美国国家公共电台 NPR--Guide racks up TikTok views explaining the megadrought in the Colorado River

Guide racks up TikTok views explaining the megadrought in the Colorado River

Transcript¹

Understanding drought in the West is hard. A Colorado woman is explaining the problem to a new generation of water users to debunk² misinformation that can easily spread during a crisis.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A 25-year-old river guide is racking up TikTok views while explaining the megadrought in the Colorado River basin. Luke Runyon of member station KUNC reports.

LUKE RUNYON, BYLINE³: Teal Lehto honed her short, snappy explanations of the West's water problems guiding rafting trips down the Animas River in her hometown of Durango. She'd have just a couple minutes in between shouting paddle commands to the tourists in her boat. And after running the same stretch of river a few times a day for months...

TEAL LEHTO: You get to the point where you're like, OK, I know I'm going to need to call a command in exactly 45 seconds. Like, what story can I tell in the meantime? And I'll tell you the better stories you tell, the better tips you get.

RUNYON: That same formula works on TikTok, just trade the tips for likes. On the app, Lehto by WesternWaterGirl, and her clips regularly garner⁴ hundreds of thousands of views.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LEHTO: Remember when I said the Colorado River Basin states had exactly 31 days to come up with a plan to reduce their water consumption by 25%?

RUNYON: In her videos, Lehto, with her straight brown hair and cat-eye makeup⁵, sits in front of the camera, news-anchor style. Photos of the Southwest's shrinking reservoirs pop up behind her.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LEHTO: And hopefully, if enough of us are talking about it, then water managers and elected officials in the Southwest might feel pressure to actually change the system.

RUNYON: The Colorado River has been her focus since she started on the app earlier this spring. Tens of millions of people depend on the river, and it's facing a serious shortfall in supply. Lehto says the concepts can be hard to grasp at first, which is why she avoids all the jargon⁶ that comes with the heavily engineered systems used to plumb⁷ the arid⁸ West.

LEHTO: I get comments that are like, wow, you just connected a lot of dots for me. Like, I understood pieces of this, but you're the first person who explained it in terms that I can understand.

RUNYON: Lehto grew up rafting the streams of southwestern Colorado and says one event in particular was formative. She was working at a local outfitter one morning in 2015 when the sheriff's office called.

LEHTO: They said, I don't know what you're planning on doing today, but you're not going to be able to go rafting. And I was like, what are you talking about?

RUNYON: A plume⁹ of neon-orange wastewater released from the Gold King Mine into the Animas River was making its way toward Durango.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In Colorado, a crew working for the Environmental Protection Agency accidentally released a million gallons of toxic¹⁰ sludge into a river.

RUNYON: As the news spread, Lehto, 17 years old at the time, found herself fielding calls from journalists all over the world.

LEHTO: I had no idea, like, the scale of the issue nor what to say to those people (laughter).

RUNYON: Since going viral, Lehto's TikToks have earned praise from others in the world of water. Bronson Mack is in communications for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. He came across Lehto just by scrolling¹¹ and says a partnership¹² to help spread the agency's conservation message could be in the cards.

BRONSON MACK: More than anything, the impact that we saw with that is how direct and accurate the information was.

RUNYON: Lehto says she sees a way to make this a career path. More water agencies and environmental groups are reaching out with offers to collaborate¹³, turning her hobby into a moneymaking opportunity. And she says the timing¹⁴ is right because she's already found an audience.

LEHTO: Yes, it is complicated, but the public deserves to understand it, too. And that's why it's really important to break it down into, like, small bite-sized pieces.

RUNYON: Especially, she says, because the region is reaching a moment of reckoning on water management, and finding a good solution will require everyone to know how it works.

For NPR News, I'm Luke Runyon in Durango, Colo.

1 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。

2 debunk   

v.揭穿真相，暴露

参考例句：

• let's debunk some of the most common falsehoods.让我们来揭穿一些最常见的谬误吧。
• Sequences of maps can also debunk misconceptions.一系列的地图，也有助于厘清错误概念。

3 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。

4 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

6 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

7 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

8 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

9 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

10 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

11 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

13 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

14 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。