来源：《The Scientist》2022冬季刊
本文适合2024考生
During the pandemic, postdoc Julie Sesen started to feel overwhelmed by the amount of plastic used by the scientific community. Sesen studies pediatric tumors at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), where in 2020 many researchers were testing the community for COVID-19. Every day, researchers there and at scientific centers across the country inevitably threw away hundreds of single-use masks and plastics. Everyone she spoke to agreed that the volume of plastic waste was an issue, she says. “And we needed to do something about it.”
在新冠大流行期间，博士后朱莉·塞森开始对科学界使用的大量塑料感到不知所措。塞森在波士顿儿童医院(BCH)研究儿科肿瘤，2020年，许多研究人员在这家医院对社区进行新冠病毒测试。每天，波士顿儿童医院和全美各地科学中心的研究人员不可避免地扔掉数百个一次性口罩和塑料制品。她说，与她交谈过的每个人都认为塑料垃圾的数量是个问题。“我们需要为此做点什么。”
Even before the pandemic, researchers worldwide produced several million tons of plastic waste per year, according to some estimates. But when Sesen looked into how she could recycle the waste she was generating in her lab, she learned that plastic waste was only part of a larger problem. Scientists also use massive amounts of energy, exacerbating pollution and contributing to climate change. Various estimates indicate that a research lab can consume more than three times as much energy as an office of the same size. Common equipment such as ultra-low temperature freezers can consume as much as an average household. So when Sesen discovered My Green Lab, a nonprofit that seeks to help scientists improve sustainability in research labs, she soon joined their Ambassador program, which provides free online courses on sustainable science. She and another postdoc went on to found BCH Greenlabs, an initiative to support other research groups at the institution in reducing their carbon footprint and plastic waste.
据估计，即使在新冠大流行之前，世界各地的研究人员每年也会产生数百万吨塑料垃圾。但当塞森研究如何回收实验室产生的垃圾时，她发现塑料垃圾只是一个更大问题的一部分。科学家还使用大量的能源，加剧了污染和气候变化。各种估计表明，一个研究实验室消耗的能源是同样大小的办公室的三倍多。超低温冰箱等普通设备的耗电量相当于一个普通家庭的耗电量。因此，当塞森发现了“我的绿色实验室”，一个旨在帮助科学家提高研究实验室可持续性的非营利组织时，她很快就加入了他们的大使计划，该计划提供关于可持续科学的免费在线课程。她和另一名博士后继续成立了BCH绿色实验室，这是一项支持波士顿儿童医院其他研究小组减少碳足迹和塑料废物的倡议。
The huge environmental impact of laboratory research has led many other institutions to try to make research eco-friendlier, too. There are now hundreds of such programs around the world, developed either in-house or in partnership with organizations such as My Green Lab. Some initiatives, like the one at BCH, are mainly run by volunteers, typically students and postdocs, while other institutions have a sustainability office overseen by one or more paid specialists. Taking advantage of the increased uptake of sustainable lab practices, advocates are now taking the opportunity to push for larger, systemic change. While the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered some of these efforts, it has also motivated people to do more. In a handful of countries, sustainable practices may even soon be tied to grant funding, notes Anna Lewis, a sustainable science manager at the University of Bristol in the UK, making a green approach an integral part of life sciences research.
实验室研究对环境的巨大影响促使许多其他机构也试图使研究更环保。现在世界各地有数百个这样的项目，要么是自己开发的，要么是与“我的绿色实验室”这样的组织合作开发的。有些项目，比如BCH的项目，主要由志愿者管理，通常是学生和博士后，而其他机构则有一个由一名或多名付费专家监督的可持续发展办公室管理。利用可持续实验室实践的增加，倡导者现在正抓住机会推动更大的、系统性的变革。虽然新冠大流行阻碍了其中一些努力，但它也激励人们采取更多行动。英国布里斯托尔大学可持续科学经理安娜·刘易斯指出，在少数几个国家，可持续实践甚至可能很快与拨款挂钩，使绿色方法成为生命科学研究的一个组成部分。
“The momentum is incredibly good right now . . . . We’re seeing an explosion of green labs,” says My Green Lab CEO James Connelly. “But we do need those systemic levers for science to be part of the climate solution and not part of the climate challenge.”
“现在的势头非常好……我们看到了绿色实验室的猛增”，“我的绿色实验室”首席执行官詹姆斯·康纳利说。“但我们确实需要这些系统性的杠杆，让科学成为气候解决方案的一部分，而不是气候挑战的一部分。”