《季风的奇迹》（Wonders of the Monsoon）S01E05《People of the Monsoon》
Our story begins as the relationship began – humans entered the region as hunter-gatherers. On the Philippine island of Palawan, near Borneo, for part of the year, people still hunt in the forest and live in caves. As with their ancient forebears, their lives are underpinned by a closeness to and a spiritual respect for nature.
Around 10,000 years ago, rice – the perfect monsoon crop – changed everything. In the paddies of Assam, India, farmers battle a herd of hungry elephants over the rice crop. Conflicts like this have played out for thousands of years. But this tension in the relationship has been softened by another phenomenon – organised religion. Both Hinduism and Buddhism have deeply influenced the relationship – teaching a deep respect for nature.
We meet a group of the Bishnoi sect who believe that all life is sacred and have been known to lay down their lives for nature, even to protect trees. As a consequence of this philosophy, their marginal farmland supports a higher density of people than any other desert in the world. Across India, thousands of sacred groves are reserved for the worship of nature. For thousands of years, wildlife that lives in these areas has been protected, helping to keep the subcontinent the bio-diverse place that it still is.
But the relationship now faces a challenge from worldwide demand for the Monsoon’s bounty, especially the clearance of forests for cash crops. The most visible casualties are iconic species such as siamese crocodiles, bengal tigers and orangutans, as their habitat is stripped from around them. But even here there is hope. Local people are figuring out how to harvest both the natural timber and crops that the world wants, in a more sustainable way.
Whatever the future holds for the lands of the monsoon, all of us are now connected and surely have a part to play.
天涯飘萍生（Donatino），《天涯小筑》的作者兼创始人，资深博客作家，在国内较早开展英语电视剧集（美国、加拿大、英国和澳大利亚剧集）的介绍、新闻翻译、点评及推广等工作，并写有大量电视知识专题介绍文章。代表作品包括：《科幻与电视》、《美剧入门》、《一部电视剧集是怎样“炼成”的》、年度《年终特稿》、年度《节目完全指南》等。从2006年至今，天涯飘萍生翻译了95%英语电视剧集的专题介绍资料和官方新闻稿，转发了90%英语电视剧集的预告片、片花、花絮、访谈和宣传片等视频。天涯飘萍生还曾参与字幕翻译工作，代表作品包括：《暗域魔舰》、《探索者传说》、《时间旅人》、《星际之门：宇宙》、《远古入侵》、《梅林传奇》、《恐龙帝国》、《无敌女金刚》、《异种战士》、《武神公主西娜》、《巴克罗杰斯在二十五世纪》等。
