步入尘土中 Garden City 附近的荒漠化农田 —— 毕业之旅第六天（下）

Stepping into the Dust Desertified Farmland near Garden City - The 6th Day afternoon of The Graduation Travel

这片土地，是我在看地图时无意间发现的。后来我把这片土地作为我毕业设计的构想，构想30年之后如果整个中部大平原上面大部分的地下水都已经被开采，而地下水的补给又需要很长很长，几乎不可能短时间发生，需要forever，那么这些田地将会怎么办，我们是不是需要构架一种新的运营保护模式。在她们完全没有灌溉用水，要开始退化，荒漠化之前做些什么，以更好地产生过度，而不至于所有的一切到时候同时发生，随着气候变化，全球气温上升，要是在某一个时候，一整片的荒漠化同时发生的话，将会对整个中部大平原都产生出非常难以修复的后果。

I discovered this land while looking at the map accidentally. Then later I used this land as a prototype for my thesis project, to envision what will happen to these fields in 30 years if most of the groundwater above the entire central Great Plains has been tapped, and groundwater recharge takes a long, long, long time, almost impossible to happen anytime soon, and needs to be forever, and do we need to frame a new mode of operation and conservation. What is going to happen to these fields? Do we need to construct a new model of operation and conservation? What is going to happen to them before they completely run out of irrigation water, before they start to degrade, before they start to desertify, to better produce excess and not have everything happen at the same time, and with climate change, with the rise in temperatures globally, if at some point a whole area of desertification happens at the same time, it's going to be very difficult to fix for the entire Central Great Plains.

Garden City 附近的这片农田，原本也和其他灌溉的农田没有什么区别，只不过是其他地方的农田还没有开始大范围使用灌溉的时候，这片区域就率先开始使用地下水灌溉了。

This farmland near Garden City was originally no different from any other irrigated farmland, except that this area was the first to use groundwater for irrigation when other farmlands had not yet begun to use irrigation on a large scale.

就这样一直灌溉灌溉了二三十年， 随着其他地方越来越多人使用这种中心灌溉的方式灌溉农田，这里的地下水水位开始下降，可以说是越来越难抽到地地下水。

This area has been irrigated for 20 to 30 years, and as more and more people in other places use this center irrigation method to irrigate their farmland, the groundwater level here began to drop, and it became more and more difficult to pump groundwater.

于是，也不知道怎么的，直到某一个临界点，或许农场主经营不善，或许地下水确实太难以抽取，或许农场主打算卖掉土地。总之农田是荒废了，有一段时间没有植物在土壤上面生长， 表层土壤很快就被蒸发，被风吹走，也就开始发生荒漠化。

And so, somehow, there was a tipping point where maybe the farmers were not doing well, maybe the groundwater was just too hard to pump, maybe the farmers were going to sell the land. Anyway, the farmland was abandoned, and for a while, no plants were growing on top of the soil, and the top layer of soil soon evaporated, was blown away by the wind, and desertification began to occur.

直到如今，这里仍然是以一堆沙子，这个下午的旅程，就是要探寻这一大片农田。而这次的到访，可以说是做完设计之后回来的验证，思考以及反思应该怎么样更好的设计。

To this day, it remains as a pile of sand, and this afternoon's journey was to explore this large area of farmland. This visit can be said to be a validation of coming back after doing the design, thinking as well as reflecting on how it should be better.

一路上走在这些田间村路，尽管不是什么高速公路，但是这样的公路限速65，不过上面也没有什么车，而且非常笔直，一路上也还十分安全。

Walking along these fields and village roads, although it is not a highway, but such a highway speed limit of 65, but there are no cars on it, and it is very straight, and the road is also very safe.

路上可以看到的灌溉设备。

Irrigation equipment can be seen on the road.

有水灌溉，生长得好的农田，绿意盎然，一片生机勃勃。

With water irrigation, the well-grown farmland is green and vibrant.

庄稼的大规模生长，大规模农业种植，十分震撼。

The massive growth of crops and large scale agriculture is very impressive.

有灌溉的农田边缘，这些土地并没有被开发使用，也就生长着原来的草，厚厚的一层。

The edges of the irrigated farmland, which is not developed for use, also grow the original grass in thick layers.

有些草是高高一层。

Some of the grass is tall.

有些干草堆，一层层地堆叠在农地的边缘，似乎成为了一个很好的防护挡墙。可以遮风。

Some of the haystacks, stacked layer upon layer on the edge of the farmland, seemed to make a good protective retaining wall. It would keep out the wind.

距离目的地越来越近，看到的开始荒漠化的土地。

Closer and closer to the destination, the land is seen beginning to desertify.

要真正到达荒漠化的核心，其实是要经过一些护栏的，也就是说我实际上已经算是私闯这种私人领地了，如果别人开枪驱赶那就只能走。只不过上面没有人，十分荒废。

To actually reach the core of the desertification, I actually had to pass through some guardrails, which meant that I was actually kind of trespassing on this kind of private territory, and if someone else shot and drove them away then I had to walk. It's just very deserted with no one on it.

沙丘一堆又一堆，上面也就只能生长出几寸草。

Dune after dune, and only a few inches of grass grows on it.

道路漫长而崎岖，是不是给你轮胎打滑，好在车比较重就划过去了，也不知道要是陷车了，那该怎么办。

The road is long and rough, is not to give you tire skidding, good thing the car is heavier on the paddle through, and I do not know what to do if you get stuck in the car, then what to do.

路上的蝗虫，贴在车窗上，一只又一只。

The road was full of locusts, sticking to the car windows, one after another.

