical growth cycle for us, and condensed it into a 15-second time lapse . 所以我的团队 把典型的5天生长周期, 压缩到一段15秒的短片中。
typical:adj.典型的;特有的;象征性的; condensed:adj.压缩的,精简的; v.(由气体)冷凝; (condense的过去式和过去分词) lapse:n.(一时的)走神,判断错误;
And I want you to really watch closely these little white dots on the screen, because, over the five-day period, what they do is extend out and through this material, 我希望大家仔细地看 这些屏幕上的白色小斑点, 因为在5天里面, 它们将扩展至整个材料,
extend:vt.延伸; vi.延伸;
using the energy that's contained in these seed husks to build this chitinous polymer matrix . 利用这些谷壳里所包含的能量 来建造这个角质聚合物。
matrix:n.[数]矩阵;模型;[生物][地质]基质;母体;子宫;[地质]脉石;
This matrix self-assembles, growing through and around the particles, making millions and millions of tiny fibers . 这种混合物会自行组合, 在这些白点周围生长, 生成数百万的微小的纤维。
fibers:n.纤维(fiber的复数);
And what parts of the seed husk we don't digest, actually become part of the final, physical composite . 而没有消化掉的种壳, 最终也变成了复合物的一部分。
physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查; composite:n.复合材料;合成物;菊科;adj.复合的;合成的;菊科的;vt.使合成;使混合;
So in front of your eyes, this part just self-assembled . 所以大家眼前看到的,是这部分刚刚完成自我组合。
self-assembled:自组装;
It actually takes a little longer. It takes five days. 实际过程会长一点,需要5天。
But it's much faster than conventional farming. 但是比传统的农业耕作要快很多。
The last step, of course, is application . 最后一步,当然就是应用了。
application:n.应用;申请;应用程序;敷用;
In this case, we've grown a corner block. 在这个例子中,我们生长出了一个角块。
A major Fortune 500 furniture maker uses these corner blocks to protect their tables in shipment . 一个财富500强的家具商 用这些角块来保护装运过程中的桌子。
Fortune:n.财富;命运;运气;v.给予财富,偶然发生 furniture:n.家具;设备;储藏物; shipment:n.装货;装载的货物;
They used to use a plastic packaging buffer , but we were able to give them the exact same physical performance with our grown material. 过去它们使用的是一种塑料缓冲包装, 不过用我们的材料可以提供 与这些塑料一样的物理性能。
buffer:n.[计]缓冲区;缓冲器,[车辆]减震器;vt.缓冲; performance:n.性能;表现;业绩;表演;
Best of all, when it gets to the customer, it's not trash. 最棒的是,当顾客收到产品, 它们也不是垃圾。
They can actually put this in their natural ecosystem without any processing, and it's going to improve the local soil. 它们可以无需任何处理就放进当地生态系统中, 改善当地土壤质量。
ecosystem:n.生态系统; improve:v.改进;改善;
So, why mycelium? 那么,为什么是菌丝体？
The first reason is local open feedstocks. 第一个原因是在本地开放性地获取原料。
You want to be able to do this anywhere in the world and not worry about peak rice hull or peak cottonseed hulls, because you have multiple choices. 我们希望能在全世界任何地方开展生产 而不用担心稻壳或棉籽壳价格攀升, 因为有多种选择。
peak:n.高峰; v.达到高峰; adj.最高度的; multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数;
The next is self-assembly , because the organism is actually doing most of the work in this process. 第二是自我组合, 因为有机微生物担任着整个过程中的绝大部分工作。
self-assembly:adj.自己组装的;n.自装配;
You don't need a lot of equipment to set up a production facility. 你不需要太多的设备来建立一个生产中心。
So you can have lots of small facilities spread all across the world. 所以我们可以在全世界 设立许多小的厂房。
facilities:n.设施;设备;特别装置;特色;场所;(facility的复数)
Biological yield is really important. 生物产量是很重要的,
yield:n.产量;产出;利润;v.屈服;让步;放弃;提供;
And because 100 percent of what we put in the tool become the final product, even the parts that aren't digested become part of the structure , we're getting incredible yield rates. 因为所有我们放进工具的原料都变成了最终产品, 甚至没有消化的部分 也变成了结构的一部分, 因此我们获得了惊人的收益率。
digested:v.消化;领会;领悟;理解;(digest的过去分词和过去式) structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造; incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
Natural polymers , well ... I think that's what's most important, because these polymers have been tried and tested in our ecosystem for the last billion years, in everything from mushrooms to crustaceans . 天然聚合物,我认为这是最最重要的, 因为这些聚合物已经在过去的10亿年里, 在我们的生态系统中经历过考验, 从蘑菇到甲壳类的任何生物。
polymers:n.[高分子]聚合物;[高分子]高分子(polymer的复数); crustaceans:n.甲壳类;甲壳纲动物(crustacean的复数);
They're not going to clog up Earth's ecosystems . They work great. 它们不会堵塞地球的循环系统,它们一直都很适用。
clog:v.阻塞;障碍;n.障碍;木底鞋; ecosystems:n.生态系统(ecosystem的复数);
And while, today, we can practically guarantee that yesterday's packaging is going to be here in 10,000 years, what I want to guarantee is that in 10,000 years, our descendants , our children's children, will be living happily and in harmony with a healthy Earth. 与此同时,今天, 我们能很肯定的说过去的包装 会持续10000年之久, 我想保证的是 在10000年里, 我们的后代,我们的孩子的孩子 会快乐和谐地生活在 一个健康地地球上。
practically:adv.实际地;几乎;事实上; guarantee:n.保证;担保;保证人;保证书;抵押品;v.保证;担保; descendants:n.后裔;后代;子孙;派生物;(descendant的复数) harmony:n.协调;和睦;融洽;调和;
And I think that can be some really good news. 而且我觉得这会是非常好的消息。
Thank you. 谢谢
(Applause) （掌声）