美国国家公共电台 NPR--Planet Money: How Florida's manatees got hooked on fossil fuels

Planet Money: How Florida's manatees² got hooked on fossil fuels

Transcript³

In the 1970s, Florida's manatees were near extinction⁴. When power companies noticed manatees hanging out near their power plants in search of warm water, they partnered with environmentalists.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

In the 1970s, manatees were on the brink⁵ of extinction. In Florida, some impressive work to save the large gray marine⁶ mammals was successful, but it wasn't easy. Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi of our Planet Money podcast brings us the tale of strange stream bedfellows.

ALEXI HOROWITZ-GHAZI, BYLINE⁷: When aquatic⁸ biologist Pat Rose moved to Florida back in the mid-'70s, he started volunteering at the Florida Audubon Society.

PAT ROSE: And they basically said, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to help to protect manatees. And they essentially⁹ said, good. Go find the money to do it.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Manatees were extremely endangered. There were only about a thousand left. So he started applying for research grants and not getting them. But then he and his colleagues were approached with an offer from an unexpected source, a company called Florida Power & Light.

ROSE: They were the major utility in Florida.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: A utility company that burned a lot of coal. This is not who Pat expected to be chipping in for environmental research.

What did you understand their interest was in getting this kind of research done?

ROSE: Well, I think they felt threatened 'cause this was sort of the heydays¹⁰ of environmental awareness¹¹.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Companies suddenly had to respond to all these new environmental concerns, which is where J. Ross Wilcox comes in. He was Florida Power & Light's chief ecologist.

J ROSS WILCOX: What happened was that EPA was looking at a variety of power plants, and they were rattling¹² their sabers. And I got thrown into the lions' pit.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: By the mid-'70s, Ross explains, the government was starting to enforce new environmental laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. And for power companies like Florida Power & Light, one of the most expensive new regulatory threats boiled down to a problem with hot water. Basically, many power plants emit hot water, which can lead to die-offs of fish and other species. Now, Ross's power company was faced with potentially having to pay to retrofit their operations and install these cooling towers so they wouldn't be spewing hot water.

WILCOX: And cooling towers are a multimillion-dollar proposition.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: And it was around this time when Ross and his colleagues started thinking, there is also one animal that needs warm water to survive - the endangered Florida manatee¹, because while manatees may look blubbery, they'll actually start to die if they aren't consistently in water above 68 degrees. Historically, manatees had wintered at Inland Natural Springs, but by the mid-20th century, a lot of that habitat was being developed, and people started to notice manatees congregating¹³ near power plants like the ones run by Florida Power & Light.

But there still wasn't definitive¹⁴ science about where manatees lived, which is where Pat Rose over at the Audubon Society came in. He and his colleagues decided¹⁵ that it was worth accepting the utility company's offer to fund that research, as long as Florida Audubon would maintain full control of their findings. Over the next few years, Pat found evidence that manatees did depend on power plants for warmth. And Pat says those findings helped pass new laws protecting manatee habitat, protections which helped manatees begin to recover their numbers. J. Ross Wilcox at Florida Power & Light says those studies, including aerial photos, helped the company in its dealings with regulators.

WILCOX: When you looked up and all you saw was shoulder-to-shoulder manatees in the discharge canal, it didn't take much imagination to say that you turn that water off and those animals won't be there.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Of course, all this means that today manatees are still dependent on one of the main industries driving climate change, as Pat Rose reminded me.

How many manatees in Florida are dependent on the power industry?

ROSE: So about 60% - that's huge.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: The dilemma¹⁶ of finding an alternative, of restoring the manatees' natural habitat. But that is a really expensive prospect¹⁷. And as manatee numbers have begun to decline again after a collapse¹⁸ in their food supply, Pat's goal now is to convince the power companies to help create a fund for manatee conservation.

Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOALS'S "2 TREES")

1 manatee   

n.海牛

参考例句：

• We watched dolphin,manatee,sea lion and whale shows.我们看了海豚、海牛、海狮和鲸的表演。
• One of the most extraordinary river creatures is Amazonian manatee.其中河里最特别的生物之一要数亚马孙海牛。

2 manatees   

n.海牛（水生哺乳动物，体宽扁，尾圆，有鳃状肢）( manatee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The manatees tamed quickly. 海牛很快地被驯服。 来自互联网
• Gentle and slow moving, manatees are said to be the mythical mermaids of sailors' imaginations. 海牛游动温和而缓慢，被认为是海员遐想中富有神秘色彩的美人鱼。 来自互联网

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

5 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

6 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

7 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。

8 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 heydays   

n.盛世，全盛期（heyday的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The heydays of grave robbers and relic thieves are over. 盗墓者和文物窃贼的鼎盛时期已经过去了。 来自电影对白

11 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

12 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

13 congregating   

（使）集合，聚集( congregate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The spatial distribution patterns of larvae and pupae are congregating distribution. 幼虫和蛹的空间分布均为聚集分布。
• He says victims of violence are congregating there because they feel safer. 他说暴力的受害者聚集在这里因为他们觉得更安全。

14 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 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。

17 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

18 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。