It's no secret that our planet is in a pretty dire¹ condition. Extinction² rates have been estimated to be about 1,000 times higher than they should be, and that's all due to human influence—and interference. With around 20,000 species at risk for extinction and countless³ others that we haven't even discovered yet also dying, scientists are rushing to figure out what we can do about it. Some have suggested the sixth great mass extinction is looming⁴ on the horizon, and the problem is a massive one. It's so big that there are things that you do every day that are helping⁵ to bring about the end of the world, and chances are that you might not even know it.

我们的地球正处于危在旦夕之境地，这已不是个秘密了。据估计，现代环境下的生物灭绝率，是其自然条件下灭绝率的1000倍之高，而这一切的始作俑者，正是人类的影响和干涉。目前，大约两万种生物濒临灭绝，其他无数尚未为人类所发现的物种亦面临灭绝，科学家们正夜以继日地研究着我们可以做哪些事来补救。有人提出，第六次“物种大灭绝时代”已缓步逼近，而这一问题已十分严峻。事实上，问题在于，你每天都做会加速地球毁灭的事情，而很可能你对此毫无觉察。

10.Using Disposable Chopsticks

10.使用一次性筷子

Chances are good that you don't even think about environmental impact when you pull a pair of wooden chopsticks out with your order of takeout, but those chopsticks are having a devastating⁶ impact on China's forests. China produces a whopping 80 billion disposable chopsticks every year. The vast majority are used—and thrown away—in China itself. A mind-blowing number, 80 billion is enough to blanket Beijing's Tiananmen Square in at least 360 layers of chopsticks.

当你从所订的打包餐点中拿出一双木制筷子的时候，你很有可能都不会想到它对环境所产生的影响，但是这些筷子的确会对中国的林木造成毁灭性的打击。中国每年都会生产高达800亿双的一次性筷子，而其中的绝大多数都被使用并丢弃在了国内。一个令人瞠目结舌的数字是，800亿双筷子足以铺满北京天安门广场至少360层。

That kind of production takes 20 million trees, and not just any trees. Twenty-year-old trees. The impact of that is exactly as bad as you'd think. China suffers from a major deforestation problem for no reason other than chopsticks. It's also not helped by the fact that demand for disposable wooden chopsticks is increasing dramatically, up from 57 billion in 2009. That's resulted in China ranking somewhere around 139th place when it comes to per capita forest coverage⁷ with less than a quarter of the world's average. The problem has gotten so bad that China is now imposing⁸ restrictions⁹ on the production of chopsticks, limiting quantities companies can produce and increasing the taxes imposed on purchases. They're also starting a big push to introduce the idea of carrying reusable chopsticks in a bid to aid in the recovery of the nation's forests. By 2020, they hope to add 40 million hectares of trees, but that can only happen if they can alleviate¹⁰ some of the stress placed on the environment by chopsticks.

这些筷子的制成需要2000万棵至少20年树龄的树木。它的影响，正如你所想象的那样恶劣。由于使用一次性筷子，中国正在苦苦承受着巨大的滥砍滥伐所致的土地荒漠化问题，并且由于人们对一次性木制筷子的需求从2009年的570亿开始急遽增长，这一因素的恶劣影响如今有增无减。这导致了中国人均植被覆盖面积还不足世界平均水平的四分之一，在排名榜上只位列139名前后。这一问题已经如此严峻，以致于中国政府目前正对筷子的生产量施加限制，控制能够生产一次性筷子的公司数量和提高一次性筷子的购买赋税。同时，他们也开始竭尽全力地鼓励人们使用可重复利用的筷子，以拯救这个国家的林木危机。到2020年，他们希望能增加4000万公顷的植被覆盖。但是，除非能够减轻一些木制筷子施予环境的沉重压力，否则这一夙愿便难以成真。

9.Birth Control Is Working On Fish, Too

9.计划生育殃及鱼类

Know anyone who's on the pill? They're also spreading pregnancy¹¹ prevention to marine¹² wildlife, and that's a problem.

