2021年1月23日发(作者：panelist)
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By Sprawling.
Listen to me, please. You’re like me, a homo sapiens. A wise human.

Life, a miracle in the universe, appeared around four billion years ago, and we
humans only 200,000 years ago. Yet we have succeeded in disrupting the balance that
is so essential to life on Earth.
Listen carefully to this extraordinary story, which is yours, and decide what you
want to do with it.
These are traces of our origins. At the beginning, our planet was no more than a
chaos
of
fire,
formed
in
the
wake
of
its
star,
the
sun.
A
cloud
of
agglutinated
dust
particles, similar to so many similar clusters in the universe. Yet this was where the
miracle of life occurred.
Today,
life- our
life-is
just
a
link
in
a
chain
of
innumerable
living
beings
that
have succeeded one another on Earth over nearly four billion years. And even today,
new
volcanoes
continue
to
sculpt
our landscapes.
They
offer a
glimpse
of
what our
Earth was like at its birth---molten rock surging from the depths, solidifying, cracking,
blistering or spreading in a thin crust, before fabling dormant for a time.
These wreaths of smoke curling from the bowels of the Earth bear witness to
the Earth’s original atmosphere. An atmosphere devoid of oxyge
n. A dense atmosphere,
thick with water vapor, full of carbon dioxide. A furnace.
But
the
Earth
had
an
exceptional
future,
offered
to
it
by
water.
At
the
right
distance from the sun---not too far, not too near, the Earth was able to conserve water
in liquid form. Water vapor condensed and fell in torrential downpours on Earth, and
rivers appeared.
The rivers shaped the surface of the Earth, cutting their channels, furrowing out
valleys. They ran toward the lowest places on the globe to form the oceans. They tore
minerals
from
the
rocks,
and
gradually
the
freshwater
of
the
oceans
became
heavy
with salt.
Water is a vital liquid. It irrigated these sterile expanses. The paths it traced are
like the veins of a body, the branches of a tree, the vessels of the sap that it brought to
the Earth.
Nearly
four
billion
years
later,
somewhere
on
Earth
can
still
be
found
these
works
of
art,
left
by
the
volcanoes’
ash,
mixed
with
water
from
Iceland’s
glaciers.
There they are- matter and water, water and matter-soft and hard combined, the crucial
alliance shared by every life-form on our planet.
Minerals
and
metals
are
even
older
than
the
Earth.
They
are
stardust.
They
provide
the
Earth’s
colors.
Red
from
iron,
black
from
carbon,
blue
from
copper,
yellow from sulfur.
Where do we come from?
Where did life first spark into being?
A
miracle
of
time,
primitive
life-
forms
still
exist
in
the
globe’s
hot
springs.
They
give
them
their
colors.
They’re
called
archaeobacteria.
They
all
feed
off
the
Earth’s
heat
all
except
the
cyanobacter
ia,
or
blue-green
algae.
They
alone
have
the
capacity
to
turn
the
sun
to
capture
its
energy.
They
are
a
vital
ancestor
of
all
yesterday’s
and
today’s
plant
species.
These
tiny
bacteria
and
their
billions
of
descendants changed the destiny of our planet. They transformed its atmosphere.
What happened to the carbon that poisoned the atmosphere?
It’s still here, imprisoned in the Earth’s crust. We can read this chapter of the
Earth’s history nowhere better than on the walls of Colorado’s Grand Canyon. They
rev
eal nearby
two
billion
years of the
Earth’s
history.
Once
upon
a time,
the
Grand
Canyon was a sea inhabited by microorganisms. They grew their shells by tapping into
carbon from the atmosphere dissolved in the ocean. When they died, the shells sank
and
accumulated
on
the
sealed.
These
strata
are
the
product
of
those
billions
and
billions of shells.
Thanks to them, the carbon drained from the atmosphere, and other life-forms
could develop.
It is life that altered the atmosphere. Plant life fed off the sun’s
energy, which
enabled it to break apart the water molecule and take the oxygen. And oxygen filled
the air.
The
Earth’s
water
cycle
is
a
process
of
constant
renewal.
Waterfalls,
water,
vapor, clouds, rain, springs, rivers, seas, oceans, glaciers. The cycle
is never broken.
There’s
always
the
same
quantity
of
water
on
Earth.
All
the
successive
species
on
Earth have drunk the same water. The astonishing matter that is water. One of the most
unstable of all. It takes a liquid form as running water, gaseous as vapor or solid as ice.
In Siberia, the frozen surfaces of the lakes in winter contain the traces of the
forces that water deploys when it freezes. Lighter than water, the ice floats, rather than
sinking to the bottom. It forms a protective mantle against the cold, under which life
can go on.
The
engine
of
life
is
linkage.
Everything
is
linked.
Nothing
is
self-sufficient.
Water
and
air
are
inseparable,
united
in
life
and
for
our
life
on
Earth.
Thus,
clouds
form over the oceans and bring rain to the landmasses, whose rivers carry water back
to the oceans.
Sharing is everything.

