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Life and Death in a Hotter World
高温世界的生与死
The parched, burning U.S. West signals a grim future
灼热的美国西部预示着严峻的未来
BY JUSTIN WORLAND
作者：贾斯汀·沃兰
The Aug. 9 warning from The u.n. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) couldn't be more clear: the reality of climate change is unequivocal, its effects are already playing out in every region of the planet, and we need to act now before the outlook gets worse. In a 4,000-page report, the U.N.'s climate-science body laid out in methodical detail the ways in which human activity has set life on the planet on a collision course. Today, the effects of climate change are already pervasive; if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at current rates, the effects of climate change will be catastrophic and irreversible. "Recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying—unprecedented in thousands of years," says Ko Barrett, a vice chair of the IPCC.
联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)8月9日发出的警告再清楚不过了：气候变化的现实是不容置疑的，它的影响已经在地球上的每一个地区显现，在前景变得更糟之前，我们需要现在就行动起来。在一份长达4000页的报告中，联合国气候科学机构有条不紊地详细阐述了人类活动是如何将地球上的生命置于碰撞轨道上的。今天，气候变化的影响已经无处不在。如果我们继续以目前的速度排放温室气体，那么气候变化的影响将是灾难性的且不可逆转的。政府间气候变化专门委员会副主席柯·巴雷特说：“最近的气候变化范围广、速度快且强度大——这是数千年来前所未有的。”
It's a revelation both shocking to read and perhaps painfully obvious for the countless people who are already feeling the effects—from Germans whose homes were wiped away by floods this year to farmers suffering from ongoing drought in Central America. In the U.S. the nascent climate crisis appears most dramatic in the West, where a combination of drought and extreme heat has created life-threatening conditions.
这一启示令人震惊，但对于无数已经感受到影响的人来说，或许是显而易见的痛苦——从今年房屋被洪水冲走的德国人，到遭受持续干旱的中美洲农民。在美国，刚刚开始的气候危机在西部表现得最为严重，那里的干旱和极端高温造成了危及生命的条件。
TIME sent photographer Adam Ferguson on the road across six Western states—from Arizona to Washington—for more than five weeks in June and July to document how climate change is shaping life on the ground. He captured images of empty reservoirs and families who lost loved ones to unbearable heat. He encountered farmers worried about watering their crops and saw the devastation left by wildfires. It's a searing warning from a particularly iconic region on a planet that is, in so many places, on fire, parched or underwater.
6月至7月，《时代周刊》派摄影师亚当·弗格森穿越了美国西部的6个州，从亚利桑那州到华盛顿，历时5个多星期，记录气候变化对地面生活的影响。他拍到的画面里有空了的水库，有因难以忍受的高温失去亲人的家庭。他遇到了担心浇庄稼的农民，看到了野火造成的破坏。在这个星球上，有很多地方在燃烧、干旱或者被水淹没，这是来自一个具有代表性的地区发出的严重警告。
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