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In the Rocky Mountains of Central Colorado, the forces of nature create a landscape of alpine lakes,
科罗拉多州中部巍峨的高山上，自然的力量创造了一幅美丽的风景画，有着高山湖，
high-altitude ponds teeming with life and mountain meadows bursting with wild flowers.
充满生命的高海拔池塘，长满野花的高山草原。
It is amidst these beautiful wildflower fields that one scientist has already found
在这些美丽的野花中，
alarming evidence about the potential impact of global warming.
一位科学家发现了全球气候变暖的潜在影响的有力证据。
John Hart, a professor of Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkley,
John Hart是伯克利加利福尼亚大学环境科学的教授。
runs an experiment to determine what would happen if the temperature was just three degrees warmer here year around,
他组织了一个实验，观察如果这里一年之内气温升高3度会有什么情况发生，
like the forecasted effect of global warming.
就好象全球气候变暖的预报。
"That heating effect will induce dramatic effects on these subalpine meadows,
“热效应会对这些亚高山带的草原产生剧烈的影响，
causing loss of plant seed we especially value here, the flowering plants."
造成我们非常珍惜的开花类植物的减少。”
John Hart has come here each summer since the 1970s, examining factors affecting life in this fragile ecosystem.
从上世纪70年代开始，John Hart每年夏天都会来这里，检查影响脆弱的生态系统的因素。
"This heating is actually quite subtle. We are not heating a lot.
“加热量其实很微小，我们没有加热很多。
It’s only a few degrees, but it's causing the flowering plants to produce fewer flowers and to grow less abundantly."
仅仅几度的变化，就会导致开花类作物开花量减少，不像以前那样丰富。”
His setup is relatively simple. Low-power electric heaters suspended above a mountain meadow heat the ground
他的设备相对来说很简单。低功率的电加热器悬挂在高山草原上给地面
and the plant life beneath, three degrees warmer than the surrounding area.
和下面的植物加热，比周围环境温度高3度。
The heaters are automatically and precisely controlled,
加热器是自动化的，温控非常精确。
they have been on constantly, day and night, winter, spring, summer and fall since 1991.
从1991年开始，加热器就春夏秋冬日日夜夜的悬挂在那里。
In his global warming experiment, he suspended heaters in a grid pattern
在他的全球变暖实验中，他按照格子状悬挂加热器，
to create heated plots, then unheated plots, back and forth, so he can judge the effects side by side.
以组成加热区和非加热区，来来回回，这样来判款交互影响。
The difference, three degrees of separation makes in flowers and sagebrush, is easy to see.
3度温差给花和山艾树造成的差别一目了然。
"They suck juices out of the plant."
“他们将汁液吸从植物中吸出来。”
In the unheated natural area, sagebrush is a source of moisture for an army of thirsty insects. They keep sagebrush under control.
在没有加热的自然区域，山艾树是很多昆虫的水源。他们使山艾树的数目受到控制。
"So they have little mouthpieces that can suck away at the nutrient."
“他们并没有吸取里面的营养。”
But just a few feet away, sagebrush under the heater grows far better with fewer bugs.
但是就在几英尺之外，在加热下的山艾树生长状况好很多，虫子很少。
"...much more rapidly, we found that the heating is causing profuse growth of the sagebrush."
“我们发现，加热使山艾树生长速度过快。”
While that's good for the sagebrush; it's not good for its plant neighbors. Flowers feel the effect too.
虽然这样对山艾树比较好，但是对邻近的植物造成威胁。花也感受到了影响。
In natural areas, flowers grow thick as they always do here, but a few feet away, where it's three degrees warmer, flowers are not as abundant.
在自然区域，花张的比较厚密，温度高3度的几英尺之外，花开的就没有那么繁盛。
"The meadows, instead of looking lush and strewn with flowers, are now actually rather arid."
“草地没有看上去苍翠繁茂，鲜花盛开，反而变成了不毛之地。”
If global warming, or long-term climate change, does increase the year-around temperature here just a few degrees,
John Hart预测，如果全球变暖或者长期的气候变化导致这里的全年平均气温升高几度，
John Hart predicts, in decades to come, flowers could be crowded out by sagebrush.
未来的几十年之内，鲜花会被山艾树吞噬。
"Global warming is more than just an ecological catastrophe; it would be a human catastrophe in all of its dimensions."
“全球变暖并不只是生态灾难，对人类来说，也是一个巨大的灾难。”
