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Aquay Wunne Kesuk. Kelsey Leonard Nooweesuonk.
Aquay Wunne Kesuk。Kelsey Leonard Nooweesuonk。
Hello, good day, everyone. I'm from the Shinnecock Nation.
大家好。我来自辛奈考克部落。
Tabutni to the Cahuilla peoples, whose land we gather on today.
感谢卡惠拉人，我们今天就聚集在他们的土地上。
I was taught that water is alive. It can hear, it holds memories.
他们教会我，水是有生命的。它可以听，它有记忆。
And so I brought a water vessel up with me today, because I want it to hold the memories of our conversation today.
今天我也带来了一个水壶，因为我想让它保存关于我们今天对话的记忆。
Who gets legal rights? History has shown us some people but not others.
谁拥有法律权益？历史表明了一部分人有，而另一部分没有。
In the United States, Indigenous peoples like myself were not citizens under the law until 1924.
在1924之前的美国，像我一样的印第安土著都不是在法律上被承认的公民。
My Shinnecock ancestors, pictured here, were not citizens under the law.
照片上，我的辛奈考克祖先，当时都不是合法公民。
Then why do we claim to be nations governed by the rule of law if some people are protected, but not others?
如果只是部分人得到保护，那我们为什么还要称这些国家是被依法治理的呢？
Because it remains one of the best ways to fight injustice.
因为，它仍是抗击不公正的最佳手段之一。
And, as Indigenous people, we know injustice.
作为印第安土著，我们明白什么是不公正。
A dear friend, mentor, water walker, Nokomis, Grandmother Josephine Mandamin-ba,
我的一个密友、导师、水行者，约瑟芬·曼达民·巴奶奶，
she told me of a prophecy that comes from her people, the Anishinaabe of the Midewiwin Society.
她跟我说了关于她们部落，也就是密得微文社会的奥吉布瓦人的一则预言。
And in that prophecy, she told me that it tells of a day that will come where an ounce of water costs more than an ounce of gold.
在那个预言中，她告诉我有一天，一盎司的水要比一盎司的黄金还贵。
When she told me that prophecy, I sat for a moment,
听了她的预言，我坐着思考了一会儿，
and I thought about all of the injustices we see in our world today, the water crises we see in our world today,
我想到了我们今天在全世界见到的所有不公正，我们所见到的水危机，
and I said, "Nokomis, Grandmother, I feel like we are already in that time of prophecy."
然后我说，“奶奶，我觉得我们好像已经处于预言中所说的时代。”
And she looked back at me directly, and she said, "So what are you going to do about it?"
她回过头来看着我，说道，“那你打算怎么做呢？”
That's why I'm here with you today,
这就是我今天来到这里的原因，
because I believe that one of the many solutions to solving the many water injustices we see in our world today
因为我认为，解决当前世界众多水资源不公的方案之一，
is recognizing that water is a living relation and granting it the legal personhood it deserves.
就是承认水是一种活体，并且赋予它应有的法律人格。
So to do so, we need to transform the way in which we value water.
为此，我们需要转变衡量水的价值的方式。
We have to start to think about how do we connect to water.
我们要开始思考如何与水资源建立连接。
Usually, someone might ask you, "What is water?" and you would respond with "Rain, ocean, lake, river, H2O, liquid."
通常，人们会问你，“什么是水？”而你可能会回答“雨水、海洋、湖泊、江河、H2O、液体。”
You might even understand the sacred essentiality of water and say that water is life.
你甚至有可能明白水的神圣的重要性，然后回答，水是生命。
But what if I asked you, instead, "Who is water?"
但如果我换个方式问你，“谁是水？”
In the same way that I might ask you, "Who is your grandmother?" "Who is your sister?"
而且是用问“谁是你奶奶？”“谁是你姐姐？”这样的方式去问。
That type of orientation fundamentally transforms the way in which we think about water,
这种表述方式从根本上转变了我们看待水的方式，
transforms the way in which we make decisions about how we might protect water,
转变了我们制定保护水资源的决策的方式，
protect it in the way that you would protect your grandmother, your mother, your sister, your aunties.
