【TED演讲】一部有争议的戏剧——以及它教给我的气候心理学

中英文字幕

Hi, I'm David.

嗨，我是大卫。

I'm a playwright from Ngunnawal country, the unceded lands of the Ngunnawal people in southeast Australia.

我是来自Ngunnawal县的剧作家，Ngunnawal县是澳大利亚东南部Ngunnawal人未割让的土地。

I come from a family of climate scientists, and in 2014 I wrote a play entitled "Kill Climate Deniers."

我来自一个气候科学家家庭，2014年我写了一部题为《杀死气候否认者》的戏剧。"

The play follows the story of a group of eco-terrorists who take over Australia's Parliament House during a Fleetwood Mac concert and hold the entire government hostage,

该剧讲述了一群生态恐怖分子在弗利特伍德麦克音乐会期间占领澳大利亚议会大厦并劫持整个政府的故事，

demanding an instant end to climate change.

要求立即结束气候变化。

So the story is ridiculous,

所以这个故事很荒谬，

but I wanted the play to start a conversation about what happens when the unstoppable force of climate change meets the immovable object of politics.

但我希望这部剧能够开启一场对话，讨论当气候变化不可阻挡的力量遇到政治这一不可动摇的目标时会发生什么。

OK so obviously the title "Kill Climate Deniers" is provocative.

好吧，显然“杀死气候否认者”的标题是挑衅性的。

But just to be clear, when I wrote it, I wasn't targeting anyone real.

但要明确的是，当我写它时，我并没有针对任何真实的人。

Now thanks to the work of journalists and scientists like Naomi Oreskes, we know how climate denial began.

现在，由于娜奥米·奥雷斯克斯等记者和科学家的工作，我们知道了否认气候是如何开始的。

Oil and gas companies recognized the issue of greenhouse gas emissions back in the 1950s and '60s.

石油和天然气公司早在20世纪50年代和60年代就认识到了温室气体排放问题。

They set out to cast doubt on the science.

他们开始对科学提出怀疑。

They funded lobby groups, marketing firms, politicians.

他们资助游说团体、营销公司和政客。

They astroturfed an entire climate denial movement into being.

他们推动了整个气候否认运动。

So now there's this industry of pundits and journalists who make a living denying the reality of climate change.

因此，现在出现了这个由专家和记者组成的行业，他们以否认气候变化的现实为生。

When I made the statement "Kill Climate Deniers," I expected outrage from these people.

当我发表“杀死气候否认者”的声明时，我预计这些人会感到愤怒。

But I did not expect pushback from the general public.

但没想到会遭到公众的抵制。

I figured there are no real climate deniers.

我认为没有真正的气候否认者。

If there are regular, normal people who don't believe in climate science, they can't be that passionate.

如果有普通的普通人不相信气候科学，他们就不可能那么热情。

So I was very wrong.

所以我错了。

Now to begin with, the play received exactly the attention I expected from exactly the people I expected.

首先，这部剧受到了我所期望的人们的关注。

When the first production was announced in 2014, a conservative politician in my hometown of Canberra called for the play to be shut down.

2014年，当第一部作品公布时，我家乡堪培拉的一位保守派政治家呼吁停播该剧。

There were angry articles in the Murdoch press Breitbart, Info wars, all the usual suspects in the right-wing media machine.

默多克媒体布莱巴特、Infowars等都是右翼媒体机器中常见的嫌疑人，发表了愤怒的文章。

Some of these pundits accused the play of being an "incitement to terrorism," and they referred me to the police.

其中一些专家指责该剧“煽动恐怖主义”，并将我转介给警方。

Their argument was that people would see the show and be inspired to take an entire government hostage to end climate change.

他们的论点是，人们会看到这部剧并受到启发，以结束气候变化。

Now the theater company didn't have money for lawyers or a crisis communications team, so out of concern for the actors' safety,

现在剧院公司没有钱聘请律师或危机沟通团队，所以出于对演员安全的考虑，

the production was cancelled.

制作被取消。

But I didn't like backing down.

但我不喜欢退缩。

It didn't feel good.

感觉不太好。

I felt as if giving up on the project was like agreeing with the people attacking it.

我觉得放弃这个项目就像同意攻击它的人一样。

And I did not agree with them.

我不同意他们的观点。

The play was not an incitement to terrorism.

该剧并不是煽动恐怖主义。

But no theater company was willing to take the risk of being referred to the police.

但没有一家剧院公司愿意冒被移交给警方的风险。

I couldn't get it up as a show.

我无法把它当作一场表演。

So instead, my musician friend Reuben Engel turned it into an album.

所以，我的音乐家朋友鲁本·恩格尔（Reuben Engel）把它变成了一张专辑。

Reuben sampled dialogue from the play and wove it into a series of original electronic tracks.