The green expanse peeking through the clouds is the source of oxygen in the air.
Seventy percent of this gas, without which our lungs cannot function, comes from the
algae that tint the surface of the oceans.

Our Earth relies on a balance in which every being has a role to play and exists
only through the existence of another being. A subtle, fragile harmony that is easily
shattered.
Thus,
corals
are
born
from
the
marriage
of
algae
and
shells.
The
Great
Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, stretches over 350,000 square kilometers and is
home to 1,500 species of fish, 4000 species of mollusks and 400 species of coral. The
equilibrium of every ocean depends on these corals.

The Earth counts time in billions of years. It took more than four billion years
for
it
to
make
trees.
In
the
chain
of
species,
trees
are
a
pinnacle,
a
perfect
living
sculpture. Trees defy gravity. They are the only natural element in perpetual movement
toward the sky. They grow unhurriedly the sun that nourishes their foliage. They have
inherited
from
those
minuscule
cyanobacteria
the
power
to
capture
light’s
energy.
They store it and feed off it, turning it into wood and leaves, which then decompose
into a mixture of water, mineral, vegetable and living matter.

And so, gradually, the soils that are indispensable to life are formed. Soils are
the
factory
of
biodiversity.
They
are
a
word
of
incessant
activity
where
microorganisms
feed,
dig,
aerate
and
transform.
They
make
the
humus,
the
fertile
layer to which all life on land is linked.
What
do
we know
about
life
on
Earth? How
many
species
are
we
aware
of?
A10th of
them?
A
hundredth perhaps? What
do
we
know
about
the
bonds
that link
them?

The Earth is a miracle. Life remains a mystery.
Families
of
animals
form,
united
by
customs
and
rituals
that
survive
today.
Some adapt to the nature of their pasture, and their pasture adapts to them. And both
gain. The animal sates its hunger, and the tree can blossom again.
In the great adventure of life on Earth, every species has a role to play, every
species has its place. None is futile or harmful. They all balance out.

And that’s where you, Homo sapiens
-
―wise human‖
-enter the story. You benefit
from
a
fabulous
four- billion-year-
old
legacy
bequeathed
by
the
Earth.
You’re
only
200,000
years
old,
but
you
have
changed
the
face
of
the
world.
Despite
your
vulnerability,
you
have
taken
possession
of
every
habitat
and
conquered
swaths
of
territory like no other species before you. After 180,000 nomadic years, and thanks to
a more clement climate, humans settled down. They no longer depended on hunting
for survival. They chose to live in wet environments that abounded in fish, game and
wild plants. There, where land, water and life combine.

Human genius inspired them to build canoes, an invention that opened up new
horizons and turned humans into navigators.

Even today, the majority of humankind lives on the continents’ coastlines or the
banks of rivers and lakes.

The first towns grew up less than 600 years ago. It was a considerable leap in
human history. Why towns? Because they allowed humans to defend themselves more
easily.
They
became
social
beings,
meeting
and
sharing
knowledge
and
crafts,
blending their similarities and differences. In a word, they became civilized.

But the only energy at their disposal was provided by nature and the strength of
their bodies. It was the story of humankind for thousands of years. It still is for one
person in four
—
over one and a half billion human beings
—
more than the combined
population of all the wealthy nations.

