The sound coming from a small machine is the sound of green economy.
这是一部小型机器所发出的绿色经济的声响。
"This is the world's first commercially available pedal generator, allowing to convert your human power into usable electricity. It can currently recharge our own portable lights. It can also charge mobile phones," said Sameer Hajee, whose company, Nuru Design, has 10,000 clients in Rwanda, India and Kenya. It relies on a network of 80 peddlers who make a living out of pedaling to recharge the lights or cell-phones of their neighbors.
努鲁设计(Nuru Design)公司的萨米尔·哈吉(Sameer Hajee)说：“这是世界上第一台供销售的脚踏式发电机，能将人力转化为可以使用的电力。它目前能为我们便携式照明灯再次充电，还能为手机充电。”努鲁公司在卢旺达、印度和肯尼亚有一万客户。脚踏式发电机需要80名脚踏工人轮换为所在社区的照明灯或手机充电。
Nuru Design plans to increase its customer base tenfold by the end of the year. This activity is no charity but a viable business, servicing people who do not have access to electricity.
今年年底，努鲁公司计划将客户数量增加9倍。这并不是慈善施舍，而是一项可行的商业活动，为使不上电的民众提供电力服务。
"Essentially the market is so huge," Hajee said. "There are two billion people affected by this problem. So, to the extend that you can get this technology to them, this could potentially be a very profitable business."
哈吉说：“关键是市场是如此巨大。使不上电的人有20亿。所以说，如果你能向他们提供这项技术，利润潜力就非常巨大。”
Economist Pahvan Sukdhev is a special advisor to the United Nations environment program. He explains that businesses such as Nuru Design are examples of what a "green economy" would be like.
联合国环境计划特别顾问、经济学家帕文·苏德赫夫(Pahvan Sukdhev)解释说，努鲁设计公司所从事的商业活动代表着“绿色经济”的未来。
"It is actually a new paradigm that, in many ways, is beginning to be seen," he said. "And, what you see is a new economy breaking through what's breaking down: that heavy, industrialized, over-ambitious, over-productive, over-consumptive model, which is actually going to completely destroy our chances of survival in the future. And, what the green economy is, it's an alternative that doesn't do all that."
苏德赫夫说：“这其实是一个新的范例，很多方面刚开始显现效力。你所看到的是从一个正发生严重问题的经济模式中蜕变出来的新形经济，那种以重型、工业化、雄心膨胀、生产过剩、消费过度为特色经济模式已经过时了，因为这种模式实际上会彻底摧毁我们未来的生存希望。绿色经济就是能避免这一切的替代经济。”
Pahvan Sukdhev says that the green economy can generate growth. The International Labor Organization estimates that renewable energy could generate up to 20 million new jobs, if it were to represent 30 percent of the worldwide energy output.
苏德赫夫说，绿色经济能帮助经济增长。国际劳工组织估计，可再生能源如果能占全世界能源生产的30%，就能创造多达两千万份新的就业。
Chinese Society Entrepreneurs and Ecology represents 130 businessmen who have embraced the principles of green economy: one builds energy efficient high-rise buildings; another ecology-friendly flooring that use fast-growing bamboo.
中国的阿拉善生态协会(Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology)拥有130名倡导绿色经济原则的企业家会员。这个协会的原则就是兴建节能型高层建筑。他们的另一个倡议是用生长速度快的竹子制做生态型地板。
The Society's secretary general, Lee Peng, says businessmen in China are starting to change their attitude towards green economy.
阿拉善生态协会的杨鹏说，中国商人正在开始转变对绿色经济的态度。
"The majority of them is still struggling to be compliant with environmental regulations," said Peng. "But then, at the top of the pyramid, you have a small-but-growing group of entrepreneurs in China who see that greening their business is not just a legal requirement, nor a responsible act to do. It is the only way that they can secure the core competitiveness of their businesses."
杨鹏说：“他们大多数都在努力遵守环境规定。但是，在金字塔的顶端，有少数中国企业家认为，发展绿色产业，不光是满足环境要求，也不仅仅是负责任的行为方式，而是确保企业核心竞争力的唯一途经。这个群体正在扩大。”
Kenyan national Wangari Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the Green Belt Movement, an organization that engages in tree-planting activities and environment conservation. She says that the goods and services provided by nature - like clean air, rain or fertile soils - should not be taken for granted. She says her organization, albeit a non-profit, has an economic impact that should be acknowledged.
旺加里·马塔伊(Wangari Maathai)是肯尼亚人，2004年因对绿色带运动(Green Belt)的贡献而荣获诺贝尔和平奖。绿色带组织开展植树活动，保护环境。她说，大自然提供的物质与服务，比如清洁空气、雨水和肥沃的土壤，不应被认为是当然的存在。她表示，她领导的绿色带非盈利组织已经对经济产生了影响，值得肯定。
"In terms of the soil that we have protected; in terms of the biodiversity we have protected by protecting forests; in terms of facilitating rainfall patterns and, therefore, supporting agriculture; this is in terms of millions of U.S. dollars," said Maathai. "I am sure. This, I'm sure, is what we should be doing in the future: paying for the environmental services we get from our environment and paying the people who take care of these services. Eventually, we should have to pay them to do this work for all of us."
马塔伊说：“我们所保护的土壤，保护森林所保留下来的生物多样化，以及我们所缩短的降雨周期，对农业带来的好处，我肯定价值都有数百万美元。我认为，这是我们未来需要做的工作：为环境对我们提供的一切支付环境服务费用，为环境服务工作人员支付工资。最终，我们会不得不请他们替我们大家提供环境服务的帮助。”
Last December in Copenhagen, the international community took a first step towards making society pay for the services provided by nature for free. It is called the initiative for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, where local population would be paid to protect forests.
人类社会为大自然向我们免费提供的服务而支付费用，是一个目标。国际社会去年12月在哥本哈根朝这个目标迈出了第一步。这就是“减少森林砍伐和退化产生的排放”（reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation）计划，用付钱的方式鼓励当地人保护森林。
Pahvan Sukdhev says that this shows that the world is slowly moving towards a green economy.
苏德赫夫说，这显示世界正慢慢迈向绿色经济。
"I'm an optimist, and I think if you're a pessimist that's just an excuse for inaction. People are ready [for a green economy], but the problem is, there are vested interests," he said.
他说：“我是个乐观的人。我认为，如果你感到悲观，那只能是无所作为的借口。人们已经准备迎接绿色经济了，问题是，这里存在着既得利益。”
Pahvan Sukdhev says that the change called for is in scale similar to the industrial revolution, but with a heightened sense of urgency, because of the threat of climate change. It would require a high political commitment that the world has yet to show.
苏德赫夫说，世界要求的改变，规模不亚于一场工业革命，而且紧迫感更加强烈，原因就是气候变化带来的威胁。这要求强烈的政治决心，国际社会还没有展示出这种决心。 |