你知道有谁在服用避孕药吗？他们也在将节育的影响扩大至海洋野生物，而这成了一个大问题。

In 2014, researchers at the University of New Brunswick released the results of a study that had been going on for several decades. They were looking at wastewater treatment and its impact on freshwater ecosystems¹⁴, and they found that even trace amounts of estrogen in the environment can wipe out entire species. In 2001, a small amount of estrogen, one of the active ingredients in birth control pills and hormone¹⁵ therapy treatments, was introduced into a freshwater lake research facility in Ontario. The impact was almost immediate¹⁶. Male fish first began producing egg proteins and then producing eggs. Even tiny trace amounts were enough to feminize the male fish, which led to a complete crash of the ecosystem¹³. The insect populations normally kept in check by the fish suddenly skyrocketed. As the minnow population plummeted¹⁷, so did the population of the lake trout¹⁸ that fed on them. It's not just happening in research facilities, either. Calgary's Red Deer and Oldman rivers have been hit by the same problem. The cause has been traced back to the release of improperly¹⁹ treated wastewater that contains hormones²⁰ from hormone therapy drugs and birth control pills. Hormones that aren't absorbed or used end up in the sewer²¹ system after they cycle through the human body. In areas where that sewer water is dumped into lakes and rivers, the average fish population is about 85 percent female, a stark²² contrast to the normal 55 percent. Fish exposed to the hormones not only lose the ability to reproduce, but their accidental hormone treatment impacts eggs at the development stage as well.

在2014年，新不伦瑞克大学的研究人员公布了一项已经进行了数十年的研究成果：他们观察了废水的处理过程和其对淡水生态系统的影响，并且发现，即使环境中微量的雌性激素都会摧毁整个海洋物种。雌性激素是避孕药品和激素治疗法的有效成分之一。2001年，研究人员引进了微量的雌激素于安大略湖的一家淡水湖研究基地内。其影响几乎是立竿见影的。雄性鱼类破天荒地开始分泌卵蛋白质，然后竟开始产卵。只需极其微小的量，就能促使雄性鱼类雌性化，这对生态系统造成了巨大、猛烈的冲击。由于鱼类数目的暴涨，昆虫的数量通常受到了很大抑制。而鲦鱼数目的骤然减少，也使得以此为食物的湖鳟鱼同其厄运。这样的情况并不只是发生在此研究基地内。卡尔加里的红鹿河和老人河也遭遇了同样的问题。其原因已被追溯到对含有激素治疗药物和避孕药品中的残留激素的废水处理不当和大量排放。那些经过人体的新陈代谢而未被完全吸收和利用的激素物质会残留于下水道管道内。在一些地区，污水被倾倒而最终汇入了湖泊与河流，这些地区雌性鱼类的平均比例达到了大约85％，与正常水平的55％形成了鲜明的对比。那些暴露在激素物质中的鱼类不仅会丧失繁殖能力，而且它们所意外遭受的“激素疗法”也会影响孵化阶段鱼卵的发育与生长。

8.Birds On Prozac

8.服用百忧解危及鸟类

Record numbers of people are taking antidepressant drugs like Prozac. While many of them might be concerned primarily about feeling different, they should also be concerned about what they're doing to the environment.

据统计，现在许多人都在服用像百忧解这样的抗抑郁药物。可能他们主要关心的只是药物能够带给他们不一样的感觉，却极少有人去考虑这样做对环境的伤害。

According to a study from the University of York, the amount of antidepressants (specifically Prozac) that are found in the environment can be potentially devastating to birds. They started by measuring the amount of Prozac that made its way into the earthworms that were feeding on sewage and wastewater. The dose was small, only about 3 to 5 percent of an average human dose. They then fed the Prozac-laced worms to a group of 24 starlings and recorded their behavior for the next six months. The birds began to show the same side effects to the drug that are reported in humans. They lost interest in food and stopped eating. They also lost interest in starlings of the opposite sex. The two main side effects have dual²³ impacts; their loss of interest in food makes them weaker and less likely to make it through winter months, and their loss of libido²⁴ has the potential to severely²⁵ impact breeding numbers. The birds didn't seem to have any of the good effects of Prozac. Their general mood and disposition²⁶ remained the same. Just how widespread an impact this could have on the world's bird populations isn't known, but it's thought that it might have something to do with the decline in the starling population over the last few decades—to the tune of about 50 million birds.

英国约克大学的一项研究表明：环境中残留的抗抑郁药物（尤其是百忧解）对鸟类潜在着一种致命性威胁。百忧解残留药物随着下水道进入污水和污物中，污水经蚯蚓食用后，抗抑郁药物又残留在它们体内。首先他们测量了蚯蚓体内的药物剂量，研究结果发现其只占人均服用量的3-5%；然后，他们用这些体内含有残留药物的蚯蚓喂食了24只椋鸟并记录了这群鸟在之后六个月的行为表现。药物对人类产生的副作用对于鸟类同样适用：它们开始对食物和异性丧失兴趣并不再吃食以及求偶。这两种主要副作用又进而产生了双重危害：食欲下降使它们身体越来越弱，以致很难熬过寒冬；性欲下降又强烈冲击着其繁殖能力，以致鸟类数量大幅减少。百忧解并没有让鸟类情绪更兴奋，反而对其有百害而无一利。抗抑郁药物对世界上鸟类的影响有多么广泛，我们不得而知，但最近几十年中大约有共计五千万椋鸟数量的下降很可能和人类服用抗抑郁药物有关。