要像保护你的祖母、妈妈、姐妹、阿姨一样保护水资源。
That is the type of transformation that we need if we are going to address the many water crises we see in our world today,
如果我们想要解决今天所面临的诸多水危机，那么这种转变正是我们所需要的，
these harrowing water crises that have streamed across our digital devices in countdowns to Day Zero,
这些令人痛心的水危机从一开始，就在我们的电子设备上刷屏了，
the point at which municipal water supplies are shut off.
也就是城市供水被切断那一刻起。
Places like Cape Town, South Africa, where in 2018,
例如南非的开普敦，在2018年，
residents were limited to two-minute showers and 23 gallons of water per day per person,
他们就规定居民洗澡不得超过两分钟，每人每天用水不得超过23加仑，
or just this past summer, where the mismanagement of water
又例如刚过去的这个夏天，因为对水资源的管理不善，
led the streets of Chennai to be lined with thousands of plastic water jugs
导致印度钦奈的街头出现了数千只塑料水壶排队的场景，
as residents waited hours for water tankers to deliver water, first by rail, then by truck, to meet their daily needs.
这些都是当地居民为了取得日常所需的用水，花了好几个小时等待送水车的到来，这些水先被火车运过来，再装到卡车上。
Or even here in the United States, one of the most developed nations in the world.
甚至就在美国，这个世界上最发达的国家之一也有问题。
Today, Flint, Michigan still does not have clean water.
在密歇根州的弗林特市，至今还没有干净的饮用水。
But you are likely unfamiliar with these water crises,
但是你很可能对以下的水危机不是很熟悉，
such as Neskantaga First Nation in Northern Ontario, Canada, where residents have been on a boil water advisory since 1995.
例如加拿大安大略省北部的纳斯坎塔加原住民地，这里的居民从1995年开始就被建议要把水烧开再饮用。
Or Grassy Narrows First Nation, which for decades has been dealing with water contamination from the paper mill industry
又例如在Grassy Narrows First Nation，人们这几十年来一直在处理由造纸行业所引起的水污染问题，
and where a recent study found that nearly 90 percent of the Indigenous population has some form of mercury poisoning,
而最近的研究发现，将近90%的当地土著人口都出现了不同程度的汞中毒，
causing severe health complications. Or even among the Navajo Nation.
导致了严重的并发症。美国的纳瓦霍地区也面临严重的水污染的问题。
Pictured here is the Animas River on an early morning in 2015, prior to the Gold King Mine spill.
图中是2015年的某个清晨在遭遇Gold King矿井泄漏事故之前的阿尼玛斯河。
After the spill leaked millions of hazardous mine waste into the river system, this was it later that day.
这次事故导致数百万吨有害的矿井废水流入了阿尼玛斯河，这是那天晚些时候河水的样子。
Today, the Navajo Nation and the Diné People and the river itself are still trying to recover from contamination.
今天，纳瓦霍地区和当地的人民以及这条河本身都还在尝试从污染中恢复。
Or even right here in Palm Springs, California,
甚至就在此地，加利福尼亚的棕榈泉，
where the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has been fighting for decades to protect groundwater from exploitatio
卡惠拉印第安人的阿瓜卡特部落为了保护地下水资源不被过度开采而斗争了数十年，
so that future generations can not only live but thrive in their homelands, as they have since time immemorial.
以此来保证他们的后代不仅能在他们的故土生息，更能够长久的繁荣下去，就像他们一路从远古走过来所经历的一样。
You see, a recent study by DIGDEEP and the US Water Alliance found that
DIGDEEP和美国水资源联盟最近的一份研究发现，
race, in the United States, is the strongest predictor of water and sanitation access,
种族在美国强烈预示着获取水资源和公共卫生的难易程度，
and that for us, as Native American people, we are the group most likely to have access issues as it comes to water and sanitation.
就拿我们来说，作为美国的原住民，我们是最可能在获取水资源和公共卫生方面面临各种问题的。
So, as an Indigenous legal scholar and scientist, I believe that many of these water injustices
因此，作为一个土著法学家和科学家，我认为，很多的水资源分配不公
are the result of the Western legal system's failure to recognize the legal personhood of water.
都是西方法律系统无法承认水的法律人格的结果。
And so we must ask ourselves -- who is justice for? Humanity alone? We've granted legal personhood to corporations.
