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In 2012, Superstorm Sandy pummeled the east coast of America.
2012年，飓风桑迪袭击了美国东海岸。
Winds blew in at 80 miles per hour and heavy rain pushed the ocean over 9 feet above average levels.
桑迪以80英里的时速登陆，紧随其后的暴雨导致海水水位上涨了9英尺（约2.7m)有余。
In New York, storm surges brought 30-foot waves ashore, flooding streets, subways, and homes.
风暴激起的海浪高达30英尺（约9m），纽约的街道、地铁以及大量住宅均被淹没。
20 miles south of Manhattan – several neighborhoods on the small borough of Staten Island sat in ruins.
距离曼哈顿以南20英里（约32km）的史丹顿岛的好几个社区都成了废墟。
Homes were completely leveled and 24 people were killed.
房屋完全被夷为平地，还有24人遇难。
As global temperatures rise, research has shown that increasingly violent storms will likely continue assaulting our coasts.
研究表明，随着全球气温的升高，将来可能还会有更多，甚至还会越来越猛烈的风暴袭击我们的海岸。
Paired with rising sea levels, that could mean higher risk of flooding and worsening catastrophic damage to areas like this – unless we learn to adapt.
加上海平面上升，史丹顿岛这样的地区可能还会再次发生洪灾，届时遭受的灾难性损失也会更严重，除非我们学着去适应这些问题。
And for Staten Island, that means building a wall.
对于史丹顿岛来说，适应就等于立起一堵墙。
"Adaptation is this idea that we are physically remaking our cities to make sure that they are going to be resilient in the climate disasters of the future.
“适应是指我们从物理上改造我们的城市，确保它们能够坚韧地度过未来的气候灾难。
And that will also include retrofitting our cities for the everyday effects of climate change, which means things like extreme heat, heavy downpours, drought."
包括改造我们的城市，以应对极端高温天气啊，暴雨天气啊，干旱之类的气候变化，应对这些变化给大家的日常生活带来的影响。”
A sea wall is one of these adaptations.
海堤就是他们的适应方式之一。
It's erected parallel to the coast to create a “hard shoreline”.
这是被立起来的一条与海岸平行的“硬海岸线”。
It deflects daily tides to keep the shore from eroding away as it would under normal conditions.
这堵墙会使每日的潮汐发生偏转，避免海岸像正常情况下那样被侵蚀。
If a natural disaster strikes, it's meant to stop incoming storm surges or a tsunami.
岛民们希望， 自然灾害来袭的时候，这座人造海堤能够阻止风暴或海啸登陆。
Now, if fortifying our cities with walls seems too simple and medieval, that's because it kind of is.
如果你觉得用墙来加固我们的城市听着有些太简单，太原始的话，那也是因为事实就是这样。
Climate change isn't a single assault on a castle, it's an ongoing, worsening crisis.
气候变化不是对一座城堡的一次袭击，而是一场持续恶化的危机。
And in order to evolve with that crisis, the adaptations we make need to include resilient infrastructure.
为了应对这一危机，我们要做出适应性调整，就需要建设弹性基础设施。
Resiliency is this idea that your city can respond to any type of threat – it might not just be a climate threat,
弹性的意思是说你的城市要能应对任何种类的威胁——不仅仅是要能应对气候威胁，
but that you plan for disasters and emergencies in a way that will enrich everyday life for your residents anyway.
还要做好应对灾害和紧急情况的准备工作，并确保这些工作能够丰富百姓的日常生活。
In other words, building resilient infrastructure means we don't have to choose between feeling safe and enjoying our cities.
换句话说，建设弹性基础设施就意味着我们无需在安全感和享受城市生活之间做选择。
For example, in 2008 New York Harbor School started the Billion Oyster Project, a resiliency plan that restores oyster reefs in New York Harbor.
举个例子，2008年纽约港学校启动了旨在恢复纽约港牡蛎礁的“十亿牡蛎项目”。
The reefs help filter the water and slow down powerful waves, preventing erosion and reducing flooding.
因为那些珊瑚礁能够过滤海水，减缓巨浪前进的速度，从而防止侵蚀，减轻洪灾。
The project is even doubling as an educational program for students around the city.
当地目前还提升了该项目的规模，将其作为该市周边学生的一个学习项目。
When natural solutions like that aren't enough, cities may look for more intense options.
