4.warming oceans are a warning of the chaos ahead
Warmer seas present specific dangers, both to human and marine life: melting ice sheets; sea level rises (because water expands when heated); coral bleaching; more intense storms; lower oxygen levels causing fish to die. But they are also an indication of the overall pressure that global heating is placing on nature. The Earth’s capacity to stabilise the amounts of energy entering and leaving the planet’s system is reaching its limits for current patterns of existence.
海洋变暖对人类和海洋生物都带来了具体的危险：冰盖融化；海平面上升(因为水受热膨胀)；珊瑚白化。更猛烈的风暴；低氧水平导致鱼类死亡。但它们也表明了全球变暖给大自然带来的整体压力。地球把进入和离开地球系统的能量稳定下来的能力已经达到了目前生存模式的极限。
For many of those focused on what is happening – including activists, scientists and politicians – the inadequacy of national and international responses to the emergency is disorienting as well as disturbing. Despite decades of pledges made under the auspices of the UN’s climate process, global emissions are at an all-time high. It is hard to fathom what further evidence is needed to persuade governments that a drastic change of course is the safest option.
对于包括活动家、科学家和政治家在内的许多关注正在发生的事情的人来说，国家和国际对紧急情况的反应不足不仅令人不安，而且令人困惑。尽管几十年来在联合国气候进程的支持下做出了承诺，但全球排放量仍处于历史最高水平。很难想象还需要什么进一步的证据才能说服各国政府，彻底改变路线是最安全的选择。
But it is clear that the countries and businesses that are most strongly reliant on fossil-fuel profits will not willingly give them up. Whether and how they can be convinced or compelled to do so is the existential question of our times. Last weekend the G20 bloc of nations – which produce 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions – failed to reach agreement on phasing down fossil fuels. This November’s round of UN talks, Cop28, is being held in the United Arab Emirates and led by Sultan Al Jaber, who also heads his country’s national oil company. As forests burn and the sea turns green, the necessity of confronting vested interests – including energy-intensive western-type lifestyles as well as the corporations that depend on fossil fuels for profits – becomes more desperate by the day.
但很明显，最依赖化石燃料利润的国家和企业不会心甘情愿地放弃化石燃料。是否以及如何说服或迫使他们这样做，是我们这个时代存在的问题。上周末，占全球温室气体排放量75%的20国集团未能就逐步减少化石燃料达成协议。今年11月的第28届联合国气候变化大会将在阿拉伯联合酋长国举行，由苏丹贾比尔主持，他也是阿联酋国家石油公司的负责人。随着森林燃烧，海洋变绿，对抗既得利益——包括能源密集型的西方式生活方式以及依赖化石燃料盈利的公司——的必要性日益迫切。
