宇宙时空之旅（2014）

Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey S01E12

Part 4 April 25, 2021, 12:41 p.m.

that grew thousands of years ago.
由于北冰洋地区的升温速度
Because the Arctic regions are warming faster
比地球上其他任何地区都快
than anywhere else on Earth,
永久冻土开始融化
the permafrost is thawing
冻土中的内容物开始腐烂
and its contents are rotting,
就像有人拔掉了冰箱的插头
just like when you unplug the freezer.
融化的冻土释放出二氧化碳
The thawing permafrost is releasing carbon dioxide
还有甲烷这是一种更强的温室气体
and methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas,
也被排放到大气中
into the atmosphere.
这让地球变得更暖
This is making things even warmer,
这是正反馈循环的又一例明证
another example of a positive feedback mechanism.
地球上的永久冻土层中储存有大量的碳
The world's permafrost stores enough carbon
足以让大气中的二氧化碳再增加一倍
to more than double the CO2 in the atmosphere.
按照我们现在的速度
At the rate we're going,
到本世纪末全球变暖就要释放出
global warming could release most of it
其中大部分的二氧化碳了
by the end of the century.
人类也许正在将气候推上不归路
We might be tipping the climate past a point of no return
让它走向不可预知的深渊
into an unpredictable slide.
好既然大气水体
Okay, the air, the water
还有陆地都在变暖
and the land are all getting warmer,
那么全球变暖真的在发生
so global warming is really happening.
但也许这不是人类的错
But maybe it's not our fault.
也许只是自然造成的
Maybe it's just nature.
也许是太阳造成的
Maybe it's the Sun.
不不是太阳
No, it's not the Sun.
几十年来我们一直在密切地观测太阳
We've been monitoring the Sun very closely for decades,
而太阳输出的能量一直都没变过
and the solar energy output hasn't changed.
还有地球的夜晚比白天
What's more, the Earth is warming more at night
升温更快
than in daytime,
冬天比夏天升温更快
and more in winter than in summer.
这与我们对温室效应规律的认识相符
That's exactly what we expect from greenhouse warming,
但与太阳输出能量的增加所引起的后果
but the opposite of what increased solar output
正好相反
would cause.
一切都确凿无疑地表明
It's now clear beyond any reasonable doubt
人类正在改变气候
that we are changing the climate.
太阳不是问题所在
The Sun isn't the problem.
却是解决方法
But it is the solution,
我们很久之前就了解这一切了
and we've known this for a long time,
比你能想到的要早得多
much longer than you might think.
巴黎 1878年9月
Paris, September 1878.
还要过很多年埃菲尔铁塔才会开始建造
The Eiffel Tower won't be built for years to come.
世界博览会
来看看世界上
Witness one of the most glorious spectacles
最壮观非凡的景象吧
the world has ever seen.
自♥由♥女神像宏伟的头部
The magnificent head of the Statue of Liberty
刚刚竣工
has just been completed.
来自全世界各地的数千家展商
Thousands of exhibitors from around the planet
在巴黎的400多亩土地上
covered 66 acres of Paris
放满了他们的发明与商品
with their inventions and goods.
爱迪生还要在一年以后
Edison's first public demonstration of the lightbulb
才会首次向公众展示灯泡
will not take place for another year.
那时电气设备还没有出现
There's no such thing as electrical appliances.
人们还不会开开关按按钮
People don't flick switches and press buttons.
这是一个靠手工靠马拉的世界
It's a hand-cranked, horse-drawn world.
这就是我们要说到的那个人
That's the guy we came to see,
那个有奇怪胡子的人
the one with the crazy moustache.
他是个名叫奥古斯丁·穆肖的数学老师
He's a math teacher named Augustin Mouchot.
记住这可是在1878年
Remember, it's 1878.
世界大多是由煤气灯点亮的
This is a world lit mostly by gaslight.
汽车还要过好多年才会被发明出来
The automobile is still years away.
但穆肖用他的太阳能集热器
But Mouchot, here, is dazzling the crowd
震撼了围观的人们
with his solar power concentrator.
太阳是属于我们大家的
The Sun belongs to all of us!
即使它距我们有1.5亿千米
Even though it is 150 million kilometers away from us,
感受它的伟大力量吧
feel its awesome power!
我的发明能集中太阳的免费能量