Taking
from
the
Earth
only
the
strictly
necessary.
For
a
long
time,
the
relationship between humans and the planet was evenly balanced. For a long time, the
economy seemed like a natural and equitable alliance. But life expectancy is short, and
hard labor takes its toll. The uncertainties of nature weigh on daily life. Education is a
rare privilege. Children are a family’s only asset, as long as every extra pair of hands
is a necessary contribution to its subsistence. The Earth feeds people, clothes them and
provides for their daily needs. Everything comes from the Earth.
Towns change humanity’s nature, as well as its destiny. The farmer becomes a
craftsman, trader or peddler. What the Earth gives the farmer, the city dweller buys,
sells or barters. Goods change hands, along with ideas.

Humanity’s genius is to have always had a sense of its weakness. Humans tried
to extend the frontiers of their territory, but they knew their limits. The physical energy
and strength with which nature had not endowed them was found in the animals they
domesticated to serve them.

But how
can
you
conquer the
world on an
empty
stomach? The
invention
of
agriculture transformed the future of the wild animals scavenging for food that were
humankind. Agriculture turned their history on end. Agriculture was their first great
revolution. Developed barely 8,000 to 10,000 years age, it changed their relationship
to nature. It brought an end to the uncertainty of hunting and gathering. It resulted in
the
first
surpluses
and
gave
birth
to
cities
and
civilizations.
For
their
agriculture,
humans harnessed the energy of animal species and plant life from which they at last
extracted
the
profits.
The
memory
of
thousands
of
years
scrabbling
for
food
faded.
They learned to adapt the grains that are the yeast of life to different soils and climates.
They learned to increase the yield and multiply the number of varieties.

Like every species on Earth, the principal daily concern of all humans is to feed
themselves and their family. When the soil is less generous and water becomes scarce,
humans deploy prodigious efforts to mark a few arid acres with the imprint of their
labor. Human shaped the land with the patience and devotion that the Earth demands,
in an almost sacrificial ritual performed over and over.
Agriculture is still the world’s most widespread occupation. Half of humankind
tills the soil, over three-quarters of them by hand. Agriculture is like a tradition handed
down from generation to generation in sweat, graft and toil, because for humanity it is
a prerequisite of survival.

But after relying on muscle power for so long, humankind found a way to tap
into the energy buried deep in the Earth.
These
flames
are
also
from
plants.
A
pocket
of
sunlight.
Pure
energy
—
the
energy of the sun captured over millions of years by
millions of plants more than a
hundred million years ago. It’s coal. It’s gas. And above all, it’s oil. And this pocket of
sunlight freed humans from their toil on the land. With oil began the era of humans
who break free of the shackles of time. With oil, some of us acquired unprecedented
comforts.
And
in
50
years,
in
a
single
lifetime,
the
Earth
has
been
more
radically
changed than by all previous generations of humanity.
Faster and faster. In the last 60 years, the Earth’s population has almost tripled,
and over two billon people have moved to the cities. Faster and faster. Shenzhen, in
China, with its hundreds of skyscrapers and millions of inhabitants, was just a small
fishing village barely 40 years ago. Faster and faster. In Shanghai, 3,000 towers and
skyscrapers have been built in 20 years. Hundreds more are under construction.

Today, over half of the world’s seven billion inhabitants live in citie
s. New York.
The world’s first megalopolis is the symbol of the exploitation of the energy the Earth
supplies
to
human
genius.
The
manpower
of
millions
of
immigrants,
the
energy
of
coal,
the
unbridled
power
of
oil.
Electricity
resulted
in
the
invention
of
elevators,
which
in
turn
permitted
the
invention
of
skyscrapers.
New
York
ranks
as
the
16
th

–
largest economy in the world.
American
was
the
first
to
discover,
exploit
and
harness
the
phenomenal
revolutionary
power
of
black
gold.
With
its
help,
a
country
of
farmers
became
a
country of agricultural industrialists.

Machines replaced men. A liter of oil generates
as much energy as 100 pairs of hands in 24 hours, but worldwide only three percent of
farmers have use of a tractor. Nonetheless, their output dominates the planet.

In the United States, only three million farmers are left. They produce enough
grain to feed two billion people. But most of that grain is not used to feed people. Here,
and in all other industrialized nations, it’s transformed into livest
ock feed or biofuels.

