美国国家公共电台 NPR As India's Climate Changes, Farmers In The North Experiment With New Crops

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

In our final installment¹ on how communities around the world are adjusting to climate change, we go to India. Pollution there from the burning of fossil fuels is encouraging the spread of solar energy. But as NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from New Delhi, there is a catch.

JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE²: India basks³ in sunshine 300 days a year. And it represents a bonanza⁴ for this energy-strapped country.

I'm here on the rooftop of the Indian Institute of Technology with professor Vamsi Komarala. And arrayed in front of us are rows and rows of solar panels.

I swipe an index finger across a panel to see if the monsoons⁵ have washed them clean, and it comes back filthy⁶.

And these have been bombarded (laughter) by rains for weeks.

VAMSI KOMARALA: (Laughter) Yes.

MCCARTHY: Well, how often are these cleaned?

KOMARALA: Yes, twice in a week. So that is because Delhi - we have a lot of dust.

MCCARTHY: Not just dust - Delhi and much of northern India are regularly shrouded⁷ in man-made pollutants⁸. Most of India's energy comes from dirty coal-burning power plants. Millions of new cars choke the roads. Add to the mix burning of garbage and crops. It's a cocktail⁹ that makes India the third-biggest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions¹⁰. In fact, Delhi vies with Beijing for the dirtiest air in the world. And tiny 2.5-micron particles that lodge¹¹ in human lungs also layer these solar panels.

But there's a new study out that shows that air pollution cuts the capacity of these panels to generate power. And the smaller the particle, the more it blocks out the sun. Professor Michael Bergin of Duke University says tiny particulate¹² pollution can either absorb the sun's radiation or scatter¹³ the sunlight, diffusing¹⁴ what hits solar panels. He's created a model to measure that loss.

MICHAEL BERGIN: We came up with between about 17 to 25 percent reductions in solar energy production in India and China. And we believe that the effects might even be a little bit higher since the model we use tends to underpredict the effects.

MCCARTHY: As for depositing on panels, Bergin and his Indian team monitored accumulations with eye-popping results.

BERGIN: After we spread the particles off, we would watch the solar energy production typically double. So in three to four weeks in northern India, often the solar energy production, if you weren't to clean these panels, decreases by about a factor of 2. So that's really huge.

MCCARTHY: Improving air quality would vastly improve the production of solar energy. And, says Bergin...

BERGIN: Also have huge health benefits. So I think this is just another reason to try to clean the air.

MCCARTHY: Hundreds of miles north of Delhi, the air is clean. And here, changing climate conditions can seem more like an opportunity than a looming¹⁵ threat.

We journey eight hours into the upper reaches of the state Uttarakhand. As we climb up hairpin¹⁶ mountain turns of the Himalayas, brightly colored houses appear as though they're painted on the sheer cliffs. And they tumble down the side of these mountain ranges...

(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)

MCCARTHY: ...Right into the steps of the Ganges River. And these roads are very, very narrow.

The rivers roaring alongside the roads are swollen¹⁷ by the summer monsoons.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)

MCCARTHY: But the rivers don't feed mountain agriculture. It's too difficult to pipe water up. The villages are rain and snow fed. The problem now is that the snowfall is decreasing. But it's not necessarily bad news.

Traveling with us is Saruchi Bhadwal. She's leading an experiment designed to help farmers in high altitudes capitalize on the milder conditions brought about by less snowfall. Her group, The Energy and Resources Institute, or TERI, studies the impact of climate change on agriculture. We head to a village where farmers were persuaded to make the most of their less snow-filled winters by cultivating land that used to live fallow during those months.

SURUCHI BHADWAL: So now they benefit because, you know, because they're taking a crop out of it. And it kind of gives them more in their homes and more to sell. It was a total win-win.

MCCARTHY: As we arrive at the village of Huddu, its ancient terraces are indeed sprouting¹⁸ a new crop alongside traditional ones.

On a rocky terrace, I ask women planting grasses used for fodder¹⁹ about snowfall. Perched on a boulder²⁰, Basanti Devi recalls 35 years ago getting five feet of snow. She speaks through a local interpreter.

BASANTI DEVI: (Speaking Gadhwali).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: (Unidentified Gadhwali).

MCCARTHY: Calculating how much snow they get today, Basanti cuts an imaginary line just above her ankle. A matter of inches, she says.

ANAND KUMAR SHARMA: Perception is something different, and reality is something else.

MCCARTHY: Anand Kumar Sharma oversees²¹ the western and central Himalayas for India's Meteorological Department. He says people confuse climate variation with change.

