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For all that's ever been said about climate change,
在所有关于气候变化的言论中，
we haven't heard nearly enough about the psychological impacts of living in a warming world.
探讨全球暖化冲击我们心理层面的少之又少。
If you've heard the grim climate research that science communicators like me weave into our books and documentaries,
如果你看过科学传播者在著述和纪录片中探讨的、沉重无望的气候研究，
you've probably felt bouts of fear, fatalism or hopelessness.
你可能觉得命运多舛，恐惧、绝望袭上心头。
If you've been impacted by climate disaster, these feelings can set in much deeper,
如果你亲身经历过气候灾难，这些感觉会更加深刻，
leading to shock, trauma, strained relationships, substance abuse and the loss of personal identity and control.
造成心理上的冲击、创伤、人际关系紧张、药物滥用、丧失自我认同及自我控制等问题。
Vital political and technological work is underway to moderate our climate chaos,
各国政府及科学家已经开始缓解气候混乱的问题，
but I'm here to evoke a feeling in you for why we also need our actions and policies
而在这里，我想提醒各位，我们也需要行动和策略，
to reflect an understanding of how our changing environments threaten our mental, social and spiritual well-being.
来反映已知的环境改变对我们在精神、社会和心灵福祉方面的威胁。
The anxiety, grief and depression of climate scientists and activists have been reported on for years.
气候科学家及活动人士的焦虑、悲伤、沮丧等等，多年来一直有报导。
Trends we've seen after extreme weather events like hurricane Sandy or Katrina for increased PTSD and suicidality.
在桑迪和卡崔娜飓风这类极端气候事件过后，创伤后压力症候群和自杀倾向有明显上升的趋势。
And there are rich mental-health data from northern communities where warming is the fastest,
在暖化速度最快的极区社群，丰富的身心健康数据显示：
like the Inuit in Labrador, who face existential distress
拉布拉多省的因努伊特原住民面临绝望的存在痛苦，
as they witness the ice, a big part of their identity, vanishing before their eyes.
因为他们一个重要的身份认同，冰山在眼前化为乌有。
Now if that weren't enough, the American Psychological Association says that our psychological responses to climate change,
如果这还不够，美国心理学会表示，我们对气候变化的心理反应，
like conflict avoidance, helplessness and resignation, are growing.
像是逃避、无助及放弃的心态，都在与日俱增。
This means that our conscious and unconscious mental processes
这意味着我们的有意识及无意识的心理机制
are holding us back from identifying the causes of the problem for what they are,
阻碍我们寻找问题根源、
working on solutions and fostering our own psychological resilience,
研拟对策、更无法培养心理调适的韧性，
but we need all those things to take on what we've created.
而这些正是我们面对问题时所需要的应对方法。
Lately, I've been studying a phenomenon that's just one example of the emotional hardships that we're seeing.
我最近在研究一种现象，是目前我们所知的各种情绪困境的其中之一。
And it comes in the form of a question that a significant amount of people in my generation are struggling to answer.
它反映在我这一代很多人都很难回答的一个问题上。
That being: Should I have a child in the age of climate change?
那就是：在气候变化的年代，我该生小孩吗？
After all, any child born today will have to live in a world where hurricanes, flooding, wildfires
毕竟现在出生的孩子，都必须活在一个飓风、水灾及森林大火，
what we used to call natural disasters -- have become commonplace.
以前我们称之为天灾--现在却司空见惯的环境里。
The hottest 20 years on record occurred within the last 22.
史上最热的20年全发生在过去22年间。
The UN expects that two-thirds of the global population may face water shortages only six years from now.
联合国预计，接下来的六年内，全球三分之二的人口可能面临水资源短缺。
The World Bank predicts that by 2050,
世界银行预测2050年前，
there's going to be 140 million climate refugees in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
全球将有1.4亿气候难民，在撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲大陆、拉丁美洲及南亚地区。
And other estimates put that number at over one billion.
