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Wackernagel again says: "Since the 1980s, we've been drawing down the biosphere's principal rather than living off its annual interest. To support our consumption, we have been liquidating resource stocks and allowing carbon dioxide to accumulate in the atmosphere."
瓦克納格爾又指出：“從20世紀80年代起，我們一直在提取生物圈的老本，而不 是依雒它每年的利息生存。為了支持我們的消費，我們一直在變賣儲存的資源，聽任二氧化碳在大氣中不斷積累。”
Oil is the main culprit. The burning of fossil fuels, especially petroleum, powers the global economy. Oil is an extraordinary feat of concentrated energy: three large teaspoons of crude contain about the same amount of energy as eight hours of human manual labor. Geologist Colin J. Campbell hit the nail on the head: "It's as if each one of us had a team of slaves working for us for next to nothing."
石油是罪魁禍首。化石燃料，尤其是石油的燃燒，驅動著全球經濟的發展。石油是一種含有濃縮能量的神奇物質:三大湯匙的原油能夠提供與8小時的人力勞動相等同的能量。地質學家科林·J.坎貝一針見血地指出:“這就好像我們每個人都有一群奴隸為我們干活一樣，而 且幾乎不用花錢。”
Napoleon said that an army marches on its stomach; our modern globalized economy marches on oil. But it's a Faustian bargain. The costs now exceed the benefits. Take the climate system, a key "natural service" threatened by human-made greenhouse gas emissions, mostly CO2, the main by-product from the combustion of fossil fuels. The more oil and coal we burn, the more CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere and the more we tip the balance.
拿破侖曾經說過，軍隊要填飽肚子才能前進。我們推動現代全球化經濟發展則靠的是石油。但這是一種浮士德式的交易。現在，這筆交易的成本已經超過了收益。以氣候系統為例—— 這是一項關鍵的“自然服務”，卻受到人類制造的溫室氣體排放物的威脅。這些排放物中，大部分是二氧化碳，它是燃燒礦物燃料產生的主要副產品。我們燃燒的石油和煤越多，排放到大氣里的二氧化碳也越多，生態平衡也就會遺到更嚴重的破壞。
Leading climate scientists say a target of 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 might avoid dangerous climate change. We're currently at 390 ppm and projected to hit 650 ppm by the end of this century. This translates into an average increase in global temperature of about 4°C. If this projection plays out, we're in big trouble. Large parts of Africa, China, India, and Latin America would become desert. Have you heard the term "environmental refugees"? Keep it in mind, because you're going to be hearing it a lot more in the years ahead.
世界上最杰出的氣候科學家們說，如果二氧化碳在大氣中的含量不超過百萬分之350這—指標，就有可能避免危險的氣候變化。但現在我們這一數字已經達到百萬分之390, 而且預計到本世紀末會達到百萬分之650。這將意味著全球溫度將平均上升4℃。如果這個預計的情況成為現實，那我們就有大麻煩了。非洲、中國、印度和拉丁美洲的大部分地區都將變成沙漠。你們聽說過“環境難民”這個詞語嗎？把它記在腦子里吧，因為你們在今后的歲月里將會頻繁地聽到這個詞語。