The pocket of sunshine’s energy chased away the specter of drought that stalked
farmland. No spring escapes the demands of agriculture, which accounts for 70% of
humanity’s water consumption.

In nature, everything is linked. The expansion of cultivated land and single-crop
farming
encouraged
the
development
of
parasites.
Pesticides,
another
gift
of
the
petrochemical
revolution,
exterminated
them.
Bad
harvests
and
famine
became
a
distant
memory.
The
biggest
headache
now
was
what
to
do
with
the
surpluses
engendered by modern agriculture.

But toxic pesticides seeped into the air, soil, plants, animals, rivers and oceans.
They penetrated the heart of cells similar to the mother cell that is shared by all forms
of life. Are they harmful to the humans that they released from hunger? These farmers,
in their yellow protective suits, probably have a good idea.

The
new
agriculture
abolished
the
dependence
on
soils
and
seasons.
Fertilizers
produced
unprecedented
results
on
plots
of
land
thus
far
ignored.
Crops
adapted
to
soils
and
climates
gave
way
to
the
most
productive
varieties
and
the
easiest
to
transport.
And
so,
in
the
last
century,
three-quarters
of
the
varieties
developed
by
farmers
over
thousands
of
years
have
been
wiped
out.
As
far
as
the
eye
can
see,
fertilizer below, plastic on top.

The
greenhouses of
Almeria
in
Spain
are
Europe’s
vegetable garden.
A
city
of
uniformly sized vegetables waits every day for the hundreds of trucks that will take
them to the continent’s supermarkets.


The more a country develops, the more meat its inhabitants consume. How can
growing worldwide demand be satisfied without recourse to concentration camp-style
cattle farms? Faster and faster. Like the life cycle of livestock which may never see a
meadow,
manufacturing
meat
faster
than
the
animal
has
become
a
daily
routine.
In
these vast food lots, trampled by millions of cattle, not a blade of grass grows. A fleet
of
trucks
from
every
corner
of
the
country
brings
in
tons
of
grain,
soy
meal
and
protein-rich granules that will become tons of meat. The result is that it takes 100 liters
of water to produce one kilogram of potatoes, 4,000 for one kilo of rice and 13,000 for
one
kilo
of
beef.
Not
to
mention
the
oil
guzzled
in
the
production
process
and
transport.

Our agriculture has become oil-powered. It feeds twice as many humans on Earth
but has replaced diversity with standardization. It has offered many of us comforts we
could only dream of, but it makes our way of life totally dependent on oil.

This is the n
ew measure of time. Our world’s clock now beats to the rhythm of
these
indefatigable
machines
tapping
into
the
pocket
of
sunlight.
Their
regularity
reassures us. The tiniest hiccup throws us into disarray. The whole planet is attentive
to these
metronomes
of
our
hopes
and
illusions.
The
same
hopes,
and
illusions
that
proliferate
along
with
our
needs,
increasingly
insatiable
desires
and
profligacy.
We
know that the end of cheap oil is imminent, but we refuse to believe it.

For
many
of
us,
the
American
dream
is
embodied
by
a
legendary
name:
Los
Angeles. In this city that stretches over 100 kilometers, the number of cars is almost
equal to the number of inhabitants.
Here, energy puts on a fantastic show every night. The day seems to be no more
than the pale reflection of nights that turn the city into a starry sky. Faster and faster.
Distances are no longer counted in miles but in minutes. The automobile shapes new
suburbs where every home is a castle, a safe distance from the asphyxiated city centers,
and where neat rows of houses huddle round dead-end streets.

The model of a lucky few countries has become a universal dream, preached by
televisions
all
over
the
world.
Even
here
in
Beijing,
it
is
cloned,
copied
and
reproduced in these formatted houses that have wiped pagodas off the map.
The automobile has become the symbol of comfort and progress. If this model
were followed by every society, the planet wouldn’t have 900 million vehicles, as it
does today, but five billion.

Faster and faster. The more the world develops, the greater its thirst for energy.
Everywhere, machines dig, bore and rip from the Earth, the pieces of stars buried in its
depths since its creation: minerals.
In the next 20 years, more ore will be extracted from the Earth than in the whole
o
f
humanity’s
history.
As
a
privilege
of
power,
80%
of
this
mineral
wealth
is