My invention concentrates the free energy of the Sun
并将其转化为机械运动
and converts it into mechanical motion.
它能驱动任何一种机器
It can power any kind of machine.
它能发电能驱动印刷机
It can produce electricity or run a printing press
能在炎炎夏日制冰
or make ice on a hot day.
就像这样
Et voilà
想想吧
Think of it,
阳光都可以变成冰
sunlight converted into ice.
看啊朋友们
You see, my friends,
如果我们能利用丰富的太阳能
what wonders we can work
我们能创造出怎样的奇迹啊
if we harness the bounteous energy of the Sun.
世界上的煤终有一天会耗尽
The world will someday run out of coal,
但伟大的太阳会永远为我们所用
but the magnificent Sun will always be there for us.
穆肖获得了那届世界博览会的金奖
Mouchot took home the gold medal from the fair.
但煤的价格暴跌
But the price of coal tumbled,
价格太便宜以至于没人对太阳能感兴趣
becoming so cheap that there was no interest in solar energy.
此外那时还没人能够理解
Besides, no one understood, back then,
燃烧化石燃料的真正代价是什么
what the true cost was of burning fossil fuel.
穆肖的研究资金被切断
Mouchot's research funding was cut off.
35年后在20世纪初期
35 years later, in the early years of the 20th century,
一扇通往另一种可能未来的门打开了
another door opened to an alternative future.
这发生在埃及在尼罗河的岸上
It happened in Egypt, on the banks of the Nile.
给未来的时间旅人提个醒...
Memo to future time travelers...
这是介入历史阻止气候变化的
this would be an excellent entry point
极佳穿越点
for averting climate change.
埃及 1913年
Egypt, 1913.
这是来自费城的弗兰克·舒曼
That's Frank Shuman of Philadelphia.
他只上过三年学
He's only had three years of schooling,
但他的创造才华弥补了这一切
but his genius for innovation more than makes up for that.
还没到30岁他就发明了安全玻璃
Before he was 30, Shuman had invented safety glass.
它广泛用于汽车和天窗上拯救了无数生命
Its use in automobiles and skylights saved countless lives
这让他变得非常富有
and made him a very rich man,
富有到他可以追逐自己真正的梦想
rich enough to pursue his real passion,
太阳能
solar energy.
舒曼领导他的团队设计并建造了
Shuman led the team that designed and built
一组太阳能聚光器
an array of solar energy concentrators.
它能驱动蒸汽机
It could power a steam engine.
舒曼希望利用太阳能
Shuman is hoping to use the Sun's power
灌溉沙漠
to irrigate the desert
绿化沙漠
and turn it green.
舒曼的太阳能工厂的
The official inauguration
正式落成仪式是在1913年
of Shuman's solar power plant, in 1913,
这是个辉煌的成就
was a dazzling success.
他发明了一种实用的方法
He had invented a practical way to tap the Sun's energy
以工业规模来利用太阳能
on an industrial scale,
能让太阳能比煤还要便宜
making solar energy even cheaper than coal.
英国和德国政♥府♥
The British and German governments
均给舒曼提供了丰厚的资金
both offered Shuman generous funding
让他改进他的发明
to develop his invention.
这是热带地区一种理想的充足的
It was the ideal source of abundant power
能量来源
in tropical regions,
在这里进口煤的价格太高
where imported coal was prohibitively expensive.
但舒曼的梦想更高远
But Shuman was dreaming even bigger.
在给《科学美国人》的信中
In a letter to Scientific American,
他计算出如果他的太阳能工厂
he calculated that his solar power plants,
能在撒哈拉沙漠那样的地方
if deployed in an area of the Sahara Desert
部署240千米见方的机器
only 150 miles on a side,
就能为全世界工业提供足够的能量
could supply as much power as consumed by all the industries of the world.
但这一切最终没有发生
But it was not to be.
液体化石燃料石油的市场
The market for a liquid fossil fuel, petroleum,
因船运需求
was exploding for shipping,
家庭采暖汽车和卡车而迅速扩大
home heating, and cars and trucks.
石油很丰富比煤还要便宜
Oil was abundant, cheaper even than coal,
也更容易开采和加工
and much easier to get out of the ground and process.
需要一百个人干上一周才能把煤装满一艘船
It took 100 men a week to fuel a ship with coal,
但如果是装石油一个人可以在
but with oil, one man could do the job