“叛逆的植物学家”用粉笔来帮助人们与自然相联系

When Sophie Leguil hits the streets near her home in London, she's armed with sidewalk chalk. The French ecologist and botanist is one of an army of "rebel botanists" working to identify the little-known and underappreciated wild plants that grow along the sidewalks and curbs of cities throughout Europe.

索菲·勒吉尔(Sophie Leguil)在伦敦的家附近的街道上行走时，身上带着粉笔。这位法国生态学家和植物学家是一群“叛逆植物学家”中的一员，他们致力于发现欧洲城市人行道和路边上生长的鲜为人知、未被充分认识的野生植物。

Botanists say their sidewalk graffiti helps people pay more attention to the natural world around them. (Photo: Sophie Leguil)

"The idea of the project is to change people's perception of urban plants, plants growing on pavements, on walls and in tree pits," Leguil tells MNN. "People call them 'weeds.' They get sprayed and removed. But all these plants are part of our urban nature, they help remove pollution, produce oxygen, and are useful to insects and birds."

Leguil告诉MNN:“这个项目的想法是要改变人们对城市植物的看法，植物生长在人行道上、墙上和树坑里。人们称它们为‘杂草’。它们会被喷洒农药并去除。但所有这些植物都是我们城市自然的一部分，它们有助于消除污染，产生氧气，对昆虫和鸟类也很有用。”

The hope is that by calling attention to the flora with graffiti, more people will respect and appreciate them — and be less likely to spray them with pesticides. It's a movement that began several years ago in France.

希望通过呼吁人们关注涂鸦植物，更多的人会尊重和欣赏它们，而不太可能向它们喷洒农药。这是一场几年前在法国开始的运动。

Sophie Leguil received permission to chalk the sidewalks in Hackney, a borough of London. (Photo: Sophie Leguil)

When Leguil lived in France, she was involved in the Sauvages de ma rue (wild things of my street) campaign, to help change the way people viewed street plants. That was years before France banned the use of pesticides in public spaces in 2017.

当勒吉尔住在法国时，她参与了Sauvages de ma rue(我这条街的野生动物)运动，以帮助改变人们看待街头植物的方式。那是在2017年法国禁止在公共场所使用农药之前的几年。

French botanist Leguil points out Mexican fleabane on a sidewalk. (Photo: Sophie Leguil)

More people have been paying attention to nature during the coronavirus pandemic when lockdowns have limited what they can do and where they can do it.

在冠状病毒大流行期间，越来越多的人开始关注自然，因为封锁限制了他们的活动和活动地点。

Now that Leguil's sidewalk labels have made their way online, many people have reached out about her chalk work.

现在，勒吉尔的人行道标签已经在网上流传，很多人都开始关注她的粉笔画。

Shepherd's purse is identified near a curb. (Photo: Sophie Leguil)

Lequil is talking with leaders, hoping to work with them to protect these sidewalk plants.

勒吉尔正在和领导人们谈话，希望能和他们一起保护这些人行道上的植物。

She hopes the attention will snowball into something that draws even more notice for these tiny plants.

她希望这种关注能像滚雪球一样，为这些小植物吸引更多的注意。

"I don't exactly know how the project is going to develop, but I have a few ideas," she says. "I'd love to help people understand the value of these plants through talks or guided walks. (I have been doing some 'virtual walks' via Zoom.) I am working on a guide to urban plants, and on resources that could be used by schools."

她说:“我不知道这个项目将如何发展，但我有一些想法。我很乐意通过讲座或有导游的散步来帮助人们了解这些植物的价值。(我通过Zoom做了一些“虚拟散步”。)我正在写一本关于城市植物和学校可用资源的指南。”

Several people have reached out to say they'd like to do similar things in Australia, Sweden, Germany, or the U.S.

有几个人表示，他们想在澳大利亚、瑞典、德国或美国做类似的事情。

Meanwhile, in the U.K., the rebel botanists are hard at work.

与此同时，在英国，植物学家们正在辛勤工作。

More than 127,000 people have liked a photo of chalked-up tree names by botanist Rachel Summers in the London suburb of Walthamstow.

日前，英国植物学家蕾切尔·萨默斯在伦敦郊区Walthamstow拍摄了一张用粉笔写的树名的照片，超过12.7万人点赞。

"I love this so much," wrote @JSRafaelism on Twitter. "Really simple, brilliant thing to make people's lives a bit better and more interesting."

“我太喜欢这个了，”@JSRafaelism在Twitter上写道。“真的很简单，让人们的生活变得更好更有趣。”