PBS高端访谈:人造植物肉能完全取代牛肉吗?

Judy Woodruff: Now, before you gather for that holiday meal, our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, asks, what's the beef people have about beef? There have long been debates over the environmental effects of the meat industry and moral arguments made against killing¹ animals. The rise in popularity of new meatless options adds a different dimension to the discussion. Paul examines the questions tonight. It's part of his weekly reporting for Making Sense.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: To avoid catastrophic climate change.

Paul Solman: Yup, ex-Governor, ex-Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger in a video created to indict² beef.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Less meat, less heat, more life.

Paul Solman: So trending, beef is bad, as this new documentary luridly³ asserts.

Woman: When you consider the devastation⁴ it's having on our planet, as well as the oceans.

Paul Solman: No wonder the plant-based-meat start-ups profiled recently here on Making Sense want to chop meat from our diets, and the planet, entirely⁵, and replace it with products like the Beyond Burger, or with Beyond's main rival, the Impossible Burger. Biochemist Pat Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, wants to replace grazing animals entirely. By when?

Pat Brown: By 2035. The use of animals to produce food is the most destructive technology in use on Earth today.

Paul Solman: And here's the CEO of rival Beyond Meat.

Ethan Brown: You look at heart disease, diabetes⁶ and cancer, those things, there's a correlation⁷ between those things and the levels of meat and the type of meat that we're eating.

Paul Solman: Besides the argument against killing animals for food, the beef against beef features a trio of charges, bad for the land, bad for the air, bad for the body. Negative externalities, they're called in economics, costs that the price of the product doesn't include. So let's hear the case, one externality at a time, starting with lays waste to the land. Impossible's Pat Brown...

Pat Brown: We could produce all the protein required by the world's population in 2050 with 2 percent of Earth's land if we did it the way we're producing our meat, as opposed to more than 45 percent of Earth's land that's currently being used raising animals for food.

Paul Solman: Right, says his rival CEO, Ethan Brown.

Ethan Brown: We can get this right, and once we do it, we can liberate⁸ those fields. They don't have to be serving that really inefficient⁹ master. They can even start planning things directly there that are protein for human consumption.

Paul Solman: The mighty¹⁰ master steer¹¹, that is, so inefficient that:

Jonathan Foley: If you take the 30 calories of corn grown in Iowa and turn it into a hamburger, you're lucky to get one calorie of new beef that we actually eat.

Paul Solman: Jonathan Foley of the California Academy of Science.

Jonathan Foley: Well, cows and goats and sheep and things are in the brown areas.

Paul Solman: Foley has actually mapped the land use problem.

Jonathan Foley: This is showing the footprint of agriculture on the planet. What really surprises people sometimes is that 38 percent of all the land on Earth is covered in food. For example, all of this land 75 percent of it, all of those red areas and a lot of the green areas, are used to produce meat, either directly by grazing or by growing crops, so we then later feed to animals in a feed lot.

Paul Solman: In addition, says Jonathan Foley, growing beef consumption in the less developed world leads to deforestation, clearing the land for cattle. So, what says the defense¹²? Look at this guy. Would they respond to me, or no?

Bill Niman: Anybody that would come out here in an outfit¹³ like that, I doubt that they would respond to someone like you.

Paul Solman: In Marin County, California, grass-fed guru Bill Niman and wife Nicolette, defender¹⁴ of beef.

Nicolette Niman: What's so miraculous¹⁵ about these animals is they're basically just taking the energy of the sunlight that's going into the vegetation, and they are converting it, with very little input¹⁶ from humans.

Paul Solman: Humans, who can't eat grass.

Bill Niman: These animals can convert cellulosic material to nutritious¹⁷ and delicious food for human consumption. And I don't think you can do that in a lab.

Paul Solman: Ag Professor Frank Mitloehner echoes the Nimans.

Frank Mitloehner: Here in California, half of all land in the state is marginal land, is rangeland used for cattle. And without them, you could not use that land for human food production. Two-thirds of all agricultural land in the world could not be used for food production for people.

Paul Solman: So removing grazing animals entirely would leave unfarmable acreage four times the size of California. But what about waste in water? It takes nearly 2,000 gallons to produce one pound of beef. Compare that to broccoli¹⁸ and cauliflower. The lowly legumes require just 34 gallons a pound. But, says Nicolette Niman...

Nicolette Niman: And so the whole ecosystem¹⁹ holds a lot more water in it when you have grazing animals, when they're well-managed. You also have just a lot more biological activity in the soil. And that turns out to be the cornerstone of sustainability for the whole food system.

