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The story of climate change has unfolded over decades, but its trajectory is much the same.
氣候變化的故事已經上演了數十年，但其軌跡大致都是相同的。
For years, we've watched as the evidence has grown.
多年來，我們眼看著氣候變化的證據越來越多。
We've gaped as superstorms have battered the globe from Bangkok to Houston
我們目瞪口呆地看著超級風暴從曼谷一路襲擊到休斯頓，
and unprecedented heat waves have popped up, killing a few thousand here and there.
看著史無前例的熱浪突然出現在各地，奪走數千人的性命。
As I write this, it's 100°F in Siberia, and wildfires are raging in an area infamous for its yearlong ice.
寫這篇文章的時候，西伯利亞這個著名的長年冰雪之地的溫度都已經達到華氏100度（37.8℃）。
"These are the warning signs" of cataclysmic climate change,
這些都是災難級別的氣候變化的“危險信號”，
says Gail Whiteman, a professor at Lancaster University who runs an Arctic research program.
蘭開斯特大學教授，負責某北極研究項目的蓋爾·懷特曼說。
If Wuhan and Milan offered a preview of what the U.S. is now experiencing with COVID-19,
如果說武漢和米蘭為美國提前展示了美國正在經歷的疫情會是什么樣，
where should the country look for a glimpse of a climate-changed world?
這個國家要想看氣候變化后的世界是什么樣的話，還需要往別處看嗎？
Last year, I traveled to Fiji and found that for many of those living on the small Pacific Islands,
去年，我去了一次斐濟，發現對于很多生活在這個太平洋小島上，
on the front lines of brutal storms and sea-level rise, climate change is already the defining issue.
受無情的暴風雨和海平面上升影響最直接的人而言，氣候變化已經成了最重要的問題。
If a storm destroys a school, students can't learn.
如果暴風雨摧毀了一所學校，學生們就無法繼續學習。
If the sugarcane crops are flooded, farmers lose their jobs.
如果甘蔗地被淹，農民就會失去工作。
If sea levels rise too much, entire communities disappear.
如果海平面上升太多，整個社區會都會消失。
Climate concerns are at the center of their economies and the center of their development plans.
氣候問題已經成為當地經濟以及當地發展計劃的核心問題。
"This can't be the purview of even 25,000 or 40,000 or even 100,000 people,"
“氣候行動不能局限在25000人，40000人甚至10萬人之內，”
says Christiana Figueres, who led the U.N. climate-change body during the Paris climate talks.
巴黎氣候談判期間聯合國氣候變化分會負責人克里斯蒂安娜·菲格雷斯說。
"This has got to permeate through every single corner, every single channel,
“氣候行動必須滲透到每一個角落，每一個渠道，
every single flow of economic development and modernization.
以及經濟發展和現代化的每一個環節。
It's got to become the new norm."
必須把氣候行動變成我們的新常態。”
That will come one way or another.
這一天遲早會來。
Every country will be combatting climate change for the foreseeable future;
在可預見的未來，每個國家都會加入對抗氣候變化的行動當中；
the change in climate we're experiencing today is in large part the result of emissions that happened more than a decade ago.
我們今天所經歷的氣候變化很大程度上都是十多年前排放的結果。
However, we do have a choice of how bad it will get.
不過，要走到那一步是我們自己說了算。
If we invest in preserving nature and transitioning our energy system today,
如果我們現在開始投資保護自然，開始能源系統轉型，
we will stave off the worst, giving us the ability to manage the hurricanes and floods as they come.
我們就還有機會躲過最糟糕的情形，讓我們在颶風和洪水來襲之際還有招架之力。
If we wait, we'll be stuck flat-footed when the worst arrives,
如果我們繼續等下去，我們就只能眼睜睜地看著最糟糕的結局到來，
watching in dismay as the temperature curve ticks up and up.
眼睜睜地看著溫度曲線不斷上升無能為力。
The choice is ours.
我們不是沒有選擇。
We just don't have much time to decide.
只是留給我們做選擇的時間已經不多了。
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