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MONEY GROWING ON TREES 树木的经济效益 CITIES ARE LEARNING THAT PLANTING TREES SAVES DOLLARS AND LIVES 城市居民正意识到植树可节约开支并拯救生命 Sacramento in July is among the sunniest places on the planet, averaging more than 14 hours of direct sunlight per day. On sweltering afternoons, when the grapevines are parched and the tupelo are drooping, the thermometer can spike to 113, and just about everyone turns on the air conditioner. These are the moments electric company officials dread, when sudden demand threatens to exceed capacity. But the local utility in Sacramento found a solution years ago, before the invention of Energy Star appliances and remotely monitored thermostats. It began giving away trees. 七月的萨克拉门托是世界上最晴朗的地区之一,平均每天接受14个小时以上的阳光直射。在葡萄藤被烤干、茱萸蔫了叶子的闷热午后,气温会高达113华氏度,几乎所有人都打开空调。电力公司的员工很担心这种电力需求突然膨胀可能会超过负载量的时刻。但在几年前,在能源之星电器和远程监控恒温器还未发明之前,萨克拉门托当地的公用事业单位就找到了一个解决方案。他们开始植树。 Shaded buildings use 25 to 40 percent less energy during the summer, averting power overloads. That’s why, over the past two decades, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has subsidized the planting of more than 500,000 trees—sycamores, lindens, maples, oaks and two dozen other varieties—making the city one of the leafiest in the western United States. 在夏天,受到荫庇的建筑物会减少25%到40%的电力使用量,这就避免了功率过载。因此,在过去的二十年间萨克拉门托市政公用事业中心补贴种植了500000多棵树——有梧桐树、菩提树、枫树、橡树和其他二十四个品种——从而使得萨克拉门托市成为美国西部最荫郁的城市之一。 Sacramento was way ahead of its time. In most other U.S. cities, trees have been considered part luxury, part liability: expensive-to-maintain assets that interfere with power lines and clog sewer grates with dead leaves. At budget-cutting time, tree programs wilted. 萨克拉门托市走在了时代的前头。在美国大多数城市里,树木一直都被认为是半奢侈、半累赘的代名词:维护成本高,干扰电力线路,枯叶会堵塞下水道。在预算削减的时候,树木项目自然萎靡不振。 Advocates knew intuitively the importance of trees, but had no way to prove it. Now, though, thanks to software tools developed by the U.S. Forest Service and studies by social scientists, there’s no longer any need to wax poetic about the majestic beauty of urban greenery. The data tell the story: Trees are infrastructure. They cool the air, soak up climate change-inducing gases, protect against flooding, reduce people’s stress levels and raise property values. Studies even show that shoppers spend more money at stores on tree-lined streets. 提倡者在直觉上很清楚树木的重要性,但是却没办法证明这一点。但现在,多亏了美国林务局开发的软件工具以及社会科学家的研究,再也不需要大肆渲染城市绿化的壮美。数据已经说明:树木是基础设施。树木能冷却空气、吸收诱使气候变化的气体、预防洪水、减少人们压力水平并且提高财产价值。研究甚至表明,消费者愿意在位于绿树成荫的街道的商店里消费更多。 “Schools, police, fire, everything that we pay for from the tax structure has a direct value to it,” says David Nowak, one of the creators of the U.S. Forest Service’s tree-tracking software, called i-Tree. “So if you want to put trees on the same playing field to make economic decisions, we have to put it in economic terms.” “学校、警察、消防以及所有那些要我们从税收结构里承担其费用的机构,都对树木有着实际的价值。”美国林务局的树木追踪软件i-Tree的创造者之一,戴维·诺瓦克说,“所以如果你想把树木同进行经济决策的东西一概而论,我们就只能从经济术语方面来讨论了。” Each street tree in New York City provides $9.02 annually in air pollution reduction, $1.29 in carbon sequestration and $61 in storm-water abatement—$220 million in all, according to a 2007 study conducted with an early version of the software. Experts have calculated that Syracuse, N.Y., saves $1.1 million a year in health and related costs because of the soot its trees divert from the lungs of residents, and that the conversion of vacant lots to community gardens in Philadelphia hikes nearby home values by an average of $35,000. 根据在2007年由一个早期版本的软件指导所进行的一项研究可得出,纽约的每棵行道树在减少空气污染方面每年能贡献9.02美元,在碳回收方面每年能贡献1.29美元,在减少雨水方面每年能贡献61美元——加起来一共是220美元。专家已经计算出纽约雪城每年在健康和相关支出上能节省110万美元,因为烟尘从居民的肺中转移到了树木上,而且由于空地大多变成社区花园,费城附近的房价平均上涨了3.5万美元。 In Los Angeles, Atlanta, Portland, Ore., and other cities, the data have convinced officials to enhance their urban forests. They are planting—New York and Philadelphia both aim to add a million trees—but they are also digging up sidewalks and laying soil over tar to create areas known as rain gardens and ecoroofs that absorb storm water. Seattle is transforming a seven-acre plot in the middle of the city into an “urban food forest” featuring apple, plum, pear and nut trees for public consumption. 在洛杉矶、亚特兰大、波特兰、俄勒冈州还有其他城市,数据已经说服了官员来增加城市的树木种植。他们种树——纽约和费城都力图增加一百万棵树——但他们也挖掘了人行横道,在柏油上铺设土壤来创建所谓的雨水花园和生态屋顶来吸收雨水。西雅图正在把城市中心的一块七英亩的地变成一片“城市食品森林”,其特色是向公共消费提供苹果树、李子树、梨树和坚果树。 翻译:简兮 校对:小潮 总监:小潮 树屋字幕组-文翻组 翻译仅供学习交流,严禁用于商业用途
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