Climate change is real. Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and clearing forests, among other human activities, is to blame. And more and more of that global warming pollution is being dumped in the atmosphere each year.
气候变化是事实。产生气候变化的罪魁祸首是化石燃料的燃烧,以及树木的砍伐等人类活动。如今,排放到大气中的温室气体一年比一年多。
So says the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's new synthesis report released on November 2. The synthesis reduces thousands of pages of scientific knowledge to their essence. That essence, however, has hardly changed since the last synthesis report in 2007.
联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会于 11月2日发布的综合报告也是如此说。该报告省略了数千页描述气候变化本质的科学知识。自2007年的综合报告发布以来,这些被省略的部分就没有改变过。
What has changed is the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which have now touched 400 parts-per-million. Pollution in the first decade of the 21st century grew twice as fast as it did in the last few decades of the 20th century. The resulting global warming poses risks ranging from rising sea levels that drown inhabited coasts to crop failures from stronger heat waves and drought.
改变的内容则是大气中温室气体的浓度,现已上升至百万分之400。21世纪头10年的污染速度和20世纪最后几十年的污染速度一样,增长了两倍。全球变暖势必会造成海平面上升,沿海居住区的淹没,以及热浪和干旱加剧导致的作物减产。
The IPCC has now offered a budget for how much pollution people can add to the atmosphere without too much climate change. Unfortunately, humanity has already used more than half of that budget.
日前,联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会就人类可以向大气排放多少污染物而不至使气候变化太明显发布了一个“预算”。遗憾的是,人类早已用尽过半“预算”。
The world's nations are meeting in Lima this year in hopes of hammering out a global deal to combat climate change to be agreed upon in Paris in 2015. The new report is a reminder to world leaders that the stakes, like the seas, are high.
今年,世界各国领导人在利马召开会议,希望拟定一项应对气候变化的全球协议,并于2015年在巴黎商定。对于世界各国领导人来说,这份新报告是个提醒,当中的厉害关系就像大海一样深不可测。