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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.com，就把hxen.com复制到QQ个人资料中！Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
[00:-1.00]1  We recently participated
[00:-2.00]in an environmental fair at the Mall of America in Bloomington,Minnesota,
[00:-3.00]the largest indoor shopping center in America.
[00:-4.00]After speaking with thousands of parents,
[00:-5.00]children and teachers,
[00:-6.00]we were alarmed at the public's wealth of environmental ignorance.
[00:-7.00]2  We were equally annoyed that all of what we heard was so superficial,
[00:-8.00]and based on such a shallow understanding
[00:-9.00]of today's true environmental problems.
[00:10.00]Here are five examples.
[00:11.00]3  One: Recycling is the key.
[00:12.00]4  Actually, recycling is one of the least important things we can do,
[00:13.00]if our real objective is to preserve natural resources.
[00:14.00]5  Remember the phrase "reduce, reuse and recycle"?
[00:15.00]Reduce comes first for a good reason:
[00:16.00]It's better not to create waste than to have to figure out what to do with it.
[00:17.00]And the production of recycled items,
[00:18.00]like the production of any other form of manufactured goods,
[00:19.00]requires energy and other resources while creating pollution.
[00:20.00]6  Rather, we need to make products more durable,lighter,
[00:21.00]more energy efficient and easier to repair rather than to replace.
[00:22.00]Finally, we need to reduce and reuse packaging.
[00:23.00]7  Two: Garbage will bury us.
[00:24.00]The original garbage crisis occurred when people first settled down to farm
[00:25.00]and could no longer leave their places after their garbage grew too deep.
[00:26.00]Since then, every society has had to figure
[00:27.00]out what to do with its waste —
[00:28.00]something that is usually unhealthy,
[00:29.00]smelly, and ugly — throwing garbage in the streets,
[00:30.00]piling it up just outside of town,
[00:31.00]building it into structures or simply setting it on fire.
[00:32.00]9  Today we can design history's
[00:33.00]and the world's safest recycling facilities,
[00:34.00]garbage dumps and facilities for burning rubbish.
[00:35.00]America even has too much garbage dump capacity,
[00:36.00]thanks to the fact that
[00:37.00]we have been building large regional dumps to replace older,
[00:38.00]smaller local dumps.
[00:39.00]10  The problem is political.
[00:40.00]No one wants to spend money on just getting rid of garbage
[00:41.00]or to have a garbage site in the backyard.
[00:42.00]The obvious solution is to stop generating so much garbage in the first place.
[00:43.00]Doing so requires both the knowledge
[00:44.00]and the self-discipline to use less energy and do more with less stuff.
[00:45.00]11  Three: Industry is to blame.
[00:46.00]12  No, it's all people's fault.
[00:47.00]Certainly industry has played a significant role in destroying natural areas,
[00:48.00]generating pollution and using up resources.
[00:49.00]But we are the ones who signal to businesses
[00:50.00]that what they are doing is okay — every time we buy their products.
[00:51.00]13  And don't just blame industrial societies.
[00:52.00]In his recent book Earth Politics,
[00:53.00]Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker wrote that
[00:54.00]"perhaps 90 percent of the destruction of animal and plant species,
[00:55.00]soil erosion, forest destruction and creation
[00:56.00]of deserts is taking place in developing countries."
[00:57.00]Thus, even non-industrialized,
[00:58.00]poor economies are creating environmental disasters.
[00:59.00]14  Four: The earth is in danger.
[-1:00.00]15  In reality, the earth doesn't need to be saved.
[-1:-1.00]Nature doesn't care if human beings are here or not.
[-1:-2.00]The planet has survived major changes for million upon millions of years.
[-1:-3.00]Over that time, it is widely believed,
[-1:-4.00]99 percent of all species have come and gone,
[-1:-5.00]while the planet has remained.
[-1:-6.00]16  Saving the environment is really about saving
[-1:-7.00]our environment — making it safe for ourselves.
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