鲁本采样了剧中的对话，并将其编织成一系列原创电子曲目。

We toured that record around Australia.

我们在澳大利亚各地参观了这张唱片。

We couldn't get into theaters, so we went to nightclubs, we held dance parties.

我们无法进入剧院，所以我们去夜总会，举办舞会。

Then we launched an unauthorized covert walking tour of Parliament House.

然后我们对议会大厦进行了未经授权的秘密徒步旅行。

People downloaded a special version of the album on headphones and listened to the music and the story while walking around the real-life setting of Australia's halls of power.

人们用耳机下载了专辑的特殊版本，一边在澳大利亚权力大厅的现实环境中行走，一边听音乐和故事。

Like so.

就这样。

Now all of this helped to build up an audience for the project.

现在所有这些都有助于为该项目建立受众。

But even more importantly, there were no real-life copycats.

但更重要的是，现实生活中没有模仿者。

Not one government building was taken hostage by eco-terrorists during a Fleetwood Mac concert.

在弗利特伍德麦克音乐会期间，没有一座政府大楼被生态恐怖分子劫持。

So four years after the original production was canceled, the play finally made it to the stage in 2018 at the Griffin Theatre in Sydney,

因此，在原版制作被取消四年后，该剧终于于2018年在悉尼格里芬剧院上演，

followed by productions in Prague, London, Los Angeles and so on.

随后在布拉格、伦敦、洛杉矶等地制作。

Obviously I was very happy.

显然我很高兴。

And in one version of the story, that's where it ends.

在故事的一个版本中，这就是它的结局。

This project just joins a long list of things right-wing commentators have found to be outraged about, alongside Elvis, smartphones, twerking,

这个项目只是右翼评论员发现愤怒的一长串事情之一，与猫王、智能手机、电臀舞、

Miley Cyrus, Fortnite, the Beat Generation, skateboarding, Woodstock, Woodstock '99, sugary cereal, TikTok, gay marriage, NWA, feminism, the Twist,

麦莉·赛勒斯（Miley Cyrus）、《堡垒之夜》、垮掉的一代、滑板、伍德斯托克（Woodstock）、伍德斯托克（Woodstock）、99、含糖麦片、TikTok、同性婚姻、NWA、女权主义、扭曲、

Dungeons and Dragons, Live Journal, shopping malls and women reading novels.

龙与地下城、LiveJournal、购物中心和阅读小说的女性。

But as the play made its way into the world, something else started happening.

但随着该剧走向世界，其他事情开始发生。

I started hearing from climate deniers.

我开始收到气候否认者的来信。

And not fossil-fuel pundits or right-wing journalists, real climate deniers.

而不是化石燃料专家或右翼记者，而是真正的气候否认者。

Regular, normal people.

普通的、正常的人。

And I couldn't get my head around it.

我无法理解它。

Like, why did they care so much?

比如，他们为什么这么关心？

Like, if you're an ExxonMobil executive, then you have a financial incentive to downplay climate science.

就像，如果你是埃克森美孚的高管，那么你就有经济动机淡化气候科学。

But if you're a high school teacher in Queensland or a massage therapist in Massachusetts,

但如果您是昆士兰州的一名高中老师或马萨诸塞州的一名按摩治疗师，

why would you spend your nights and weekends desperately trying to debunk Earth science research?

为什么你要在晚上和周末拼命地试图揭穿地球科学研究？

Now it turns out that although climate denial began as an astroturfed movement created by fossil fuel companies,

现在事实证明，尽管否认气候变化始于化石燃料公司发起的一场天文运动，

it caught on because it connects with a certain group of people in a very real way.

它之所以流行，是因为它以一种非常真实的方式与某个群体联系在一起。

I got emails, I got physical letters, I got phone calls.

我收到电子邮件，我收到实体信件，我接到电话。

They started showing up to performances of the play.

他们开始出现在戏剧表演中。

And as the show got bigger and bigger, there were more and more of them, and they were passionate.

随着演出规模越来越大，他们的人数越来越多，而且他们充满热情。

I wanted this play to start a conversation, and it did.

我希望这部剧能够引发一场对话，它确实做到了。

It just was not the conversation I thought I was starting.

这只是我以为我要开始的对话。

I ended up speaking with hundreds of climate deniers over the course of this project.

在这个项目的过程中，我最终与数百名气候否认者进行了交谈。

Now some of them wanted to insult me and threaten me.

现在他们中的一些人想侮辱我、威胁我。

Some of them wanted to tell me variations on the same gag, like, "What if I wrote a play called 'Kill Climate Scientists?'"

他们中的一些人想告诉我同一个笑话的变体，比如，“如果我写一部名为《杀死气候科学家》的戏剧怎么样？'"

But some of them were interesting.

