来源：《每日电讯报》
原文刊登日期：2020年4月1日
If the public had any sympathy left for radical environmental activists who use disruptive tactics in the ridiculous belief that they will somehow save the planet, it surely evaporated this week. On the same day that energy bills soared due to supply pressures, two groups, Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, blockaded oil terminals at critical sites in the UK. The irony seems to have been lost on the activists, who claimed that they were protesting in the name of the cost-of-living crisis. They also argued, hysterically, that it was “genocidal” for the Government to be contemplating the expansion of oil and gas extraction in the UK as a response to high prices.
激进环保人士使用破坏性的策略，荒谬地相信自己能以某种方式拯救地球，如果公众对他们还有一点同情的话，这种同情在本周肯定消失了。就在能源费用因供应压力而飙升的同一天，“抵制石油”和“反抗灭绝”两个组织封锁了英国关键地点的石油码头。活动人士声称自己是在以生活费用危机的名义进行抗议，这其中的讽刺意味他们似乎没有领会。他们还歇斯底里地辩称，政府考虑在英国扩大油气开采以应对高油价的做法是“种族灭绝”。
Attempting to appease a clique of extreme eco-campaigners would never be a wise move, but it would be particularly foolish now. Politicians have neglected energy security in their single-minded pursuit of net zero, and households are paying a terrible price. The simple truth that the green extremists appear blind to is that it would be impossible to switch overnight to relying fully on renewable energy without shutting half the economy down. Indeed, the practical result of agreeing to the demand to end oil and gas extraction in the UK would be to increase our reliance on supplies from hostile states, including Russia.
试图安抚一小群极端的环保活动人士永远都不是明智之举，但现在尤其愚蠢。政客们一心一意追求净零排放，忽视了能源安全，而家庭正为此付出可怕的代价。环保极端分子似乎忽视了一个简单的事实，那就是，在不关闭一半经济活动的情况下，一夜之间完全依赖可再生能源是不可能的。事实上，同意停止在英国开采石油和天然气的实际结果将是增加我们对敌对国家（包括俄罗斯）能源供应的依赖。
The US, partially shielded from the energy crisis by its large domestic shale industry, shows a better way forward. Moreover, refocusing the country’s energy strategy on security of supply and lower prices does not mean that, in the longer term, the UK’s green ambitions need to be abandoned. But don’t expect the anti-capitalist activists who populate Extinction Rebellion to understand that.
美国国内大型页岩气产业在一定程度上保护了美国免受能源危机的影响，这表明了一条更好的前进道路。此外，将国家能源战略的重点重新放在供应安全和降低价格上，并不意味着从长远来看，英国必须放弃其低碳雄心。但不要指望“反抗灭绝”活动中的反资本主义激进分子会理解这一点。