美国国家公共电台 NPR--People in the U.S. are suffering under intense heat warnings and heat advisories

People in the U.S. are suffering under intense heat warnings and heat advisories¹

Transcript²

NPR's A Martinez talks to Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric³ science at Penn State, about record-high temperatures across the U.S., which climate scientists say is attributable to climate change.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

A wildfire near Yosemite National Park has become one of California's biggest blazes of the year. It's burning a path of destruction at the same time that record high temperatures are scorching⁴ much of the country. Michael Mann is a professor of atmospheric science at Penn State and runs its Earth System Science Center. I spoke⁵ with him about the intense events we're all experiencing.

MICHAEL MANN: You know, heat and drought. It's not rocket science. You make it really hot. You make it really dry. You've got the factors that lead to these devastating⁶ wildfires that we have seen in California. We've seen more than tripling in the extent of wildfires over the past few decades out West and it's because we're warming up the planet.

MART?NEZ: And is there anything different this year or maybe even last year than, say, maybe 10 years ago?

MANN: You know, climate models have predicted for a long time that we're going to see hotter and hotter summers. We're going to see a drying in mid-latitude regions in the summer like we're seeing here in the United States, especially out West. There's an additional factor, though, in the behavior of the jet stream. It's really become obvious only, I would say, over the last five or six years where we see these high- and low-pressure systems just get stuck in place. And when you've got a high-pressure system stuck out West like we have right now, you get that heat. You get that dryness. You get the wildfires that result from that combination. And you get this stagnation⁷. The system just sits there for day after day. And that's when you really see these most devastating consequences.

MART?NEZ: How often in the past have we seen this many people in the U.S. be affected⁸ by extreme heat all at the same time?

MANN: Yeah, I mean, right. It's more than a third or about a third of the population, more than 100 million people in a population of 270 million. I mean, we've seen it twice. We saw that back in June with the heat waves in June. And we're seeing that again now. You know, these heat waves that are just - what's so unusual is how pervasive⁹ they are. In fact, it's so pervasive that we're seeing it not just across North America, but in Eurasia as well. We're seeing record-breaking heat in Europe. We're seeing record-breaking heat over a large part of the United States.

We broke the record for the hottest temperature ever observed in the U.K. just last week. And we're threatening some of those records here back in the United States. It's the scale and the persistence¹⁰ of this heat which is so damaging and so dangerous. And there's literally¹¹ no question that we wouldn't be seeing these sorts of extreme events in the absence of human-caused warming resulting from fossil fuel burning and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that results from it.

MART?NEZ: Yeah. And for many, all of this is life-threatening.

MANN: That's right. I mean, you know, a decade or two ago, it was sort of an abstract concept, you know? We'd show pictures of polar bears off in the Arctic. It just seemed so distant. And now the warming has now reached the point where we're seeing the consequences play out in real-time in terms of these devastating events. And that's really worrying because it's like the tip of the iceberg¹². By the time you see it, you know that there's much more there. We've got to bring carbon emissions¹³ down by 50% within the next 10 years to prevent the planet from warming beyond a truly catastrophic three degrees Fahrenheit¹⁴.

MART?NEZ: I got to imagine that it might be hard for you and for others to admit that maybe you even underestimated the consequences of all this.

MANN: As we see these events play out, we realize now that there were limitations in our models that probably underestimated the rate at which ice sheets can begin to collapse¹⁵ and contribute to global sea level rise. And the models appear to have underestimated the subtle impact that climate change can have on the behavior of the jet stream that gives us these devastating summer extreme weather events. And so that's right, if anything, the science has been overly conservative.

MART?NEZ: All right. So given, then, what we're all experiencing right now, what do local governments need to do to protect people, not just today, but in the coming weeks, months and possibly years?

MANN: Low-income communities in particular often are the most prone¹⁶ to these extreme events. And so, you know, we need to provide resources to front-line communities to deal with the devastating impacts. But we have to prevent this problem from getting even worse. And the only way we do that is by getting off of fossil fuels, is by decarbonizing our economy, moving as rapidly as possible away from the burning of fossil fuels. And we need politicians who will support policies to do that. There's an upcoming election, a midterm election this fall, where we can turn out and vote for policymakers who are willing to act on the defining crisis of our time, which is, in fact, the climate crisis.

MART?NEZ: A lot of times when we have these kind of conversations, Michael, we always hear dates. If we don't do this by this year, then we've gone too far. We've reached a point of no return. Have we lost the ability to limit at least some of the impacts of climate change by now?

MANN: Sometimes, you know, we frame this as if it's some sort of cliff that we go off at three degrees Fahrenheit warming or four degrees Fahrenheit warming. That's not what it is. It's a minefield. And we're walking farther and farther out onto that minefield. And the farther we walk out onto that minefield, the more danger that we are going to encounter. So at this point, it's about limiting the danger. It's about limiting the damage. We're not going to avoid dangerous climate change impacts because we're already seeing them. At this point, it's a matter of making sure that we don't let it get worse. And so there is urgency. But as I like to say, there is agency. There is still time to take the actions necessary to avert¹⁷ truly catastrophic, global-scale climate consequences.

MART?NEZ: Professor Michael Mann at Penn State University, author of "The New Climate War." Michael, thanks a lot.

MANN: Thank you. It was a pleasure talking with you.

1 advisories   

n.（有关进展、动向、建议等的）报告( advisory的名词复数 )；公告；通告；通报

参考例句：

• Compliance with Practice Advisories is optional. 是否遵守实务公告由审计师自行选择决定。 来自互联网
• Hardened-PHP: not as such a PHP security information website, but it does have security advisories. 增强PHP:不仅仅是一个PHP安全新的网站，它还提供安全建议。 来自互联网

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

4 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

7 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

10 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

13 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

14 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

15 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

16 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

17 avert   

v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等)

参考例句：

• He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
• I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。