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002期|60年来的气候变化警告

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Sixty Years of Climate Change Warnings: the Signs that were Missed (and Ignored)

60年来的气候变化警告:那些被错过(和忽视)的迹象

The effects of ‘weird weather’ were already being felt in the 1960s, but scientists linking fossil fuels with climate change were dismissed as prophets of doom.

早在20世纪60年代,人们就已经感受到了“异常天气”的影响,但将化石燃料与气候变化联系起来的科学家却被斥为末日预言家。

In August 1974, the CIA produced a study on “climatological research as it pertains to intelligence problems”.

1974年8月,中情局制作了一份关于“与情报问题有关的气候学研究”的研究。

The diagnosis was dramatic. It warned of the emergence of a new era of weird weather, leading to political unrest and mass migration (which, in turn, would cause more unrest).

该研究的结论非常令人吃惊。它警告人们一个新的异常天气时代的出现将导致政治动荡和大规模移民(而这反过来又会导致更多的动荡)。

The new era the agency imagined wasn’t necessarily one of hotter temperatures; the CIA had heard from scientists warning of global cooling as well as warming.

中情局想象的新时代不一定是一个温度升高的时代,此前他们已从科学家那里听到了关于全球降温和升温的警告。

But the direction in which the thermometer was traveling wasn’t their immediate concern; it was the political impact.

但温度的变化并不是他们最关心的问题,他们关心的是政治影响。

They knew that the so-called “little ice age”, a series of cold snaps between, roughly, 1350 and 1850, had brought not only drought and famine, but also war – and so could these new climatic changes.

他们知道,所谓的“小冰期”,即大约在1350年至1850年之间的一系列寒流,不仅带来了干旱和饥荒,也带来了战争——这些新的气候变化也可能带来战争。

“The climate change began in 1960,” the report’s first page informs us, “but no one, including the climatologists, recognised it.” Crop failures in the Soviet Union and India in the early 1960s had been attributed to standard unlucky weather.

报告的第一页就指出,“气候变化始于1960年”,“但包括气候学家在内,没有人认识到了这一点”。20世纪60年代初,苏联和印度的作物歉收被归咎于典型的气候不佳。

The US shipped grain to India and the Soviets killed off livestock to eat, “and premier Nikita Khrushchev was quietly deposed”. But, the report argued, the world ignored this warning, as the global population continued to grow and states made massive investments in energy, technology and medicine.

美国向印度运送粮食,苏联人杀了牲畜来吃,“总理尼基塔·赫鲁晓夫则被悄悄废黜”。但是,报告认为,世界忽略了这一警告,因为全球人口持续增长,各国在能源、技术和医药方面进行了大规模投资。

Meanwhile, the weird weather rolled on, shifting to a collection of west African countries just below the Sahara. People in Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad “became the first victims of the climate change”, the report argued, but their suffering was masked by other struggles—or the richer parts of the world simply weren’t paying attention.

与此同时,怪异的天气继续频发,转移到了撒哈拉沙漠以南的多个西非国家。报告认为,毛里塔尼亚、塞内加尔、马里、布基纳法索、尼日尔和乍得的人民“成为气候变化的第一批受害者”,但他们的痛苦被其他斗争所掩盖,或者世界上较富裕的地区根本没有注意到。

As the effects of climate change started to spread to other parts of the world, the early 1970s saw reports of droughts, crop failures and floods from Burma, Pakistan, North Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras, Japan, Manila, Ecuador, USSR, China, India and the US.

随着气候变化的影响开始蔓延到世界其他地区,20世纪70年代初,缅甸、巴基斯坦、朝鲜、哥斯达黎加、洪都拉斯、日本、马尼拉、厄瓜多尔、苏联、中国、印度和美国都出现了关于气候干旱、作物歉收和洪水泛滥的相关报告。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
famine ['fæmin]

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n. 饥荒,极度缺乏

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global ['gləubəl]

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adj. 全球性的,全世界的,球状的,全局的

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emergence [i'mə:dʒəns]

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n. 出现,浮现,露出

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spread [spred]

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v. 伸展,展开,传播,散布,铺开,涂撒
n.

 
impact ['impækt,im'pækt]

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n. 冲击(力), 冲突,影响(力)
vt.

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dramatic [drə'mætik]

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adj. 戏剧性的,引人注目的,给人深刻印象的

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mass [mæs]

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n. 块,大量,众多
adj. 群众的,大规模

 
migration [mai'greiʃən]

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n. 移民,移往,移动

 
massive ['mæsiv]

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adj. 巨大的,大规模的,大量的,大范围的

 
thermometer [θə'mɔmitə]

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n. 温度计

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