SHARMA: All events - whatever events are happening or not happening is not climate change.

MCCARTHY: Sharma used to be the chief meteorologist in the state of Uttarakhand and notes that there are just two stations collecting data over that vast region. He says it's not possible to know whether the reduced snowfall in one particular village is the result of climate change. But an authoritative²² Indian study last year found glaciers²³ in Uttarakhand significantly retreating and extreme damaging rainfall in northern India rising.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking in foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Speaking in foreign language).

MCCARTHY: Adapting to their changing conditions, women pick their new maiden²⁴ harvest, organic potatoes. They were planted in January when villagers took advantage of their lengthened²⁵ growing season for the first time. Surji Devi's digging releases the scent²⁶ of fresh earth into the air. At 60, she's nimble, rapidly separating the potatoes into piles. She pulls out several that are spoiled and makes a frown. Kailash Bhatt is a community organizer who helped mobilize 48 out of the 100 families here to try their hand cultivating year-round.

Were you happy with this yield this year?

KAILASH BHATT: Actually, not so happy. But this is the first time. And I think this is the first one in all of Uttarakhand.

MCCARTHY: Visiting agricultural experts explain to the farmers that they grew the wrong varieties.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCARTHY: The team then demonstrates best practices for planting and says the village could one day add fruit trees, excellent cash crops. But 39-year-old Prem Singh Rana says he was satisfied with his experiment.

PREM SINGH RANA: (Speaking Hindi).

MCCARTHY: He got his 200 pounds of potatoes to market and was 2,000 rupees, or $30, richer.

RANA: (Speaking Hindi).

MCCARTHY: Rana is hopeful about the future. "Earlier that land wouldn't give me much," says this father of three. "But once I harvest the rest of the potatoes, I'll have another $30 to $60 dollars."

For Rana, that's significant. This backbreaking work has added 15 percent to his annual income. His earnings²⁷ may seem small, but they are the result of something big, seeing advantage in climate change. Julie McCarthy, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MAEVE GILCHRIST AND VIKTOR KRAUSS' "IKARIA")

1 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 basks   

v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的第三人称单数 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽

参考例句：

• The cat basks before the fire. 猫常在火炉前取暖。 来自辞典例句
• The serpent coils in the grass of the streets, the lizard basks in the solitary halls. 毒蛇盘绕在街头的草丛中，蜥蜴在残败的大厅中自由爬行。 来自辞典例句

4 bonanza   

n.富矿带，幸运，带来好运的事

参考例句：

• Bargain hunters enjoyed a real bonanza today.到处买便宜货的人今天真是交了好运。
• What a bonanza for the winning ticket holders!对于手持胜券的人来说，这是多好的运气啊。

5 monsoons   

n.（南亚、尤指印度洋的）季风( monsoon的名词复数 )；（与季风相伴的）雨季；（南亚地区的）雨季

参考例句：

• In Ban-gladesh, the monsoons have started. 在孟加拉，雨季已经开始了。 来自辞典例句
• The coastline significantly influences the monsoons in two other respects. 海岸线在另外两个方面大大地影响季风。 来自辞典例句

6 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

7 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

10 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

11 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

12 particulate   

adj.微小的；n.微粒，粒子

参考例句：

• A special group was organized to dig up the particulate of the case.成立了一个专门小组来查明该案件的各个细节。
• Lungs retain relatively insoluble particulate material.肺脏内留有不溶解的颗粒物质。

13 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

14 diffusing   

（使光）模糊，漫射，漫散( diffuse的现在分词 )； （使）扩散； （使）弥漫； （使）传播

参考例句：

• Compounding this confusion is a diffusing definition of journalist. 新闻和娱乐的掺和扩散了“记者”定义。
• Diffusing phenomena also so, after mix cannot spontaneous separating. 扩散现象也如此，混合之后不能自发的分开。

15 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

16 hairpin   

n.簪,束发夹，夹发针

参考例句：

• She stuck a small flower onto the front of her hairpin.她在发簪的前端粘了一朵小花。
• She has no hairpin because her hair is short.因为她头发短，所以没有束发夹。

17 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

18 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

19 fodder   

n.草料；炮灰

参考例句：

• Grass mowed and cured for use as fodder.割下来晒干用作饲料的草。
• Guaranteed salt intake, no matter which normal fodder.不管是那一种正常的草料，保证盐的摄取。

20 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

21 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

22 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

23 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

24 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

25 lengthened   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
• He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。

26 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

27 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。