英语PK台 第462期:未来你敢尝试环保丧葬吗?

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　　我死后，我愿将自己的尸体放在野外被动吃掉。将自己的尸体放在野外，被动物吃掉并不适合所有人。或许你已经跟家人聊过身后事，并且决定火化。在美国，我们对待逝者惯常的做法是先用化学药剂做防腐处理，再土葬在当地的墓园里，或者，近来更多的是实行火葬。

　　I myself, am a recent vegetarian⁵, which means I spent the first 30 years or so of my life frantically⁶ inhaling⁷ animals — as many as I could get my hands on. Why, when I die, should they not have their turn with me? Am I not an animal? Biologically speaking, are we not all, in this room, animals? Accepting the fact that we are animals has some potentially terrifying consequences. It means accepting that we are doomed⁸ to decay and die, just like any other creature on earth.

　　我本人最近成为了素食者，也就是说，我人生的头三十年左右的时间都在疯狂的大吃动物，能吃多少吃多少。那么我死后，为什么不该轮到它们来吃我了呢？我难道不是一种动物么？从生物学上说，难道我们在座各位不都是动物么？接受我们也是动物这一事实，会造成一些潜在的可怕的后果。这意味着要接受我们注定要腐烂和消亡，就像地球上其他生物一样。

　　The funeral industry promotes this idea of human exceptionalism. It doesn't matter what it takes, how much it costs, how bad it is for the environment, we're gonna to do it because humans are worth it! I absolutely understand the importance of ritual, especially when it comes to the people that we love. But we have to be able to create and practice this ritual without harming the environment, which is why we need new options.

　　丧葬业推广了人类例外主义这一观点。无论要采取怎样的手段，无论要花多少钱，无论会对环境造成多大的破坏，都要这么做，因为人类值得受到这样的待遇。我绝对理解仪式的重要性，特别是跟我们所爱的人有关时。但我们必须能够在不破坏环境的前提下来创造和实行这种仪式，因此我们需要新的选择。

　　So let's return to the idea of protection, sanitation⁹ and beautification. We'll start with a dead body. The funeral industry will protect your dead body by offering to sell your family a casket made of hardwood or metal with a rubber sealant. At the cemetery, on the day of burial, that casket will be lowered into a large concrete or metal vault¹⁰. Next, the industry will sanitize your body through embalming: the chemical preservation¹¹ of the dead. Embalming is a cheat code, providing the illusion that death and then decay are not the natural end for all organic life on this planet.

　　那我们再回来说说保护，消毒和美化的概念。我们就从一具死尸开始吧。丧葬业为了保护死者尸体会卖给家属一副用硬木材或金属所制并涂了橡胶密封剂的棺材。到了下葬那天，在墓园里，这个棺材会被放进一个大的混凝土或金属墓穴里。第二，丧葬业会通过防腐技术对尸体进行消毒，对死者进行化学防腐。做防腐处理就像在作弊，会给人一种幻觉，以为死亡和腐烂并非这个星球上所有有机生命的自然归宿。

　　So where do we go from here? A colleague of mine named Katrina Spade is attempting to create a system, not of cremating¹² the dead, but composting the dead. She imagines a facility where the family could come and lay their dead loved one in a nutrient-rich mixture that would, in four-to-six weeks, reduce the body — bones and all — to soil. In those four-to-six weeks, your molecules¹³ become other molecules; you literally¹⁴ transform.

　　那么到底该怎么办呢？我有一个叫Katrina Spade的同事，正在尝试开发一种系统，不把死者火化，而是把死者变成肥料。她设想有一种设备，让家属可以把死去的亲人放进一种富养分的混合物中，四到六周后整具尸体包括骨头，都会分解成土壤。在这四到六周时间里，尸体的分子变成另一种分子，真正的转化了。

　　So that's one option for the future of cremation. But what about the future of cemeteries¹⁵? I'm talking about conservation burial, where large swaths of land are purchased by a land trust. The graves are scattered¹⁶ about the property under elegant mounds¹⁷, marked only by a rock or a small metal disk, or sometimes only locatable by GPS. Families can come here; they can luxuriate in nature; they can even plant a tree or a shrub¹⁸. The dead then blend seamlessly in with the landscape.

　　这就是未来火葬的一个发展方向。那么未来的墓园又会如何呢？我要说的是保护性安葬，土地信托机构买下大片土地。墓穴都分布在这片土地里雅致的土堆下，只用一块石头或者小金属片标记着，甚至有时只有GPS定位。家属来到我们殡仪馆，可以在大自然中徜徉，甚至可以种下一棵树或一株灌木。死者之后将完美的与这里的景色融为一体。

　　Will changing the way we bury our dead solve climate change? No. But it will make bold moves in how we see ourselves as citizens of this planet. If we can die in a way that is more humble¹⁹ and self-aware, I believe that we stand a chance.

　　改变安葬尸体的方式能解决气候问题么？不能。但能极大地改变人类作为地球居民对自身的看法。如果我们离世的方式能更为谦卑和有自知之明，那么我相信人类是有希望的。

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