執著以求，荒漠變綠洲

Ａｄａｍ　Ｋｈａｎ

崔忠軍 王文婧/編譯

When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah,he happened to live near an old copper smelter. The sulfur dioxide that poured out of the refinery had made a desolate wasteland out of what used to be a beautiful forest. When a young visitor one day looked at this wasteland and saw that there was nothing living there—no animals,no trees,no grass,no bushes,no birds ... nothing but fourteen thousand acres of black and barren land that even smelled bad—well,this kid looked at the land and said,“This place is crummy.” Little Paul knocked him down. He felt insulted. But he looked around him and something happened inside him. He made a decision:Paul Rokich vowed that some day he would bring back the life to this land.

Years later Paul was in the area,and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans to bring the trees back. The answer was “No.” He asked if they would let him try to bring the trees back. Again, the answer was “No.” They didnt want him on their land. He realized he needed to be more knowledgeable before anyone would listen to him,so he went to college to study botany.

At the college he met a professor who was an expert in Utahs ecology. Unfortunately, this expert told Paul that the wasteland he wanted to bring back was beyond hope. He was told that his goal was foolish because even if he planted trees,and even if they grew, the wind would only blow the seeds forty feet per year,and thats all youd get because there werent any birds or squirrels to spread the seeds,and the seeds from those trees would need another thirty years before they started producing seeds of their own. Therefore,it would take approximately twenty thousand years to revegetate that six--square-mile piece of earth.

So he tried to go on with his life. He got a job operating heavy equipment,got married,and had some kids. But his dream would not die. He kept studying up on the subject,and he kept thinking about it. And then one night,Paul looked at what opportunities were right in front of him. He decided to get up and take some action. He would what he could with what he had. This was an important turning point.

Under the cover of darkness, he sneaked out into the wasteland with a backpack full of seedlings and started planting. For seven hours he planted seedlings. He did it again a week later. And every week,he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and shrubs and grass. But most of it died. For fifteen years he did this. When a whole valley of his fir seedlings burned to the ground because of a careless sheepherder, Paul broke down and wept. Then he got up and kept planting.

Freezing winds and blistering heat,landslides and floods and fires destroyed his work time and time again. But he kept planting. One night he found a highway crew had come and taken tons of dirt for a road grade,and all the plants he had painstakingly planted in that area were gone. But he just kept planting.

Monthafter month,year after year he kept at it, against the opinion of the authorities,against the trespassing laws,against the devastation of road crews, against the wind and rain and heat ... even against plain common sense. He just kept planting. Slowly,very slowly,things began to take root. Then gophers appeared. Then rabbits. Then porcupines.

Eventually, the old copper smelter saw the results and gave him permission to plant. Then later, as times were changing and there was political pressure to clean up the environment, the company actually hired Paul to do what he was already doing,and they provided him with machinery and crews to work with. Progress accelerated. Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass and bushes, rich with elk and eagles, and Paul Rokich has received almost every environmental award Utah has.

Recently,Paul mused on his long decades of dedicated work,“I thought that if I got this started, when I was dead and gone people would come and see it. I never thought Id live to see it myself!”It took him until his hair turned white, but he managed to keep that impossible vow he made to himself as a child.

當保羅生活在猶他州的時候，他還是一個未成年的孩子。恰巧他家附近有一家老的煉銅廠。這家煉銅廠排出的二氧化硫氣體把這里原本美麗的森林變成了荒漠之地。一天，有一位旅行者看到這片荒漠，發現那里毫無生機——沒有動物出沒、沒有綠樹生長、沒有碧草繁茂、看不見灌木叢生、聽不到鳥鳴其間……這1.4萬英畝貧瘠之地，顏色發黑，甚至還散發著刺鼻的氣味。除了這些，別無他物。這位旅行者看著這片土地說：“這地方真糟糕。”小保羅聽到這話，覺得受到侮辱。他把這位旅行者打翻在地。可是，當他環顧四周時，心中波濤驟起。他下定決心：保羅·羅切茲發誓終有一天讓這片貧瘠的土地重現生機。

許多年過去了，保羅一直生活在這塊貧瘠的土地上。他曾去過煉銅廠辦公室，問廠方有沒有重新綠化的計劃。廠方的回答是：“沒有。”保羅又問是否同意讓他嘗試重新栽植樹苗，得到的答案是：“不同意。”廠方不希望保羅在他們的土地上做什么。保羅意識到自己需要再博學一點，這樣才有人愿意聽取他的意見。于是他上了大學攻讀植物學專業。

在大學期間，保羅結識了一位教授，他是研究猶他州生態學方面的專家。不幸的是，這位專家告訴保羅，重新綠化這片荒漠是不可能的事情。專家告訴保羅說他的目標很愚蠢，這是因為即使他能種上樹苗、盡管樹苗得以成活、每年風力只能把樹種吹出40英尺開外，這就是他所能獲得的全部，因為那里沒有鳥和松鼠散播這些樹種，加之這些樹種要再過30年才能繁育子一代種子。所以，要使這塊6平方英里的土地重現生機需要將近2萬年的時間。

保羅找了一份操作重型設備的工作，結了婚、生了孩子。可他心中的夢想沒有破滅。他堅持學習植物學，終日揣摩思考。一天晚上，保羅看到了眼前的機遇。他決定起床做點什么。他將以己所有做力之所及之事。這是一個重要的轉折點。

在夜幕籠罩之下，保羅身挎一裝滿樹種的背包，偷偷溜進這片荒漠，開始栽植樹苗。他一連栽了7個小時。一個星期以后，他又栽了一次。此后每周，他都會秘密潛入荒漠栽種樹苗、灌木和草。可是他種的這些大部分都枯萎死去了。當由于一個牧羊人的粗心，導致他栽植的整谷冷杉幼苗都付之一炬的時候，保羅癱倒在地，不禁失聲痛哭。接著他又站了起來，繼續栽樹。

寒風酷熱、山體滑坡、洪水山火，一次又一次地損毀新苗。可保羅還是不停地栽著。一天夜里，他發現一名路政人員來挖走了數噸松土去修公路斜坡。那里他悉心栽的樹苗蕩然無存。可他仍然繼續栽樹。

不管當局的反對、冒著非法占用土地的罪名、不怕路政人員的損毀、不畏風雨炎熱……甚至不顧別人的誤解，保羅堅持栽樹，繼續綠化、經月經年。由于保羅的堅持，事情漸漸有了起色。荒漠里出現了囊鼠，接著有兔子、豪豬出沒。

最終，那家煉銅廠看到了保羅所取得的成績，于是他們便允許保羅在他們的荒漠上種樹。再后來，隨著時代的發展，迫于當局治理環境的政治壓力，那家煉銅廠竟然雇用保羅為他們種樹。他們還給保羅提供機械和人力供使用和差遣。結果綠化進展相當快。現在這片土地擁有綠樹、碧草和灌木1.4萬英畝。這里還生活著眾多的麋鹿和雕。

保羅幾乎榮獲了猶他州所有的環保獎項。最近，保羅回顧自己這些年來辛苦的工作時說：“我原想如果我起個頭，當我有一天老去了，人們還會來看我未盡的事業。我沒有想到自己能活著看到這些變化。”這些變化、成績耗費了保羅一生的心力，不過他確成功地堅守了孩提時對自己許下的諾言。