In the Rocky Mountains of Central Colorado, the forces of nature create a landscape of alpine lakes,
科罗拉多州中部巍峨的高山上，自然的力量创造了一幅漂亮的风景画，有着高山湖，
high|altitude ponds teeming with life and mountain meadows bursting with wild flowers.
充满生命的高海拔池塘，长满野花的高山草原。
It is amidst these beautiful wildflower fields that one scientist has already found
在这类漂亮的野花中，
alarming evidence about the potential impact of global warming.
一位科学家发现了全球气候变暖的潜在影响的有力证据。
John Hart, a professor of Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkley,
John Hart是伯克利加利福尼亚大学环境科学的教授。
runs an experiment to determine what would happen if the temperature was just three degrees warmer here year around,
他组织了一个实验，察看假如这里一年之内气温升高3度会有哪些状况发生，
like the forecasted effect of global warming.
就好象全球气候变暖的预报。
That heating effect will induce dramatic effects on these subalpine meadows,
热效应会对这类亚高山带的草原产生剧烈的影响，
causing loss of plant seed we especially value here, the flowering plants.
导致大家很珍惜的开花类植物的降低。
John Hart has come here each summer since the 1970s, examining factors affecting life in this fragile ecosplayystem.
从上世纪70年代开始，John Hart每年夏季都会来这里，检查影响脆弱的生态系统的原因。
This heating is actually quite subtle. We are not heating a lot.
加热量其实非常微小，大家没加热不少。
Its only a few degrees, but it's causing the flowering plants to produce fewer flowers and to grow less abundantly.
仅仅几度的变化，就会致使开花类作物开花量降低，不像以前那样丰富。
His setup is relatively simple. Low|power electric heaters suspended above a mountain meadow heat the ground
他的设施相对来讲非常简单。低功率的电加热器悬挂在高山草原上给地面
and the plant life beneath, three degrees warmer than the surrounding area.
和下面的植物加热，比周围环境温度高3度。
The heaters are automatically and precisely controlled,
加热器是智能化的，温控很精准。
they have been on constantly, day and night, winter, spring, summer and fall since 1991.
从1991年开始，加热器就春夏秋冬季节日日夜夜的悬挂在那里。
In his global warming experiment, he suspended heaters in a grid pattern
在他的全球变暖实验中，他根据格子状悬挂加热器，
to create heated plots, then unheated plots, back and forth, so he can judge the effects side by side.
以组成加热区和非加热区，来来回回，如此来判款交互影响。
The difference, three degrees of separation makes in flowers and sagebrush, is easy to see.
3度温差给花和山艾树导致的差别一清二楚。
They suck juices out of the plant.
他们将汁液吸从植物中吸出来。
In the unheated natural area, sagebrush is a source of moisture for an army of thirsty insects. They keep sagebrush under control.
在没加热的自然地区，山艾树是不少昆虫的水源。他们使山艾树的数目遭到控制。
So they have little mouthpieces that can suck away at the nutrient.
他们并没吸取里面的营养。
But just a few feet away, sagebrush under the heater grows far better with fewer bugs.
但就在几英尺以外，在加热下的山艾树成长情况好不少，虫子极少。
...much more rapidly, we found that the heating is causing profuse growth of the sagebrush.
大家发现，加热使山艾树成长速度过快。
While that's good for the sagebrush; it's not good for its plant neighbors. Flowers feel the effect too.
虽然如此对山艾树最好，但对邻近的植物导致威胁。花也感觉到了影响。
In natural areas, flowers grow thick as they always do here, but a few feet away, where it's three degrees warmer, flowers are not as abundant.
在自然地区，花张的比较厚密，温度高3度的几英尺以外，花开的就没那样繁盛。
The meadows, instead of looking lush and strewn with flowers, are now actually rather arid.
草地没看起来苍翠繁茂，鲜花盛开，反而变成了不毛之地。
If global warming, or long|term climate change, does increase the year|around temperature here just a few degrees,
John Hart预测，假如全球变暖或者长期的气候变化致使这里的全年平均气温升高几度，
John Hart predicts, in decades to come, flowers could be crowded out by sagebrush.
将来的几十年之内，鲜花会被山艾树吞噬。
Global warming is more than just an ecological catastrophe; it would be a human catastrophe in all of its dimensions.
全球变暖并不仅仅是生态灾难，对人类来讲，也是一个巨大的灾难。
