美国国家公共电台 NPR In Chile, Many Regard Climate Change As The Greatest External Threat

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

This summer, we are taking a deeper look at climate change and the profound effect it's having on people around the world. Today, we're going to Chile in South America. NPR's Philip Reeves visited a community whose landscape and livelihoods¹ are undergoing a dramatic change.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE²: Fernando Rojas has spent his life beside a big lake. He lives here, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains in a valley with vineyards and almond orchards³ and groves⁴ of poplar trees. It's a pocket of heaven. Or, rather, it was before something terrible started to happen.

FERNANDO ROJAS: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: Rojas says about seven years ago, the lake began to shrink. It was quite large, roughly four times the size of New York's Central Park. Most of the water's gone.

ROJAS: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: Rojas, who's 74, used to farm around here. He shows a photograph of when the lake was deep and full.

ROJAS: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "It was so beautiful in winter," he says. "You could see the snow on the hills reflected in the water."

The lake's called the Laguna de Aculeo. It's an hour's drive south of Chile's capital, Santiago. It was a big tourist area. City folk used to flock here at weekends to sail and windsurf and jet ski. What's left of the lake is now only good for paddling and walking.

All around me, for hundreds and hundreds of yards, all I could see is mud and horses and cattle which are grazing here. Just over there, about 300 or 400 yards away from where I am, there are these beautiful villas⁶ with manicured lawns and palm trees and balconies and pavilions. And each one has a little wooden jetty sticking out into what is now a sea of mud.

Claudio Mella's standing⁷ on his jetty at the bottom of the garden of his villa⁵.

CLAUDIO MELLA: So, normally, this is a pier⁸ where we use a lot for sailing. I love to go sailing and windsurfing. Right now we are looking. There's no water here, and the lake is far, far away. In the morning, I walk there. It's about 800 meters.

REEVES: Mella's an orthopedic surgeon from Santiago who's been coming here with his family for years. He says what's happening to the lake is especially hard on the local community.

MELLA: They are suffering. They depend from the water. And we see them also - some sociological problems. We have a lot of good friends here, and many of them have some depression, some family problems.

ORIANA LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: Oriana Lopez is among those who depends on the water. She had a thriving windsurfing business. It's been five years since she saw her last client. When the water began to vanish, Lopez was left pretty much...

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: ...In penury⁹. Lopez won't leave the lake, though.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "I was born and raised here," she says. "I love this land."

Chile's endured a seven-year drought. This was unusually severe, says Maisa Rojas, a climatologist at the University of Chile who compiled a report on the drought.

MAISA ROJAS: We have been calling it the mega drought because it has been very extended in space and in time. We have seen this before - but never so widespread.

REEVES: The drought hit the south and center of Chile, where most of the 17 million population live. That's also where the lake is. Studies are underway exploring ways of saving the lake. Among those involved is a leading hydrologist, Felipe Martin, a former head of the commission that develops Chile's policy on water resources.

FELIPE MARTIN: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: Martin believes that if nothing's done soon, the lake could soon dry out completely in a couple of years. And that'll devastate¹⁰ the surrounding ecosystem¹¹. The lake depends entirely¹² for its water on rainfall. Martin says it also lost some water when its aquifers¹³ were damaged by a big earthquake a few years back. But the drought's a crucial factor. And he blames that on climate change.

MARCELO MENA: We don't even deny. We actually teach climate change without any doubts.

REEVES: That is Chile's environment minister, Marcelo Mena. He says the government regards climate change as an issue of such importance that it's introducing mandatory¹⁴ climate change classes throughout Chile's schools.

MENA: There's no space for this climate denial because we see climate change threatening us in multiple shapes.

REEVES: Just look at the thermometer, says Mena.

MENA: We're talking about 1.1 degree being the global departure or anomaly of temperature for the last year. In Chile, most of our anomalies are upwards¹⁵ of 2 degrees. So, therefore, we've been, the last two years, facing extreme weather events that really have us very worried.

REEVES: Those extreme events include torrential rain that cause deadly floods and landslides¹⁶, says Mena.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: This year, the world's TV screens filled with images of Chile's worst-ever wildfires. Fueled by drought, these burned 2,300 square miles of land, wiping out forests and entire towns. Chile's glaciers¹⁷ in the Andes are melting at an accelerated rate. And, says Mena, last year, a big chunk¹⁸ of Chile's salmon¹⁹ fisheries was destroyed by a giant algae²⁰ bloom created by abnormal climatic conditions.

MENA: When you see things that you haven't seen before that really make you worry that this is really getting out of hand, and when you see that some people are trying to deny the climate science, then it's a moment in which you have to take the gloves off, and you have to be very blunt about the fact that we are facing a challenge that is like something we've never seen before.

REEVES: Chile's government is counterattacking on multiple fronts. It's trying to adapt to the changing climate, for example, by building reservoirs and creating green areas to cool down cities. Chile is also revolutionizing its approach to renewable energy, says climatologist Maisa Rojas.

ROJAS: Solar energy is going to be very big. We have wind. We have geothermal and tidal, et cetera. And very conservative projections²¹ say that renewable energies will represent 80 percent of the energy matrix by 2050.

REEVES: The metro²² system in Santiago, the capital, looks the same as any other cities. Soon, though, 60 percent of the energy powering it will come from solar and wind power. These changes are big. But how can anyone be certain that Chile's drought and other recent disasters were really caused by climate change? Rojas says to prove that, you have to show an event wouldn't have happened were it not for climate change by using modeling studies. We haven't done those, she says.

ROJAS: But the climatic context in which these events have occurred are very much like what we expect from climate change.

REEVES: Rojas is also expecting something else. She says studies show that Chile soon will very likely have even less precipitation. At the Laguna de Aculeo, that shrinking lake, residents wonder what they'll do if the water never comes back. Paulo Gutierrez quit a lucrative²³ technology job to set up a cafe and a bakery here just around the time the water began to sink. Their neighborhood's called Little Venice. Now Gutierrez is considering moving on.

PAULO GUTIERREZ: A lot of people like me is thinking, buy land in the south of Chile because the climate change will take a little bit more to get there.

REEVES: Gutierrez has seen enough. He's done with the debate of whether climate change is real.

GUTIERREZ: Twenty years ago, it was a possibility. Right now it's a reality.

REEVES: Philip Reeves, NPR News, Santiago.

1 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

4 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

5 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

6 villas   

别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅

参考例句：

• Magnificent villas are found throughout Italy. 在意大利到处可看到豪华的别墅。
• Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build sea-side villas. 有钱人从富有的罗马来到这儿建造海滨别墅。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

9 penury   

n.贫穷，拮据

参考例句：

• Hardship and penury wore him out before his time.受穷受苦使他未老先衰。
• A succession of bad harvest had reduced the small farmer to penury.连续歉收使得这个小农场主陷入了贫困境地。

10 devastate   

v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒

参考例句：

• A few days before,a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle.几天前，温莎城堡的大部分被一场大火烧毁。
• Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis,which devastate coastal regions.地震还引发海啸，它直接破坏海岸地区。

11 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

12 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

13 aquifers   

n.地下蓄水层，砂石含水层( aquifer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And in Africa, the aquifers barely recharge at all. 非洲的地下水开采以后几乎得不到补充。 来自时文部分
• Aquifers have water contents over 30%. 含水层的水含过30％。 来自辞典例句

14 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

15 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

16 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

17 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

18 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

19 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

20 algae   

n.水藻，海藻

参考例句：

• Most algae live in water.多数藻类生长在水中。
• Algae grow and spread quickly in the lake.湖中水藻滋蔓。

21 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

22 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

23 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。