来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年7月16日
Tomorrow, as we seek shelter from a burning sun, climate change will feel all too real. Britain has suffered ever more vicious storms and floods over the past few years but the next couple of days will drive home the menacing discontinuity with our idea of normal, a step change in our collective awareness. The expected heat – temperatures that may exceed 40C warns the Met Office – are not only a record, but life-threatening.
明天，当我们在烈日下寻找遮阳处时，气候变化将变得非常真实。在过去的几年里，英国遭受了越来越多的暴风雨和洪水，但接下来的几天将让我们认识到，我们对正常的看法将面临威胁性的中断，这是我们集体意识的一个重大转变。预计的高温——英国气象局警告称，气温可能超过40摄氏度——不仅是创纪录的，而且会危及生命。
It will start to change the politics of climate change. Until now, the green case has been propelled by the young, the progressive and the environmentally passionate, with the majority accepting the argument but without great heart. It’s OK to be green as long as the costs and changes in our lifestyles are far in the future, and any wind farms aren’t built near us.
这将开始改变气候变化的政治。到目前为止，倡导环保的呼声一直受到年轻人、进步人士和环保热情人士的推动，大多数人都接受了这一观点，但并没有太大的诚意。只要代价和我们生活方式的改变还在遥远的未来，只要风力发电场不在我附近，环保就是可以的。
In Australia, the searing experience of drought, extreme heat, unstoppable bush fires and deaths has transformed a climate-sceptic nation into mainstream greens. Tomorrow is when Britain will begin to follow suit.
在澳大利亚，干旱、酷暑、无法阻挡的丛林大火和死亡的严酷经历使这个对气候变化持怀疑态度的国家变成了主流的绿色环保国家。明天，英国将开始效仿。
For this will not be a traditional heatwave, a moment to sunbathe joyfully in the park. Instead, keep out of the desiccating sun. The summer of 2020 saw 2,500 excess deaths from heat; it will be more this summer. Suffocatingly hot nights will offer little relief. Nor does anyone know how our infrastructure, which was not built with resilience or weather extremes in mind, will hold up. Train, bus and tube cancellations are likely. Will the electricity and water networks hold up under extreme demand? Even if they do, will we get through July and August without problems as a heat dome settles over Europe?
因为这不是传统的热浪，不是在公园里享受日光浴的时刻。相反，要远离干燥的阳光。2020年夏天有2500人死于高温；今年夏天会死更多。令人窒息的炎热夜晚并不能缓解酷暑。也没有人知道，我们的基础设施将如何支撑，因为它们在建设时没有考虑到抵御能力或极端天气。火车、公共汽车和地铁很可能停运。在极端的需求下，电力和水网络能维持得住吗？即使它们经受住了考验，随着热浪笼罩在欧洲上空，我们能安然度过7月和8月吗？
Global temperatures are rising. So is the cumulative amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The polar ice caps are melting at bewildering and accelerating speed. Sea levels are increasing. So are extreme weather events. All are unambiguously the result of human influence, says the Met Office. A global commitment to net zero by 2050 could limit the temperature rise to 1.5C.
全球气温正在上升。大气中累积的碳含量也是如此。极地冰盖正令人困惑地加速融化。海平面正在上升。极端天气事件也是如此。英国气象局表示，这一切无疑都是人为影响的结果。到2050年实现全球净零排放的承诺可以将气温上升限制在1.5摄氏度以内。
In Britain, progress has been made, largely driven by decarbonising energy supply. There are hopeful auguries – one in four new cars bought in December 2021 was battery driven and there are now 30,000 charge points – but a huge amount remains to be done. Grip it and there are jobs aplenty – retrofitting our appallingly poorly insulated 30 million homes and transforming the energy system. But every year that action is deferred is another year of carbon pumped into the atmosphere to add to the cumulative stock, making the frequency of weeks like this more likely. Not to act is to invite multiple economic and social risks over the next 50 years. Worse, this wonderful world we have inherited, in all its majesty and beauty, will be despoiled.
英国在这方面已经取得了进展，这很大程度上是由能源供应去碳推动的。有希望的预兆——2021年12月购买的新车中有四分之一是电池驱动的，现在有3万个充电点——但仍有大量工作要做。把握住这个趋势，就会有大量的工作机会——翻修我们隔热差得可怕的3000万户住宅，改造能源系统。但这一行动每推迟一年，就意味着又有一年的碳被排放到大气中，增加了累积的碳储量，使极端天气更有可能出现。如果不采取行动，就会在未来50年带来多重经济和社会风险。更糟糕的是，我们继承的这个美妙的世界，它所有的威严和美丽，都将被破坏。