其他来源的预测则超过十亿人口。
Mass migrations and resource scarcity increase the risk for violence, war and political instability.
大规模移民和资源短缺，提高了暴力、战争、政局动荡等风险。
The UN just reported that we are pushing up to a million species to extinction,
联合国最近报告，高达百万个物种将因人类而绝种，
many within decades, and our emissions are still increasing, even after the Paris Agreement.
许多在几十年内就会消失，即使《巴黎协议》签署之后，我们的碳排放量仍在增加。
Over the last year and a half,
过去一年半的时间里，
I've been conducting workshops and interviews with hundreds of people about parenting in the climate crisis.
我一直在举办研讨会，针对气候危机中养育后代的议题采访了数百人。
And I can tell you that people who are worried about having kids
我可以告诉各位，那些因为气候变化而害怕生小孩的人，
because of climate change are not motivated by an ascetic pride. They're nerve-racked.
他们的动机并非出自禁欲主义的坚持，而是精神压力大到不行。
There's even a movement called BirthStrike, whose members have declared they're not going to have kids
甚至有一场名为生育罢工的运动，参与者宣告他们不生小孩，
because of the state of the ecological crisis and inaction from governments to address this existential threat.
因为生态危机的现况，以及各国政府坐视不顾这个威胁人类存亡的问题。
And yes, other generations have also faced their own apocalyptic dangers,
过去人类也面临过当时所谓的末日危机，
but that is no reason to disregard the very real threat to our survival now.
但我们不该因此而漠视此刻这个关乎存亡的真实威胁。
Some feel that it's better to adopt children.
有些人主张生小孩不如收养。
Or that it's unethical to have more than one, especially three, four or more,
或者认为生超过一个孩子是不道德的，遑论生三四个或更多，
because kids increase greenhouse gas emissions.
原因是孩子会增加温室气体排放。
Now, it is a really unfortunate state of affairs when people who want kids sacrifice their right to because, somehow,
现下很悲惨的状况是有些人爱小孩却放弃生育的权利，因为不知何故，
they have been told that their lifestyle choices are to blame when the fault is far more systemic,
他们选择的生活型态被指责是错的，但其实社会体系才是问题所在，
but let's just unpack the logic here.
让我们来解析一下这个逻辑。
So an oft-cited study shows that,
有一个常被引用的研究显示，
on average, having one less child in an industrialized nation can save about 59 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
工业国家每少生一个小孩，平均每年就可减少59吨的二氧化碳排放。
While in comparison, living car-free saves nearly 2.5 tons, avoiding a transatlantic flight -- and this is just one
相较之下，无车族平均少了2.5吨排放，少一趟跨大西洋飞行--单趟，不是来回喔，
saves about 1.5 tons, and eating a plant-based diet can save almost one ton per year.
可以减少1.5吨排放，蔬食饮食每年可减少近一吨排放。
And consider that a Bangladeshi child only adds 56 metric tons of carbon to their parents' carbon legacy over their lifetime,
再看看，在孟加拉国出生的小孩，一生只将父母的碳遗产往上提高56吨而已，
while an American child, in comparison, adds 9,441 to theirs.
相较之下，在美国出生的孩子则是将其父母碳遗产增加9441吨。
So this is why some people argue that it's parents from nations with huge carbon footprints
这就是为什么有些人认为在碳足迹巨大的国家，
who should think the hardest about how many kids they have.
想生育下一代的人要严正考虑生育的数目。
But the decision to have a child and one's feelings about the future are deeply personal,
但决定生育与否以及对未来的感觉是绝对主观的，
and wrapped up in all sorts of cultural norms, religious beliefs, socioeconomic status, education levels and more.
并与各种文化传统、宗教信仰、社会经济地位、教育水平等密切相关。
And so to some, this debate about kids in the climate crisis can seem like it came from another planet.
因此，这场气候危机与生育孩子这场辩论，对某些人来说，好像是来自另一个星球的事。
Many have more immediate threats to their survival to think about,
因为许多人面临着比这个更迫切的生存威胁，
like, how they're going to put food on the table, when they're a single mom working three jobs,
例如：为了养孩子而做三份工作的单亲妈妈、
or they're HIV positive or on the move in a migrant caravan.
