来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年5月6日
The weakening of the human connection to nature might be good for economic growth but is bad for people. A tipping point was reached in 2020 when human-made materials – such as steel, concrete and plastic – were found to weigh more than all life on Earth. Continuing to grow concrete forests rather than real ones is shortsighted. Simply being in the nearest wood has such health benefits that the Woodland Trust successfully lobbied for it to be prescribed by doctors.
人类与自然联系的减弱可能有利于经济增长，但不利于人类。2020年达到了一个临界点，当时人们发现，钢铁、混凝土和塑料等人造材料的重量超过了地球上所有生命的重量。继续种植混凝土森林而不是真正的森林是目光短浅的。仅仅是在离你最近的树林里走走就有很多健康益处，以至于林地信托基金成功地游说医生将此作为一种治疗方法。
Yet slipping from popular culture is the wonder and beauty of the natural world. For every three nature-related words in hit songs of the 1950s, researchers found, there was only slightly more than one 50 years later. For decades children have been able to name more video game characters than wildlife species. In 2017, polls suggested that a third of young children thought cheese came from plants.
然而，从流行文化中消失的是自然世界的奇妙和美丽。研究人员发现，在20世纪50年代的热门歌曲中，每三个与自然相关的词汇中，50年后只有一个略多于一个。几十年来，孩子们能够说出的电子游戏角色比野生动物种类还多。2017年，民调显示，三分之一的儿童认为奶酪来自植物。
Part of remedying this social malaise would be for parliament to pass a “right to grow” law, allowing anyone to turn underused public spaces into vegetable gardens and orchards. The idea is for people to get back in touch with the soil while producing food sustainably. Under the proposals, devised by the guerrilla gardening project Incredible Edible, councils would have to maintain a list of public land suitable for “community cultivation”. Local people and volunteer groups could apply to cultivate the land, without being charged, for an agreed period.
国会可以制定一项“种植权”法案，允许任何人将未充分利用的公共空间改造为菜园和果园，将是解决这一社会问题的一部分。这个想法是为了让人们重新接触土壤，同时以可持续的方式生产食物。根据这项由游击园艺项目“不可思议的食物”设计的提案，地方政府必须维持一份适合“社区种植”的公共土地清单。当地居民和志愿者团体可以申请在一段约定的时间内免费耕种土地。
It does work. More than a decade ago Incredible Edible began growing food on pockets of neglected public land in Todmorden, Yorkshire. The council was supportive, providing lists of possible sites. Corn sprouted in front of police stations and a garden flowered at the health centre. The movement spread quickly across the town and was so successful that tourists began to arrive. More than 170 Incredible Edible cells have now taken root across Britain and 1,000 around the world. Gardening, say the founders, makes for a kinder, more connected community.
这一做法确实有效。十多年前，“不可思议的食物”开始在约克郡托德莫登一片被忽视的公共土地上种植食物。当地政府表示支持，提供了可能的地点清单。警察局门前长出了玉米，保健中心的花园也开满了花。这场运动很快在全城蔓延开来，非常成功，游客开始陆续到来。超过170个“不可思议的食物”小园已经在英国扎根，在全世界则超过1000个。创始人说，园艺有助于建立一个更友善、联系更紧密的社区。
Radical vegetable planting has a glorious history. In April 1649, Gerrard Winstanley and the True Levellers responded to high prices and food shortages by cultivating vegetables on common land at St George’s Hill, in Surrey. Community gardening can be traced back centuries. The practice of throwing seed bombs to turn vacant plots of land green took off in 1970s New York, and has been revived by green-thumbed social media influencers who defy local US regulations.
激进的蔬菜种植有着悠久的历史。1649年4月，杰拉德·温斯坦利和“真正的平等者”在萨里的圣乔治山的公共土地上种植蔬菜，以应对高价格和粮食短缺。社区园艺可以追溯到几个世纪以前。投掷种子炸弹将空地变成绿地的做法始于上世纪70年代的纽约，如今又在不顾美国当地法规、喜欢园艺的社交媒体网红中重新兴起。
Apart from the urgent task of providing more healthy nutrients to those who increasingly can’t afford them, publicly accessible fruit and vegetable gardens connect what we eat to where it comes from. They can make unlovely spaces lovely, and marry use and beauty as well as helping to foster a sense of community. Plants are also, of course, our first defence against species loss and climate change. Such planting is a small step for humanity – in the right direction.
除了向日益无力负担食品的人提供更多健康营养的紧迫任务外，公众可进入的果园和菜园将我们吃的东西与它们的来源联系起来。它们可以使不可爱的空间变得可爱，将实用与美观结合起来，并有助于培养社区意识。当然，植物也是我们抵御物种灭绝和气候变化的第一道防线。这种种植是人类朝着正确方向迈出的一小步。