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新浪首页 > 新浪教育 > 环保主义者的呼声:不爱长城非好汉

环保主义者的呼声:不爱长城非好汉
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/06/17 10:21  北京青年报

  Who are we if we cannot CHERISH the Great Wall?

  "Exodus to countryside creates litter mountain" read①a headline in the South China Morning Post on May 28. Due to SARS, wrote Benjamin Wong in Hong Kong's main English-language paper, 1.4 million Hongkongers flocked to the region's countryside parks during April. And they left an unprecedented amount -- 460 tonnes -- of garbage. Bins overflowed, park staff worked a record amount of overtime and the government spent a record amount of money to clean up the mess.

  As an environmentalist and a Great Wall conserva-tionist in particular, I found the report troubling. What, I wondered, is going to happen after the SARS emergency, when Beijing's cooped-up populace once again starts head-ing for the hills, especially around the Great Wall? Even before SARS, the mountains near Beijing and the popular sections of the Great Wall were increasingly strewn with litter. Post-SARS, people will be more likely to get rid of their own garbage as soon as they possibly can -- on the spot. With thousands of people heedlessly dumping trash each week, it won't be long before what they seek in the hills -- a bit of wilderness -- is lost.

  It is a sad fact that China's countryside is rapidly being despoiled by city people. So what is to be done?

  For the last three years, International Friends of the Great Wall, the society I founded to contribute to the pro-tection of the monument, has operated a ranger scheme at a section of wall in Huairou County. In that time we've learned a lot about the phenomenon of littering. The scheme has two components: farmers employed as rangers to walk the trails and wall and pick up garbage left by those visitors who, for whatever reason, still litter in defi-ance of our "green message boards", the second compo-nent. Yes, the message "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints, keep the wall wild and won-derful!" is ignored by all too many visitors.

  During the first year we hired a truck every three months to take garbage to a landfill site in Huairou. By last autumn we needed the truck every month.

  On the positive side, with investment in time, money, materials and management -- and most of all motivation to keep the wall and its surroundings clean -- the site can be maintained. But if the scheme were stopped, even for a short time, our part of the wall would rapidly deteriorate in environmental quality and become as bad as many other sites. Why are so many people unwilling to be good stew-ards of the Great Wall and the beautiful countryside in gen-eral? Despite our plea, we estimate that 70 percent of visitors still just go ahead and drop their garbage. What possesses them to litter?

  Five years ago, as I was organizing my first Great Wall cleanup, a colleague suggested, in a friendly but frank way, that I should abandon the activity. "That's the govern-ment's job," he said. "You should stick to what you really love, researching the wall." His comment revealed what those 70 percent think: that it's not their job. But it's a massive and costly undertaking to clean up after 70 percent of 1.3 billion.

  International Friends of the Great Wall, an underfunded NGO, has used a considerable proportion of its limited cash to date②to address a problem that need not exist in the first place -- and at a time when there are many other serious issues to confront.

  Nature has physically damaged the Ming dynasty wall enormously in the last 350 years. Advancing deserts, severe mountain weather and tremors have all taken their toll.③What remains now is the fragile soul of the Great Wall: even this is now under modern attack, by man.

  "Who are we if we cannot reach the Great Wall?" wrote Chairman Mao in 1935 as he spurred on the Red Army during the Long March. Nearly 70 years later it's never been easier to reach the Great Wall: people have money, leisure time, cars and good roads. Maybe now we should ask "Who are we if we cannot CHERISH the Great Wall?" We must learn to tread softly in this outdoor museum, not to scrawl our names and thoughts on its 500-year-old bricks. We must see the Great Wall from a new perspective, not just as an ancient structure but as a landscape, not something that belongs to us for use today, but something we all must help to preserve for tomorrow.

  But most of all we must CONTRIBUTE as individu-als, each and every one of us. Insgroupsto guide and encour-age the growing numbers of people visiting the countryside to play their part, International Friends of the Great Wall has started to promote a "Countryside Code". Next week I'll tell you about it -- and ask you to take the pledge!

