The Linguist

@Linguist_CIOL APRIL/MAY The Linguist 27 OPINION & COMMENT Demand-side ecology, on the other hand, sees the primary challenge as one of reducing the level of demand for goods and services to environmentally sustainable levels. Demand in this scenario involves choice and discernment. Less is more. The task would then become one of allocating scarce translation resources to the development of a just, sustainable and resilient society. From a demand-side perspective, the challenge is in beginning to think of the limits to translation growth. Translation is resource hungry, so the need to think about translation as a scarce resource in the light of the ecological mantra 'reduce, reuse, recycle' means the involvement of ethical choice. Do we favour the use of translation to sell another camera or hair gel, or to further the provision of health education? Do we pull translation resources from meat- based agriculture or the aviation industry and use them in environmental education? What is clear is that in a globalised world on the brink of climate chaos, translators cannot remain neutral in the debates that concern us all. There is a very real issue around the limits of translators' agency (I can't turn down that Exxon job, I need to pay this month's rent), especially as the pandemic has pushed some translators to the brink. However, the resource and consumption dimensions to our activities can no longer be ignored. Lobbying for change is one area in which we can help. And there are small changes that individuals can make which could make a significant difference collectively. The most energy-efficient way of connecting to an internet network is through a wired connection, whether Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable or fibre. Wifi uses more energy (15 times greater for 3G; 23 times greater for 4G). It's not so hard to make the switch. Choice of energy supplier is also important: go for one with a demonstrable commitment to renewable energy sources. When buying a new electronic device or product look for the Energy Star label or Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) label, approved by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. When discarding an old computer, laptop or printer use sites such as Earth 911 and My Green Electronics to find a reputable recycler. These changes all add up. Making a difference Naomi Klein noted that running economies on energy sources that release poisons into the atmosphere, as an inescapable part of their extraction and refining, necessitated the existence of 'sacrifice zones'. These zones had a number of features in common: "They were poor places. Out-of-the-way places. Places where residents lacked political power, usually having to do with some combination of race, language, and class. And the people who lived in these condemned places knew they had been written off." 2 It is often the poorest people on the planet, speaking the least-used languages, who find themselves at the frontline of the race to extract as many fossil fuel resources as possible from the earth. Klein, describing how the Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Canada took on oil and gas companies over tar sands oil extraction, claims that "some of the most Michael Cronin ITIA is Director of the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation and author of Eco-Translation (2017). TL marginalized people in my country are […] taking on some of the most wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet." From an eco-translation perspective, translators are the ones who can make a difference. Translating from indigenous languages, they can heighten awareness of the wealth, depth and complexity of the cultures and the worldviews that are being sacrificed in these zones. They can make audible stories that would otherwise go unheard. For that to happen, languages must be learned, translators must be trained. Genuine, global, biocultural diversity needs to become central to how translation defines itself and its priorities for a future on the only planet that will sustain us. Integrating an environmental dimension into translation practices and training is an urgent necessity if we are not to plead guilty as charged when the Kavanaghs of the future look back on what we did. Or failed to do. Notes 1 Vega, D, Cerdà-Albern, L, Navarro, L and Meseguer, R (2013) 'Topology Patterns of a Community Network: Guifi.net'; dsg.ac.upc. edu/sites/default/files/1569633605.pdf 2 Klein, N (2014) This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the climate, London: Allen Lane © SHUTTERSTOCK

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