Digging into a changing environment.

他们正在这个不断变化的环境中挖土。

 

In an area that's surrounded by Scotland's coal mining past and its industrial present, there's a transformation¹ happening beneath our feet.

环顾四周，依稀可见苏格兰昔日开采煤矿的痕迹，也看得到其工业发展的现状，而一场变革就发生在我们脚下。

 

Just three years ago this area was re-engineered to bring the coastal² wetland back to its natural state.

就在三年前，这片地被重新设计，以使沿海湿地恢复其自然状态。

 

Allison Leonard, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

You breach³ the coastal defences and let the water back in. But within a year or two we were seeing saltmarsh plants reappear. And we're now three years down the line and it's the salt… you know, it's all saltmarsh. And at that point we kind of just stepped back and let nature do its thing, and we're really seeing the wildlife respond. So birds are using it at high tide, we see lots of deer, hares in the spring.

艾丽森·莱纳德       英国皇家鸟类保护协会

“我们打开海岸防线，让海水回流。但不到一两年，我们就看到盐沼植物重新出现。我们已经做了三年了，一切都回到了盐沼的自然状态。到了这个阶段，我们只需放任自流，我们真的看到了野生动植物的反应。鸟类会在满潮时利用盐沼，我们在春天看到很多鹿和野兔。”

 

As well as a diverse wetland habitat, this marsh⁴ has become a natural tool in our fight to reduce emissions⁵ of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

这片沼泽除了是多样的湿地栖息地以外，同时也成为我们减少温室气体向大气排放的天然工具。

 

Marshland plants absorb one of those key planet-warming gases, carbon dioxide, which then becomes buried in the mud.

沼泽植物吸收一种让地球变暖的关键气体，即二氧化碳，它会被掩埋在泥土中。

 

Lucy Miller⁶, Research technician, University of St Andrews

This is some of the most organic-rich soils we find in the… in the UK, compared to agricultural land, forest, forestry⁷ land. So we… we'll wrap this up in cling film and then… just to keep it, hold its shape and then we take it back to the University of St Andrews, we have a laboratory there. We will just perform a couple of experiments using a couple of different machines, different equipment, just to, kind of, measure the different layers, different levels of carbon within the layers of the core here.

露西·米勒       英国圣安德鲁斯大学研究技术员

“与农田、森林和林地相比，这是我们在英国发现的有机质最丰富的土壤。我们用保鲜膜把它包好，保持其形状，然后送回圣安德鲁斯大学，我们在那里有一间实验室。我们将使用不同的机器和设备进行几种实验，从而测量不同土壤层、不同水平的碳在核心层中的含量。”

 

Allowing the sea to reclaim⁸ this stretch of land has provided a glimpse of how we can help nature to help us tackle the climate crisis.

将这片土地交还给海洋后，我们才得以瞥见帮助自然应对气候危机的一种方法。我们才瞥见了通过保护自然来帮助人类自身应对气候危机的方法。

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