A Country's Standard of Living 国家的生活标准 The standard of living of any country means the average person's share of the goods and services which the country produces. 任何国家的生活标准意味着人均占有这个国家生产的商品和服务的价值。 A c
Hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar, biomass. 水力，地热，风力，太阳能以及生物质。 Did you know that last year, for 299 days, 你们知道去年总共有299天， we did not use any fossil fuels in order to generate all our electricity? 我们生
That year, the country was coming out of civil war. 那年，哥斯达黎加刚从一场内战中解脱。 Thousands of Costa Ricans had died, and families were bitterly split. 成千上万的哥斯达黎加人死于战乱，一个个家庭支离破碎，人们流离失所。 And yet, a surprising ide
In the '50s, we started investing in hydropower, 在五十年代时，我们开始投资水电工程， and that kept us away from the trap of using fossil fuels for electricity generation, 这也使我们避免陷入使用石油来发电的困局， which is what the world i
How do we build a society without fossil fuels? 如果不用石油，我们如何让一个社会运转起来？ This is a very complex challenge, 这是个十分严峻的挑战， and I believe developing countries could take the lead in this transition. 我相信发展中国家可
So what comes next? The people. 那么接下来呢？我们的百姓。 How do we get people to own this? 我们如何才能让人们去接受这个想法？ How do we get people to believe that it's possible to build a society without fossil fuels? 我们如何才能让人们相
Second, we have to change, but incremental change is not going to be sufficient. 第二，我们必须改变，但是逐步的变化是不够的。 We need transformational change. 我们需要的是转型和变革。 And there are some incremental projects in my coun
So the question is, what is the next big idea for this generation? 那么问题来了，我们这一代的下一个大想法又是什么呢？ And I believe what comes next is for this generation to let go of fossil fuels for good, just as we did wit
It's hurting people, it's hurting companies, and it's hurting our health. 这影响了百姓的利益，也伤害了公司的利益，同时也在影响我们的身体健康。 Because when policies and infrastructure fail, 因为当政府政策和基础设施的建设都无法发挥作用的时候， this is what happ
People feel powerless, and they are tired of not being heard. 群众很多时候都会觉得自己有心无力，他们再也不希望自己的呼声被无视了。 So what we do is concrete things, 所以我们要做的是基础观念的建立， and we translate technical issues into citizen langu
So if we want to get rid of oil-based transportation, we can, 所以如果我们想放弃以石油为主的交通系统，我们完全可以， because we have options now that we didn't have before. It's really exciting. 因为现在我们拥有以前所没有的选择。这真的是非常激动人心。 But
I've been thinking a lot about the world recently and how it's changed over the last 20, 30, 40 years. 最近我常常思考我们的世界以及它在过去的20，30，40年里经历了何等的转变。 Twenty or 30 years ago, if a chicken caught a cold and sne
This is clearly not a good arrangement. We clearly need to change it. 这明显不是个良好的形势。我们明显需要改变现状。 We clearly need to find ways of encouraging countries to start working together a little bit better. 我们明显需
So a couple of years ago, I thought I would take some time out and speak to that gigantic database and ask it, 所以几年以后，我认为我可以抽出些时间来跟那个庞大的数据库聊聊，问问它， why do some people prefer one country more than anoth
Now that's the Good Country Index. What's it there for? 这就是好国家指数。它有什么目的？ Well, it's there really because I want to try to introduce this word, or reintroduce this word, into the discourse. 它存在的目的是因为我想
But actually, aren't most of us not really so very good at empathy? 但事实上，我们大多数人难道不是缺乏同情心吗？ Oh sure, we're very good at empathy when it's a question of dealing with people who kind of look like us 当然，我
That's what I would like you to do, and I'd like you to use it as a stick with which to beat your politicians. 这是我希望你做的，我希望你用它当一根棍子来鞭策你的政党。 When you elect them, when you reelect them, when you vote fo
Now the other thing you'll notice about the top 10 there is, 另外一件你注意到的前十名的事情是， of course, they're all, apart from New Zealand, Western European nations. 当然，除了新西兰以外，它们都是欧州国家。 They're also all rich. Thi
And you're waiting for me to tell you which one comes top. 你在等我告诉你哪个国家是第一名。 And I'm going to tell you, but first of all I want to tell you precisely what I mean when I say a good country. 我会告诉你，但首先让我告
And so you may say, well, given all of that, why then doesn't it work? 你可能说，就算这样，为什么不奏效呢？ Why can we not make our politicians change? Why can't we demand them? 为什么我们无法让政党改变？为什么我们无法要求他们？ Well I, like a