艾滋病带原者、以篷车为家的难民们。
Tragically, though, climate change is really great at intersectionality.
悲惨的是，气候变化与很多其他问题重迭交集。
It multiplies the stresses marginalized communities already face.
这加剧了社会边缘族群所面临的压力。
A political scientist once said to me that a leading indicator that climate change is starting to hit home, psychologically,
一位政治学家曾对我说，气候变化在心理层面影响之大的主要指标
would be an increase in the rate of informed women deciding to not have children.
是越来越多有教育学养的女性决定不生小孩。
Interesting. Is it hitting home with you, psychologically?
有趣吧。气候变化是否也已对你的心理造成影响？
Are you perhaps someone with climate-linked pre-traumatic stress?
你是否也承受着气候相关创伤前压力？
A climate psychiatrist coined that term, and that's a profession now, by the way, shrinks for climate woes.
一个气候精神病学家创了这个新名词，这个新的气候精神病学有专治气候悲伤的心理医生。
They're getting work at a time when some high schoolers don't want to apply to university any longer,
他们的工作来自于现下一些高中毕业生不想去念大学，
because they can't foresee a future for themselves.
因为他们看不见自己的未来。
And this brings me back to my main point.
这又回到我所说的重点。
The growing concern about having kids in the climate crisis is an urgent indicator of how hard-pressed people are feeling.
面临气候危机是否该生小孩是一个紧迫的指针，显示出人们遭受到强大的心理压力。
Right now, students around the world are screaming for change in the piercing voice of despair.
现在世界各地的学生都在绝望而尖锐地吶喊，要求改变。
And the fact that we can see how we contribute to this problem that makes us feel unsafe is crazy-making in itself.
一旦清楚原来是我们的行为促成了今日这个威胁，那真的是让人怀疑自己是否疯了。
Climate change is all-encompassing and so are the ways that it messes with our minds.
气候变化的影响无所不在，它扰乱我们心理的方式也包罗万象。
Many activists will tell you that the best antidote to grief is activism.
许多环境运动人士说，消除悲伤最好的解药就是加入他们的运动。
And some psychologists will tell you the answer can be found in therapy.
有些心理学家则说，心理治疗是解决之道。
Others believe the key is to imagine you're on your deathbed, reflecting back on what's mattered the most in your life,
还有些人相信最好的方式是想象自己死亡在即，躺在床上回顾一生；
so you can identify what you should do more of now, with the time that you have left.
如此就能把握剩下的时间，做更多该做的事。
We need all these ideas, and more, to take care of our innermost selves
我们需要更多类似这样的想法，来照顾内心深处的自我，
as the environments we've known become more punishing towards us.
因为以往熟悉的环境气候只会越来越残酷严峻。
And whether you have children or not, we need to be honest about what is happening, and what we owe one another.
无论是否有下一代，我们都需要诚实地面对正在发生的事情，以及对彼此有何亏欠。
We cannot afford to treat the psychological impacts of climate change as some afterthought,
我们不能漠视气候变化所造成的心理冲击，等到真的发生再处理，
because the other issues, of science, technology and the politics and economy, feel hard, while this somehow feels soft.
就因为其他气候变化相关的科技、政治、经济等问题，感觉都很严重，而心理问题似乎很轻微。
Mental health needs to be an integral part of any climate change survival strategy,
心理健康是气候变化下生存策略不可或缺的一环，
requiring funding, and ethics of equity and care, and widespread awareness.
需要资金、公平和关怀的伦理规范，以及大众的广泛认知。
Because even if you're the most emotionally avoidant person on the planet,
就算你是这个星球上最会规避心理影响的人，
there's no rug in the world that's big enough to sweep this up under. Thank you.
世上也没有那么大的地毯能盖掉眼前的这些问题。谢谢大家。
