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I don't know about you, but I like our planet a lot!
我不了解你，但我非常热爱我们的星球！
And one of the easiest ways we can help protect the Earth is by recycling.
我们保护地球的最简单方法之一就是回收。
That's where instead of throwing things like plastic in the trash,
回收是指我们不把塑料之类的垃圾扔到垃圾桶里，
you put them in a special bin so they go to a kind of factory to be reused.
而是把它们放在一个特殊箱子里，这样它们就能运往再次利用的工厂了。
You've probably recycled things like plastic bottles before.
你以前可能回收过塑料瓶这样的东西。
There might even be a recycling bin in the room you're in right now!
你现在的房间里甚至可能有一个回收箱！
Recycling is important because it helps keep the Earth clean,
回收很重要，因为它有助于保持地球清洁，
especially from trash made of plastic.
特别是防止塑料垃圾的污染。
That's a good question!
问得好！
People are always talking about how important it is to recycle plastic,
人们总是讨论回收塑料的重要性，
but Squeaks wants to know why plastic is such a problem in the first place.
但吱吱想知道为什么塑料是头号问题。
Why do we recycle things made of plastic,
我们为什么要回收塑料制品，
but it's not as important to find ways to recycle other types of materials, like wood?
但是回收其他类型材料（如木材）的方法就不那么重要了呢？
The main reason is that plastic is actually really new… and we use tons of it.
其主要原因是塑料实际上是新的，而且使用量超大。
The type of plastic we use to make stuff was invented by people only about a hundred years ago!
我们用来制造产品的塑料是大约一百年前才发明的！
Before that, people mostly made things out of materials you can find naturally on Earth, like wood or metal.
在此之前，人们使用的大多数是地球上的天然材料，比如木头或金属。
There were no plastic bottles, no plastic bags … no plastic anything!
没有塑料瓶、没有塑料袋、没有塑料制品！
A hundred years might seem like a really long time for plastic to have been around.
对于遍布全球的塑料来说，一百年似乎是一段很长的时间。
But compared to something natural like wood, that's been around for hundreds of millions of years,
但与已经存在了上亿年的天然材料如木材相比，
it's not very long at all!
它的时间并不长！
When plastic was first invented by scientists, people thought it was awesome
塑料最初由科学家发明出来时，人们认为它非常了不起，
because it was easy to bend into shape,
因为它很容易弯曲成形，
didn't break easily like glass does, and could hold water without leaking.
不像玻璃那样容易破碎，而且可以盛水而不漏水。
Soon, they started using it to make all kinds of things,
很快，人们开始用它来做各种各样的产品，
from plastic bottles and bags to plastic chairs and pipes.
从塑料瓶、塑料袋到塑料椅子和塑料管。
But then, scientists realized that there was a big problem:
但随后，科学家们意识到一个大问题：
plastic never really goes away, even when you throw it out.
塑料永远不会消失，即使你把它扔掉了。
When you put something in the trash, it doesn't just disappear, it has to go somewhere.
当你把垃圾放到垃圾桶时，它不会消失，而是被运往某处。
Most of the time, the garbage truck takes it to a place called a landfill,
大多数时候，垃圾车把它带到一个叫做垃圾填埋场的地方，
which is basically a giant hole in the ground.
垃圾填埋场基本上是地上的一个大坑。
Once they're in a landfill, most materials that come from the Earth, like wood,
它们一旦进入垃圾填埋场，大部分天然材料比如木头，
will soon break down into smaller and smaller pieces until they're basically gone.
很快就会分解成越来越小的碎片，直到基本消失。
A wooden chair can take around 10 years to break down,
一张木椅大约需要10年的时间才能分解，
and some types of clothes might only take a few months.
有些衣服可能只需要几个月的时间。
But a plastic bottle can take almost 500 years to go away.
但是一个塑料瓶可能需要花费近500年的时间。
And a plastic bag can take a thousand years.
而一个塑料袋可能需要一千年的时间。
Plastic was so useful that people were starting to make more and more things with it,
塑料非常有用，人们开始用它制造越来越多的东西，
especially things like plastic bottles or cups
特别是塑料瓶或塑料杯之类的产品，
that you were only meant to use once before throwing them away.
这些东西你只打算用一次就扔掉了。
That meant there was more and more plastic trash piling up …
这意味着塑料垃圾会越积越多...
trash that was going to stick around for hundreds of years.
并且会滞留几百年。
Even worse, plastic trash can blow away from garbage trucks or landfills and end up in the ocean.
更糟糕的是，塑料垃圾可以从垃圾车或垃圾填埋场被吹走，最终落入海洋。
That's bad because it makes the ocean dirty and polluted,
这种结果很糟糕，因为它导致海洋变脏、被污染，
when it's supposed to be nice clean water.
而海洋本该是干净美好的。
But it's also a problem because plastic can hurt the animals living in the ocean, like whales and fish.
但还有一个问题，塑料会伤害海洋生物，比如鲸鱼和鱼类。
If they swallow too much plastic,
如果它们吞下太多的塑料，
either by accident or because they think it's food, it can kill them.
不管是碰巧还是把它们当成了食物，都会被杀。
They can also get trapped in things like the plastic rings that hold cans together.
它们也会被困在易拉罐叠成的塑料圈等东西里。
It is really sad, Squeaks.
吱吱，这真令人悲伤。
But now that we know plastic is such a big problem,
我们既然知道塑料是个大问题了，
there are things we can do to help protect the animals and the Earth.
就可以做一些事情来保护动物和地球。
One thing people can do is try to use less plastic, for example,
人们可以做的一件事就是尽量少用塑料，举个例子，
instead of getting a bunch of new plastic bags to carry their groceries every time they go food shopping,
每次购物时不要买一堆新塑料袋装杂货，
a lot of people decide to use paper bags, or fabric bags that they can reuse.
很多人决定使用能重新利用的纸袋或布袋。
And you know what else we can do?
你知道我们还能做什么吗？
That's right, we can recycle!
说对了，我们可以回收！
When you recycle things like plastic cups and bottles,
你在回收塑料杯或塑料瓶之类的物品后，
companies take the old plastic and reshape it into something new, like another bottle.
公司会把旧塑料重新塑形成新产品，比如另一个塑料瓶。
That way, instead of making more and more plastic that ends up in landfills or the ocean,
通过这种方式，我们不再制造越来越多的塑料垃圾，最终填埋在垃圾填埋场或海洋中，
we can just keep using the plastic we already have.
而是继续使用已有的塑料。
Overall, people still have a lot of work to do to make sure we aren't wasting plastic
总的来说，人们还有很多工作要做，以确保我们不会浪费塑料，
and to clean up what's already in the oceans.
并且清理海洋中已经存在的塑料垃圾。
But by using as little plastic as we can and putting what we do use in the recycling bin,
但是通过尽可能少得使用塑料并将我们所使用的放入回收箱中，
we can each do our part to help our planet.
我们每个人都可以尽一己之力来帮助我们的星球。
Thanks for joining us!
感谢您的收看！
If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks and me,
如果你想继续学习，与我和吱吱共度美好时光，
hit the subscribe button, and we'll see you next time, here at the Fort!
就点击订阅吧，我们下期见，沃斯堡等你哦！