因此我们必须问问自己--我们的公平是为了谁而存在？仅仅是人类自己吗？我们授予了公司法人地位。
In the US, the Supreme Court found in "Citizens United" that a corporation was a person with similar protections under the Constitution,
在美国，最高法院裁决“联合公民”组织这一非盈利公司享有跟公民一样的受宪法保护的各项权利，
such as freedom of speech, and applied similar reasoning in "Hobby Lobby,"
比如言论自由，并且将同样的推理用在了“HobbyLobby"案上，
finding that a corporation had the right to freedom of religion in defense against the implementation of the Affordable Care Act for its employees.
裁定企业拥有宗教自由的权利以对抗《平价医疗法案》在员工身上的实施。
Now, these are controversial cases, and as a Shinnecock woman and a legal scholar,
这都是一些有争议的案件，而作为一个辛奈考克女性以及法学家，
they make me question the moral compass of the Western world,
它们让我对西方世界的道德指南针有了疑问，
where you can grant legal personhood to a corporation but not nature.
你可以授予企业法律人格，却不能授予自然同样的权利。
You see, legal personhood grants us the ability to be visible in a court of law,
法律人格赋予我们在法庭上被看到的能力，
and to have our voices heard as a person protected under the law.
让我们作为受法律保护的人能够发出自己的声音。
And so if you can grant that to a corporation, why not the Great Lakes?
如果你能将这些权利授予一个企业，那么为什么不能授予五大湖？
Why not the Mississippi River? Why not the many waterways across our planet that we all depend on to survive?
为什么不能授予密西西比河？为什么不能授予我们赖以生存的密布在这个星球上的众多水资源？
We know we are in a global climate crisis, but globally, our waters are also threatened,
我们知道，全世界现在正经历气候危机，但是从全球来看，我们的水域也正在遭受威胁，
and we are facing a global water crisis, and if we want to address these crises in our lifetime, we need to change.
我们正面临一场全球水危机，如果我们想要在有生之年解决这些危机，就需要做出改变。
We need to fundamentally transform the way in which we value water.
我们需要从根本上转变我们衡量水的价值的方式。
And this is not something new for us as Indigenous peoples.
而作为土著人民，这些对我们来说并不新鲜。
Our Indigenous legal systems have a foundational principle
我们的土著法律系统中有一个基本原则，
of understanding our nonhuman relations as being living and protected under our laws.
该原则将我们与非人类的关系理解为有生命且受法律保护的。
And even for the Western world, environmental legal theorists have argued for the rights of nature since the 1970s.
即便是在西方世界，自20世纪70年代起，环境法律理论家也已经开始为自然的权利而争辩。
But we need to do better. We need to change.
但是我们需要做得更好。我们需要改变。
And we need to grant legal personhood to water, because it affords the following rights and protections.
我们需要赋予水法律上的人格，因为它能提供相应的权利和保护。
It grants water the right to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve,
它授予水资源生存、繁荣以及自然进化的权利，
and most of all, it protects the water from us, from human beings that would do it harm,
最重要的是，它能保护水资源远离会伤害到它的人类，
from human-caused climate-change impacts, from pollutants, and from man-made contamination.
远离人类导致的气候变化的影响，远离污染物，以及远离人为污染。
Moreover, it reverses the accepted hierarchy of humanity's domination over nature.
此外，它还颠覆了公认的人类对自然界的统治地位。
As human beings on this planet, we are not superior to other beings on this planet.
作为这个星球上的人类，我们并不比其它的众生更高级。
We are not superior to the water itself. We have to learn how to be good stewards again.
我们也并不比水更高级。我们需要重新学习如何成为一个好管家。
We often imagine that the world is filled with infinite water. In fact, it's not.
我们经常想象世界上的水资源是无穷无尽的，但事实并非如此。
This planet, Ohke, Mother Earth, has very finite freshwater resources.
这个星球，我们的地球母亲，她所拥有的淡水资源是非常有限的。
Currently, nearly two billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress.
如今，全世界将近20亿人生活在水资源极度匮乏的国家。
It is also estimated that by 2030, up to 700 million people could be displaced, worldwide, due to water scarcity.
据估计到2030年，全世界将会有多达7亿的人口因水资源短缺而流离失所。
We have to address this crisis. And so it's time for us to change.
我们必须得解决这些危机。因此，是时候做出改变了。
We have to transform the way in which we value water. And we can do that.