但其中一些很有趣。

These deniers wanted to explain to me why climate science was wrong.

这些否认者想向我解释为什么气候科学是错误的。

They had a whole worldview.

他们有完整的世界观。

They said, "The reality is, David, that climate change is a made up excuse for a huge program of top-down intervention.

他们说：“大卫，现实情况是，气候变化是自上而下的大规模干预计划的编造借口。

What climate activists really want is to stifle our freedoms.

气候活动人士真正想要的是扼杀我们的自由。

They want to control what we eat, they want to choke the life out of rural communities,

他们想控制我们的饮食，他们想扼杀农村社区的生活，

and they want to throw the doors open to massive global migration."

他们希望为大规模的全球移民敞开大门。"

Now I wanted to respond to these people and say, "I'm sorry, you're wrong.

现在我想回应这些人并说：“对不起，你错了。

That's not what it's about." But the more I talked with them, the more I realized...

这不是它的主题。“但我和他们交谈得越多，我就越意识到..

They're right.

他们是对的。

They are completely correct.

他们完全正确。

I mean, they're not correct about climate change being a made up excuse.

我的意思是，他们认为气候变化是一个编造的借口是不正确的。

That, sadly, is not true.

遗憾的是，这不是真的。

But the consequences of climate change?

但气候变化的后果呢？

Yes, diets are going to change.

是的，饮食将会改变。

Yes, a lot of communities in exposed locations will be forced to leave.

是的，暴露地点的许多社区将被迫离开。

Yes, there will be huge movements of people within and between countries, they're right.

是的，国家内部和国家之间将会出现大量人员流动，他们是对的。

And we don't even realize how right they are.

我们甚至没有意识到他们是多么正确。

I believe in the science of climate change, and so do probably most of the people in this room.

我相信气候变化的科学，这个房间里的大多数人可能也相信。

But more often than not, we go about our lives as if it's not real.

但大多数时候，我们的生活就好像这不是真实的一样。

We plan our careers, we build houses, we educate our children as if the future will look like the past.

我们规划我们的职业生涯，我们建造房屋，我们教育我们的孩子，就好像未来将像过去一样。

But the world we're educating them for no longer exists.

但我们教育他们的世界已不复存在。

At one degree warming, we are already on a planet unlike anywhere humans have ever lived in the past,

气温升高一度，我们已经处于一个与人类过去生活过的任何地方不同的星球上，

and our systems are starting to buckle under the strain.

我们的系统开始在压力下崩溃。

Now whether you believe that we are sleepwalking into disaster or if you think we're going to turn things around through high-tech solutions or massive social movements,

现在，无论您相信我们正在梦游陷入灾难，还是您认为我们将通过高科技解决方案或大规模社会运动扭转局面，

whatever climate future you believe in, our lives are going to radically change.

无论您相信什么气候未来，我们的生活都将发生根本性的变化。

Our future will not look like our past.

我们的未来不会像过去一样。

We accept the science, but we haven't processed the consequences.

我们接受科学，但我们还没有处理后果。

We don't explicitly deny climate change, but in our actions, we're like soft deniers, stealth deniers.

我们没有明确否认气候变化，但在我们的行动中，我们就像软否认者、秘密否认者。

I'm one of these people.

我就是这些人中的一员。

Maybe you are too.

也许你也是。

I keep my carbon footprint as low as possible.

我尽可能地降低碳足迹。

But then I got on a plane to give this talk.

但后来我登上飞机去发表这个演讲。

I read research reports about which cities will be vulnerable in future decades to climate shocks, resource shocks.

我读过研究报告，关于哪些城市在未来几十年将容易受到气候冲击、资源冲击的影响。

And then I forget all that and think, I just want to buy a flat in my hometown.

然后我忘记了这一切，心想，我只是想在家乡买一套公寓。

If you believe something but you act like you don't believe it, do you really believe it?

如果你相信某事，但你表现得好像不相信，那么你真的相信它吗？

Now climate deniers understand the consequences of the science, so they don't accept the science.

现在气候否认者了解科学的后果，所以他们不接受科学。

They know what it means if it's true, so they won't allow it to be true.

他们知道如果这是真的意味着什么，所以他们不会允许它是真的。

I think we can learn from climate deniers.

我认为我们可以向气候否认者学习。

I want to be more like that high school teacher in Queensland, that massage therapist in Massachusetts, because they live what they believe.

我想更像昆士兰州的高中老师、马萨诸塞州的按摩治疗师，因为他们按照自己的信仰生活。

You and I, we think we know better.

你和我，我们认为我们更了解。

We are the ones in denial.

我们是否认的人。

And I know deep down that the longer we deny reality, the harder the shock when it hits.

我内心深处知道，我们否认现实的时间越长，当现实袭来时，冲击就越大。

Thank you.

谢谢。