以至于最后终于找到了一个地方稍微停好车，放飞无人机。这个过程里我不敢熄火，一方面是外面实在太热，在车上可以开着空调，另一方面是考虑到这些都是私人的田地，万一被人赶走的时候可以跑快点。

So much so that I finally found a place to park the car and fly the drone. I didn't dare turn off the engine during this process, partly because it was really hot outside and I could keep the air conditioning on in the car, and partly because I considered that these were private fields so that I could run faster in case I was driven off.

很多土地田野，上面的灌溉设备都还在，但是已经荒漠化了。

Many of the land fields, with all the irrigation equipment still on them, were desertified.

一片又一片，似乎有一点土地的凹凸不平，被盛行的西南又干又热一直吹之下，就很容易被吹秃，直到荒漠化。

Field after field, there seemed to be a little bit of unevenness in the land, and being blown under the prevailing dry and hot southwest all the time, it would be easy to be blown bald until it was desertified.

附近还在运营的一些田，似乎在这些荒漠化的田附近，与你为邻，并不是一个很好的选择，长时间以来沙子会吹到自己的田地上，使得自己的田野更为贫瘠。

Some of the fields that are still in operation nearby seem to be near these desertified fields, and it's not a good choice to have you as a neighbor; the sand will blow onto your own fields for a long time, making them even more barren.

从空中俯瞰，斑驳的沙地，就像是寒风中被划伤的伤口，只不过这个伤口很可能越来越大，到最后成为一大片。

From the air, the patches of sand look like a cut from the cold wind, except that the cut is likely to get bigger and bigger, and in the end become a large area.

在她们还有足够的水灌溉的时候，谁又会想到，如果没有继续灌溉，这里的植被和各方面的情况都会发生变化，在长期的灌溉之后，土壤开始盐渍化，没有一定时间的恢复，是很难重新恢复成为自然的样子的。

When they still had enough water to irrigate, who would have thought that if they did not continue to irrigate, the vegetation and all aspects of the place would change, and after a long period of irrigation, the soil began to salinize, and without a certain amount of time to recover, it would be very difficult to return to becoming natural again?

斑驳的土地，就这样十几年了，还是如此的斑驳，也不知道是情况变得更糟糕呢，还是情况有所改善了。

The land is still so mottled after just over a decade, and it's not clear if things have gotten worse or if things have improved.

记忆中只记得，这天风很大，短暂升空后的无人机被吹到北边一公里远，完全无法在空中定住。 在拍摄得差不多之后，赶紧开启运动模式逃命，只记得在高空无人机已经无法和这里的风对抗，唯有想办法先降落，再一边降落一边往自己的方向开来。最后在电池报警之时，终于平安降落。

All I remember is that it was a very windy day, and after a brief liftoff, the drone was blown a kilometer to the north, completely unable to settle in the air. After filming almost as much as I could, I hurriedly turned on the motion mode to escape, only remembering that at high altitude the drone was no longer able to fight against the wind here, and the only thing left to do was to find a way to land first, and then drive in my direction while doing so. Finally landed safely when the battery alarmed.

附近的干草堆，有时候想起了万里长城，如果这些草堆堆放在已经荒漠化的地方，又能不能阻止这些已经荒漠了的地方继续蔓延。或者，这些干草堆能不能形成一个个防护林，起码，目前的防护林被证实了10倍距离之外，对植物的生长有帮助是有效的，也就证明了在10倍高度距离之内，都可以减少一定的风的影响。 这些干草堆，或许也应该能起到类似的作用吧。

The nearby haystacks sometimes reminded me of the Great Wall of China, if these haystacks were piled up in places that were already desertified, would they be able to stop the spread of these already deserted places. Or, these haystacks can form a protective forest, at least, the current protective forest has been proven to be 10 times the distance away, to help the growth of plants is effective, which also proves that within 10 times the height of the distance, can be reduced to a certain degree of wind impact. These haystacks, perhaps, should do something similar.

下车沿着车外面拍了一下外面的风景，我一直在思考，这片土地，或许是不是本来就不适合当作农田。

Getting out of the car and taking pictures of the landscape outside along the outside of the car, I've been thinking about whether or not this land, perhaps, was never meant to be used as farmland in the first place.

但是发展的需要，一旦开始，就没有办法结束，直到最后大家都发现这并不合适，但是已经为时已晚。多年来的更重带来的土地损耗，最终使得这里伤痕累累，短时间内无法恢复。

But the need for development, once it starts, there is no way to end it, until eventually everyone realizes that it's not suitable, but it's too late. The depletion of the land from years of heavier weights eventually scarred the place and it won't be able to recover anytime soon.

一堆堆的沙丘，尽显荒芜。

Piles and piles of sand dunes were as barren as they could be.

一只只的蝗虫，也不知道为什么跑到了车上。A lot of locusts had run into the car for no reason.

或许个人的力量太过渺小了，一旦当荒漠化的这个过程开始，如果没有足够的资金和人力物力财力，很难制止这场灾难的蔓延。在这段旅程之后，我看了一本书，名字叫做《崩溃》，上面讲了一连串崩溃发生的故事，和这片土地，也并没有什么不一样的地方。

Perhaps the power of the individual is too small, once when this process of desertification begins, without sufficient funds and human and material resources, it is difficult to stop the spread of this disaster. After this journey, I read a book called "Collapse", which tells a series of stories of how the collapse happened, and this land, which is no different.

在离开这片土地的路上，我想到了《流浪地球》里面的经典台词。

On the way out of this land, I thought of the dialog from The Wandering Earth.

夜幕降临，这天我们在附近的一个城市教堂的亭子里，随便吃了两个泡面和沃尔玛买的烤鸡， 饱餐一顿，开始考虑接下来的回程。

As night fell, on this day we stopped at a nearby city church's pavilion for a casual meal of two instant noodles and grilled chicken from Walmart, and began to think about the rest of our return trip.