Paul Solman: Biological activity enhanced, she says, by a very positive externality of cattle. That cow is pooping as we speak.

Nicolette Niman: Yay! Poop is good.

Paul Solman: Moreover, animals provide half our farm fertilizer. If poop goes, do bad-for-the-planet nitrates replace it? OK, but what about externality two, greenhouse gases? What percentage of greenhouse gases are accounted for, in your estimation, by livestock²⁰?

Jonathan Foley: Somewhere in the neighborhood 15 to 18 percent, yes.

Paul Solman: That's globally. Bovine²¹ bubble. So explain to me what this is?

Frank Mitloehner: So these are bovine bubbles that we use to measure the impact of livestock on the air.

Paul Solman: His measures, says Professor Mitloehner, show that emissions²² in America are much smaller than the global average.

Frank Mitloehner: Why? Because the efficiencies of livestock production in the United States have reduced our carbon footprint to historical levels. These heifers here will be finished, meaning go into slaughter²³, when they are 14 months of age. So, they're still very young. If they were on pasture their whole life, they would go to slaughter twice that age.

Paul Solman: If the rest of the world followed suit, Mitloehner says, the greenhouse effect would drop dramatically. But can it? Moreover, Jonathan Foley adds, American efficiency generates plenty of negative externalities itself.

Jonathan Foley: There's 100 million acres of corn that are basically being turned into cows. There's another 80 million acres of soy beans here.

Paul Solman: All right, that's land and air. What about bad for the body?

Walter Willett: We do see that higher amounts of red meat in the diet are associated with many adverse²⁴ health outcomes.

Paul Solman: Harvard nutrition expert Walter Willett.

Walter Willett: Cardiovascular disease, more cancer, more diabetes, higher total mortality.

Paul Solman: Adds food advocate Anna Lappe...

Anna Lappe: And right now in the United States, we consume basically twice as much, on average, protein as our bodies need.

Paul Solman: Impossible Foods' technology raises another concern. The FDA asked the company to re-test a key ingredient, soy leghemoglobin, to make sure it isn't an allergen. But, hey, it's about time for the final verdict. Who better to reach it, I thought, than "Omnivore's Dilemma²⁵" author Michael Pollan, who famously chronicled the foreshortened life of Number 534, a steer he bought and tracked from birth to feed lot to slaughter.

Michael Pollan: I think meat is a delicious food that humans have been eating for a very, very long time, and I think there is a place for animals in sustainable agriculture. However, that's not the kind of meat we're eating now. We're eating the products of a wasteful²⁶ and polluting feed lot system, and that allows us to eat an unnaturally²⁷ large amount of meat.

Paul Solman: Should plant-based meat replace meat-on-the-hoof completely?

Michael Pollan: The realistic goal is not to destroy the meat industry. People are going to continue to eat meat. It's to shrink it. It's to bring it back to a scale where we can raise cattle without destroying the environment.

Paul Solman: And it turns out even the Nimans aren't telling us to gorge²⁸ on their never-seen-a-feed-lot friends. And, finally, what about plant-based meat?

Nicolette Niman: When you're taking something in the diet that is simple and nourishing as eggs, meat, and milk, and you're telling people, you should replace it with this thing I created in a laboratory, I don't think it's going to work.

Paul Solman: I guess we will see. For the PBS NewsHour, this is economics correspondent Paul Solman. Come cattle! Let's come! Trying to call the cows, while reporting from California.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

3 luridly   

adv. 青灰色的(苍白的, 深浓色的, 火焰等火红的)

参考例句：

• It was night, and the white faces and the scarlet banners were luridly floodlit. 时间是在夜里，人们的苍白的脸和鲜红的旗帜都沐浴在强烈的泛光灯灯光里。 来自英汉文学
• Nationalist netizens in China's hyperactive blogosphere are more luridly anti-western than China's current rulers. 中国互联网上活跃的民族主义网民中反西方的比反现行统治者的多。

4 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

7 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

8 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

9 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。

10 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

11 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

14 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

15 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

16 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

17 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

18 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

19 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

20 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

21 bovine   

adj.牛的；n.牛

参考例句：

• He threw off his pack and went into the rush-grass andand munching,like some bovine creature.他丢开包袱，爬到灯心草丛里，像牛似的大咬大嚼起来。
• He was a gentle,rather bovine man.他是一位文雅而反应迟钝的人。

22 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。

23 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

24 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

25 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

26 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

27 unnaturally   

adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地

参考例句：

• Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. 她的嗓音很响亮，但是有点反常。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her eyes were unnaturally bright. 她的眼睛亮得不自然。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。