Shoes Are Built to Last Too Long 鞋子做得太耐穿了

Thomas Bogle has worked in the footwear industry for years. He also loves torun. He runs every day in the forest near his home in Colorado. But while training fora race， he couldn’t stop thinking about the bits of plastic and rubber1 that his shoeswere shedding2 on the forest floor.

With every step we take， our shoes leave behind an invisible3 trail4 ofcontaminants5. These contaminants can potentially6 harm the soil， water andanimal health.

Shoes contain different types of plastics. Every year， about 500，000 tons ofmicroplastics seep7 into the world’s oceans. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic.They form as larger plastic objects break down. They can harm living things and theenvironment.

Bogle is trying to do something. He wants to change the way that shoes are made.

托馬斯·博格爾在制鞋行業工作多年。他也喜歡跑步。他每天都在科羅拉多州他家附近的森林里跑步。但在為一項比賽進行訓練時，他不由自主地想到了他的鞋子在森林地面上脫落的塑料和橡膠碎片。

我們每走一步，鞋子都會留下一條看不見的污染物痕跡。這些污染物可能會對土壤、水和動物健康造成潛在危害。

鞋子含有不同類型的塑料。每年，約有50 萬噸微塑料滲入世界海洋。微塑料是微小的塑料片。它們是在較大的塑料物體分解時形成的。它們會危害生物和環境。

博格爾正在努力做點什么。他想改變鞋子的制造方式。

Waste Problem With Sneakers

Some shoe brands are trying to developgreener shoes. For example， some shoebrands have changed the materials in theupper sections of shoes.

But many brands have largelyoverlooked soles8. A sole is the bottom part ofa shoe. It is made up of the insole， whichtouches the bottom of your foot， and theoutsole， which makes direct contact with theground when you walk.

Now， several companies are starting todevelop plant-based soles. They don’t leaveplastics behind when they break down.

Shoes are designed to last 1，000 years， andwe use them for 100 days， said Yuly Fuentes-Medel. She helped write a report on how tomake the shoe industry more sustainable9.

運動鞋的浪費問題

一些鞋履品牌正在嘗試開發更環保的鞋子。例如，一些鞋履品牌已經更換了鞋面的材料。

但許多品牌在很大程度上忽視了鞋底。鞋底是鞋的底部。它由鞋墊和外底組成，鞋墊接觸你的腳底，外底在你走路時與地面直接接觸。

現在，幾家公司開始開發植物鞋底。它們分解時不會留下塑料。

“鞋子被設計成可以持久使用1000 年，而我們使用100天。”尤利·富恩特斯-梅德爾說。她幫忙寫了一份關于如何使鞋業更具可持續性的報告。

Fixing Footwear

Americans alone throw away 300million pairs of shoes every year. Onlyabout 13 percent of clothing and footwear isrecycled in the United States.

That’s partly because of the complexity10 of the shoemaking process.The average sneaker is composed of morethan 130 individual pieces. That makes itnearly impossible to recycle them.

The plastics in shoes also causeproblems while people are wearing them.One study suggests that plastic from shoesoles reduces soil’s capacity11 to holdwater. Another study suggested that salmonwere dying due to a chemical that is foundin both tires and footwear.

Plant-based soles can solve some of theproblems. They won’t shed plastic into theenvironment. Plus， they generate fewer toxic12 chemicals. But shoes made withnatural materials face some of the samechallenges as plastic-based shoes once they’rethrown out. Taking the shoes apart is stillhard. Recycling shoes will require setting upnew systems.

But Fuentes-Medel said it’s importantthat people continue to ask for theseplant-based products. She said thesystems for recycling will fall intoplace. This could lead to a moresustainable shoe industry.

處理鞋類

僅美國人每年就扔掉3 億雙鞋。在美國，只有大約13%的服裝和鞋類被回收利用。

這在一定程度上是因為制鞋過程的復雜性。普通的運動鞋由130 多個單件組成。這使得回收利用它們幾乎不可能。

當人們穿著鞋子時，鞋子里的塑料也會引起問題。一項研究表明，鞋底的塑料會降低土壤的蓄水能力。另一項研究表明，三文魚正因一種存在于輪胎和鞋類中的化學物質而死亡。

植物鞋底能解決其中一些問題。它們不會將塑料脫落到環境中。此外，它們產生的有毒化學物質更少。但是，用天然材料制成的鞋子一旦被扔掉，就會面臨與塑料鞋相同的挑戰。拆開這雙鞋仍然很難。回收鞋子需要建立新的系統。

但富恩特斯-梅德爾表示，人們繼續要求這些植物性產品是很重要的。她說，回收系統會到位。這將使制鞋業更具可持續性。

Sustainable Soles

Bogle had an idea to create an entirelyplastic-free shoe outsole. He got some helpfrom Gene Kelly. He is a professor of soilscience and a fellow runner. Together，Bogle and Kelly developed a shoe sole. Itis made of beeswax13， vegetable oils andplant products such as leaves and husks14from corn and other crops.

Bogle’s company partners with farmers.The farmers grow and harvest the plantmaterials. Then， the materials are blended15with natural rubber to create the sole.

These shoes don’t shed toxicchemicals. Instead， the soles put nutrients16back into the soil as they naturally weardown over time.

These days， Bogle runs， hikes and golfs inshoes with his company’s plant-based soles.

“Footwear is a very hard product tofix，”he said. “It really requires completelychanging how we think about footwearand how we make footwear and thematerials we use.”

環保鞋底

博格爾有創造一種完全不含塑料的鞋外底的想法。他得到了吉恩·凱利的幫助。吉恩·凱利是土壤科學的教授，也是一名跑步愛好者。博格爾和凱利共同開發了一款鞋底。它由蜂蠟、植物油和諸如玉米和其他作物的葉子和外殼的植物產品制成。

博格爾的公司與農民合作。農民種植和收割植物材料。然后，這些材料與天然橡膠混合被制成鞋底。

這些鞋子不會釋放有毒化學物質。相反，隨著時間的推移，鞋底會自然磨損，從而將營養物質重新注入土壤。

現在，博格爾穿著他公司植物鞋底的鞋子跑步、遠足和打高爾夫球。

“鞋類是一種很難處理的產品。”他說，“這確實需要徹底改變我們對鞋類的看法、我們制造鞋類的方法和使用的材料。”

Notes

1. rubber 橡膠

2. shed 落；掉落

3. invisible 看不見的

4. trail 痕跡

5. contaminant 污染物

6. potentially 可能地，潛在地

7. seep 滲漏，滲透

8. sole 腳底；鞋底

9. sustainable 可持續的；不破壞環境的

10. complexity 復雜性

11. capacity 能力

12. toxic 有毒的

13. beeswax 蜂蠟，黃蠟

14. husk 皮；外殼

15. blend （使）混合，調和

16. nutrient 養分，營養物