这类自然的解决方案无法奏效时，城市便会求助于更激烈的手段。
Like sea walls.
比如修筑海堤。
In hopes to prevent another Sandy-level disaster, Staten Island has recently received $615 million in funding for its own sea wall.
为了防止再次发生桑迪级别的灾害，史丹顿岛最近收到了6.15亿美元的经费，用于建造海堤。
The structure will span about 5 miles and sit 20 feet above sea level.
待建海堤长约5英里，高出海平面20英尺。
And it includes resilient design elements:
该海堤用到了诸多弹性设计元素，
The wall will double as a boardwalk, making it far less imposing and allowing residents to enjoy the coastal views.
一可兼作登船廊桥，大大减轻廊桥的工程量，居民还能在这里欣赏海岸景色。
Plus, to keep Staten Island safe, the plan includes adaptations to the land surrounding the seawall.
其次，为了保证史丹顿岛的安全，该项目还对海堤周围的土地进行了改造。
Globally, rainfall during major storms is expected to increase 20% by 2100.
从全球的角度来看，到2100年，大型风暴期间的降雨量预计将增加20%。
Since much of Staten Island was initially built on wetlands, intense rainfall could easily flood neighborhoods — something a sea wall can't prevent.
由于史丹顿岛的大部分地区原来都是湿地，所以强降雨很容易淹没居民区，海堤却无法阻止强降雨。
So the resiliency plan includes returning several areas on the island to their natural marshy state.
所以，弹性计划还包括让岛上的几个地区恢复自然的沼泽状态。
And that helps to mitigate that storm surge when you have that coastal flooding, when you have heavy rain,
此举有助于在沿海地区遭遇洪水或是强降雨时减轻风暴，
and make sure that the water is not going to be trapped in where the buildings are.
同时确保洪水不会被困在各种建筑里。
Several man-made ponds will also be excavated for drainage purposes.
此外，当局亦会挖掘数个人工池塘供排水之用。
These alterations required careful planning and analysis of the land they're trying to defend.
这些改变都需要对他们试图保卫的土地进行仔细的规划和分析。
And altogether, they make a pretty well-rounded protection plan.
总之，他们制定了一个非常周到的保护计划。
But even with a multifaceted and resilient approach, these adaptations might not be enough.
但是，即便有考虑周到的弹性办法，光有上述这些适应措施可能还是不够。
In 2018, New Orleans finished an upgrade on seawalls and levees designed to protect the city.
2018年，新奥尔良完成了保护城市的海堤的升级。
But 14 billion dollars later, engineers are saying the walls will be inadequate in 4 years due to sea level rise and sinking land.
然而，工程师们表示，尽管升级投入高达140亿美元，由于海平面上升和陆地下沉，4年后，这些墙将会再次失效。
And in Kerala, India, sea walls have actually led to worsening coastal erosion.
在印度喀拉拉邦，海堤甚至还导致了海岸侵蚀的恶化。
Climate change can be unpredictable, and we're being put in a position to predict it anyway.
气候变化具有一定的不可预测性，但我们还是被推到了对这种变化进行预测的位置上。
Resilient infrastructure is one way to tackle that uncertainty, but it's not foolproof.
弹性基础设施的确是解决这种不确定性带来的问题的一种方法，但也并非万无一失。
Any type of infrastructure we are building to save ourselves from the adverse impacts of climate change
我们为了保护我们自己免受气候变化伤害而建设的任何类型的基础设施
is also going to introduce changes to our city that we are going to have to learn to live with.
本身也都会改变我们的城市，我们必须学着适应那些改变。
It's moving beyond just building this one piece of infrastructure that would stay there for a century or two
我们需要跳出仅仅建设一个能够持续一两百年的基础设施这样的思路，
and really figuring out how you can innovate on the materials and the design over time, to address different challenges that will surface.
弄清楚如何跟随时代的变化，在材料和设计上创新，以应对未来出现的各种挑战。
The reality is, that even with resiliency in mind, walling off the ocean is a band-aid solution on a growing wound.
实际上，就拿弹性基础设施而言，拦截海水就好比给一个越来越大的伤口贴一个创口贴。
Building a wall to protect our cities is one thing – Building our cities to protect themselves is another.
立一堵墙来保护我们的城市是一回事，让我们的城市自己保护自己则是另一回事。