  For more on Great Wall conservation see www.friendsofgreatwall.org

  本文作者为“国际长城之友”会长威廉-林赛先生

环保主义者的呼声:不爱长城非好汉

  “涌向乡村的人们造就了垃圾山”,这是5月28日香港《南华早报》一条新闻的标题。本加敏-王(音译)在香港这家主要的英文报纸上写道,由于非典,140万香港人于4月份云集到该地区的乡村公园,并且留下了史无前例的大量垃圾———460吨垃圾,垃圾箱全都满得溢了出来,公园工作人员加班时间创了纪录,政府用于清污的费用也创了纪录。

  作为一个环保主义者,特别是作为一个保护长城的人,我对这篇报道感到焦虑。我想,在非典疫情暴发后的紧急关头,当北京闭门在家的人们再次涌向山区,特别是长城附近,那会发生什么情景?即便是在非典发生之前,北京附近的山区以及著名的长城景点的垃圾就已经日益增多。发生非典之后,游人们更可能忙不迭地将手中的垃圾扔在那里;随着每周数千人不在意地把垃圾丢掉,用不了多久,人们在山野间寻求的那点野趣将不复存在。

  这是个令人悲哀的事情:中国的山野正迅速地受到城里人的洗劫。那么该怎么办呢?

  在过去的三年里,“国际长城之友”这个由我创办的致力于保护这一历史丰碑的组织,已经在怀柔县的那段长城开始实行了环保员计划。在这段时间里,我们了解到了大量乱弃垃圾的现象。该计划有两项内容:第一项是招募农民作为环保员,他们沿着山间小道和长城行走,捡拾游客们留下的垃圾;那些游客,不知什么原因,公然蔑视我们立下的“绿色告示牌”,依然我行我素乱扔废物,而“绿色告示牌”就是计划的第二项内容。是啊,那上面的话“除了照片什么都不要带走,除了脚印什么都不要留下,保持长城古朴的魅力”被太多太多的游客忽视了。

  在第一年,我们每三个月雇一辆卡车将垃圾运到怀柔的一个销纳场,到了去年秋天,我们每个月就需要一辆卡车来运送了。

  从积极的方面来说,我们投入了时间、金钱、物资与管理———而最重要的,是我们有保护长城及周边环境清洁卫生这一心愿———这地方就能够维护好。但是,如果这一计划停下来,哪怕是停短短一段时间,我们的这段长城在环境质量上就会迅速恶化,就会变得像其他段长城一样糟糕。为什么哪儿哪儿都有那么多人不愿意做长城和美丽山野的好管家?尽管我们在呼吁,我们估算70%的游人仍然是一边向前走,一边丢下他们的垃圾。是什么驱使着他们乱扔废物?

  五年前,当我组织第一次清洁长城的活动时,一位中国同事非常善意但直率地对我说,你应该放弃这一活动。“那是政府的事,”他说,“你应该专注于你所真正喜爱的事,去研究长城。”他的话表现出那70%的人所想的:清洁长城不是他们的事。但是,如果在13亿人口的70%的身后去清扫垃圾可是件艰巨而耗资的工作!

  “国际长城之友”这一资金很少的民间组织,至今已将其有限资金的很大比例用到了这一本不必是第一重要的事情上———现如今有很多其他重要问题需要解决。

  在过去的350年当中,大自然已经极大地损害了明代长城的躯体。不断延伸的沙漠、严酷的山地气候和地震在漫长的岁月中都起到了破坏作用,如今留下来的是长城脆弱的灵魂。然而即便如此,它如今仍然处于人类的现代攻击之下。

  “不到长城非好汉”,毛主席于1935年在长征路上为激励红军写下了这句诗。在近70年之后的今天,到达长城是再容易不过的事情了。人们有了钱,有了闲,有了车,还有了很好的路。或许我们现在应该说:“不爱长城非好汉。”我们必须学会轻轻地走过这座露天博物馆,不要把自己的名字和想说的话乱写在有500年历史的砖上。我们必须从新的角度看待长城,它不仅仅是个古建筑,而且是个景观;它不仅仅是属于我们的为今天所用之物,而且是我们大家为了明天而必须保护好的珍品。

  但最重要的是,我们当中的每一个人,你、我、他,都要作出努力。为了指导并鼓励越来越多游览山野的人们发挥自己的作用,“国际长城之友”开始推行“山野行为规范”,下周我将向你介绍———并请你承诺执行。

  有关长城保护的更多信息,请访问www.friendsofgreatwall.org.




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