我们必须改变衡量水的价值的方式。而且我们能够做到。
We can learn to be good stewards again. We can create laws through which we grant legal personhood to water.
我们可以重新学习做一个好的管家。我们可以立法来将法律人格授予水。
We can start to honor the original treaties between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples for water protection.
我们可以开始致敬那些土著居民和非土著居民为了保护水资源而签订的最初的协议。
We can appoint guardians for the water that ensure the water's rights are always protected.
我们可以指定一位守护者，以确保水资源的各项权利总是受到保护。
We can also develop water-quality standards that have a holistic approach,
我们还可以开发一套经过整体分析的，
that ensure the well-being of the water before our human needs.
确保水的福祉优先于人类需求的水质标准。
And moreover, we can work to dismantle exclusive property ownership over water.
此外，我们还可以去除对于水的专属所有权。
And there are amazing successful examples of this around the world.
在全球范围内已经有了一些惊人的成功案例。
The Whanganui River in Aotearoa, in New Zealand, and the Ganges River in India were both granted legal personhood in 2017.
例如新西兰的旺格努伊河，以及印度的恒河都在2017年被授予法律人格。
And even this year, the residents of the city of Toledo recognized the legal personality of Lake Erie.
就在今年，托莱多市的居民承认了伊利湖的法律人格。
And right here in California, the Yurok Tribe granted legal personhood to the Klamath River.
而就在此地，加利福利亚，Yurok部落授予了克拉马斯河法律人格。
You see, I imagine a world where we value water as a living relation, where we work to restore our connection to water.
我想象了一个我们将水视为生命，并努力重建与水的联系的世界。
As women, we are water carriers. We nurture water in our wombs for nine months.
作为女人，我们是水的载体。我们用九个月的时间在子宫里孕育水（中的生命）。
It's the first medicine that each of us as human beings is exposed to.
它是我们作为人类所接触到的第一剂良药。
See, we are all born as human beings with a natal connection to water,
作为人类，我们天生就与水有一种联系，
but somewhere along the way, we lost that connection, and we have to work to restore it.
只不过后来我们失去了这种联系，我们需要去重建它。
Because I imagine a world in which water is healthy and ecosystems are thriving.
因为我想象了一个水资源很健康，生态系统也欣欣向荣的世界。
I imagine a world where each of us takes up our right of responsibility as water citizens and protects water.
我想象了一个所有人都承担起自己作为水的居民的责任，去保护水的世界。
So, in the words of Nokomis, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for the water?
正如奶奶所说，你打算怎么做呢？你打算为水做些什么？
Well, you can call your local politician. You can go to a town meeting.
你可以联系当地的政治家。你可以去参加镇上的会议。
You can advocate for granting legal personhood to water.
你可以倡导将法律人格授予水。
You can be like the residents of the city of Toledo and build from the grass roots,
你也可以像托莱多的居民一样从基础做起，
and craft your own legislation if the politicians won't write it, recognizing legal personality of water.
如果政治家们不帮你，那就自己起草法律承认水的法律人格。
You can learn about the Indigenous lands and waters that you now occupy and the Indigenous legal systems that still govern them.
你可以去了解你现在所占有的，但仍然被原住民法律系统所管辖的那些原住民的土地和水域。
And most of all, you can connect to water. You can restore that connection.
最重要的是，你可以跟水建立联系。你可以重建那种联系。
Go to the water closest to your home, and find out why it is threatened.
去离你家最近的水域看看，找出它为什么受到威胁。
But most of all, if you do anything, I ask that you make a promise to yourself,
然而最重要的是，不管你做任何事，请你对自己承诺，
that each day, you will ask, "What have I done for the water today?"
每一天，你都要问一下自己“我今天为水做了什么？”
If we are able to fulfill that promise, I believe we can create a bold and brilliant world
如果我们都能遵守这个承诺，我相信我们能创造一个勇敢和辉煌的世界，
where future generations are able to form the same relationship to water that we have been privileged to have,
在这个世界里，我们的后代能够同样跟水建立起我们曾经有幸拥有的那种关系，
where all communities of human and nonhuman relations have water to live, because water is life. Tabutni. Thank you.
所有的人类和非人类都能获得赖以生存的水资源，因为水就是生命。谢谢。
