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A Melting Greenland Weighs Perils Against Potential
全球變暖對格陵蘭是福是禍？
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL October 08, 2012
ELISABETH ROSENTHAL 報道 2012年10月08日
NARSAQ, Greenland — As icebergs in the Kayak Harbor pop and hiss while melting away,this remote Arctic town and its culture are also disappearing in a changing climate.
格陵蘭島納薩克——隨著皮艇港(Kayak Harbor)的冰山在融化過程中發出嘶嘶的響聲，這座偏遠的北極小鎮和它的文化，也正在隨著氣候變化而消失。
Narsaq’s largest employer, a shrimp factory, closed a few years ago after the crustaceans fled north to cooler water. Where once there were eight commercial fishing vessels, there is now one.
納薩克最大的用工企業，一家蝦廠，幾年前倒閉了，原因是蝦蟹都逃往了北方更寒冷的水域。這里曾一度有八艘商業捕魚船，現在只剩一艘了。
As a result, the population here, one of southern Greenland’s major towns, has been halved to 1,500 in just a decade. Suicides are up.
因此，作為格陵蘭島南部主要城鎮之一，納薩克的人口在短短十年中降至1500人，減少了一半。自殺率也出現上升。
Andrew Testa for The New York Times
格陵蘭島的一個漁民駕船駛過正在融化的冰山。
“Fishing is the heart of this town,” said Hans Kaspersen, 63, a fisherman. “Lots of people have lost their livelihoods.”
“捕魚是這個小鎮的核心。”今年63歲的漁民漢斯?卡斯佩森(Hans Kaspersen)說，“很多人失去了生計。”
But even as warming temperatures are upending traditional Greenlandic life, they are also offering up intriguing new opportunities for this state of 57,000 — perhaps nowhere more so than here in Narsaq.
盡管逐漸升高的氣溫正在顛覆著格陵蘭人傳統的生活方式，但是氣溫升高也為這個只有5.7萬人的國家提供了有趣的新機遇，這種機遇在納薩克可能最為明顯。
Vast new deposits of minerals and gems are being discovered as Greenland’s massive ice cap recedes, forming the basis of a potentially lucrative mining industry.
隨著格陵蘭島廣袤的冰蓋逐漸消融，人們發現了儲量豐富的新礦產和寶石，這為潛在利潤巨大的采礦業奠定了基礎。
One of the world’s largest deposits of rare earth metals — essential for manufacturing cellphones, wind turbines and electric cars — sits just outside Narsaq.
全球最大的稀土金屬礦藏就坐落在納薩克城外不遠處，稀土金屬在生產手機、風力渦輪機和電動汽車時必不可少。
This could be momentous for Greenland, which has long relied on half a billion dollars a year in welfare payments from Denmark, its parent state. Mining profits could help Greenland become economically self sufficient and render it the first sovereign nation created by global warming.
對格陵蘭島而言，這可能具有重大意義。很長時間以來，格陵蘭島一直依賴其母國丹麥每年撥付的5億美元資金支持維持運行。采礦利潤可能會幫助格陵蘭島實現經濟上的自給自足，成為第一個因全球變暖而成立的主權國家。
“One of our goals is to obtain independence,” said Vittus Qujaukitsoq, a prominent labor union leader.
知名工會領袖維圖斯?奎奧基茨克(Vittus Qujaukitsoq)說，“我們的目標之一是取得獨立。”
But the rapid transition from a society of individual fishermen and hunters to an economy supported by corporate mining raises difficult questions. How would Greenland’s insular settlements tolerate an influx of thousands of Polish or Chinese construction workers, as has been proposed? Will mining despoil a natural environment essential to Greenland’s national identity — the whales and seals, the silent icy fjords, and mythic polar bears? Can fisherman reinvent themselves as miners?
然而，把一個由個體漁民和獵人組成的社會，迅速轉變為由企業采礦支撐的經濟體，也引發了一些難題。比如，格陵蘭島上與世隔絕的定居點，如何承受計劃招徠的數千名波蘭或中國建筑工人？采礦是否會破壞格陵蘭島的國家形象（鯨、海豹、寂靜的冰川海灣，以及神秘的北極熊）所不可或缺的自然環境？漁民們能夠把自身重塑成礦工嗎？
“I think mining will be the future, but this is a difficult phase,” said Jens B. Frederiksen, Greenland’s housing and infrastructure minister and a deputy premier. “It’s a plan that not everyone wants. It’s about traditions, the freedom of a boat, family professions.”
“我認為采礦就是我們的未來，但現在是一個艱難的階段。”格陵蘭住房與基礎設施部長、副總理延斯?B?佛雷德利克森(Jens B. Frederiksen)說，“這并不是一個所有人都贊成的計劃，它會涉及傳統、駕船的自由，以及代代相傳的職業。”
The Arctic is warming even faster than other parts of the planet, and the rapidly melting ice is causing alarm among scientists about sea-level rise. In northeastern Greenland, average yearly temperature have risen 4.5 degrees in the past 15 years, and scientists predict the area could warm by 14 to 21 degrees by the end of the century.
北極變暖的速度比地球上其他任何地方都快，而迅速融化的冰川引起了科學家對海平面上升的警覺。過去15年中，格陵蘭島東北部的年均氣溫上升了4.5度。而科學家預測，到本世紀末，該地區氣溫會升高14至21度。
Already, winter pack ice that covers the fjords is no longer stable enough for dog sledding and snowmobile traffic in many areas. Winter fishing, essential to feeding families, is becoming hazardous or impossible.
在很多地區，冬季覆蓋在峽灣里的浮冰已經不夠穩固，狗拉雪橇和摩托雪橇都無法通行了。冬季捕魚是為很多家庭提供食物的重要手段，但現在卻變得很危險，甚至不可能了。
It has long been known that Greenland sat upon vast mineral lodes, and the Danish government has mapped them intermittently for decades. Niels Bohr, Denmark’s Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist and a member of the Manhattan Project, visited Narsaq in 1957 because of its uranium deposits.
格陵蘭島地下蘊藏著巨大的礦藏這一點久為人知。幾十年來，丹麥政府已經斷斷續續地繪制了這些礦藏的分布圖。參與過曼哈頓計劃(Manhattan Project)的丹麥核物理學家、諾貝爾獎得主尼爾斯?玻爾(Niels Bohr)曾在1957年造訪納薩克，原因是這里有鈾礦藏。
But previous attempts at mining mostly failed, proving too expensive in the inclement conditions. Now, warming has altered the equation.
然而，之前的開采嘗試幾乎都失敗了，事實證明在嚴酷的環境下采礦，成本過于高昂。如今，氣候變暖讓這個等式發生了變化。
Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, charged with managing the boom, currently has 150 active licenses for mineral exploration, up from 20 a decade ago. Altogether, companies spent $100 million exploring Greenland’s deposits last year, and several are applying for licenses to begin construction on new mines, bearing gold, iron and zinc and rare earths. There are also foreign companies exploring for offshore oil.
負責對開發熱潮進行管理的格陵蘭礦產與石油管理局(Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum)目前發放的有效的礦產勘探許可證有150份，而十年前僅為20份。去年，各企業總計投入了1億美元用于勘探格陵蘭島的礦藏。有幾家公司正在申請在新礦藏進行建設的許可證。這些新礦蘊藏著金、鐵、鋅和稀土。也有一些外國公司在勘探近海石油。
“For me, I wouldn’t mind if the whole ice cap disappears,” said Ole Christiansen, the chief executive of NunamMinerals, Greenland’s largest homegrown mining company, as he picked his way along a proposed gold mining site up the fjord from Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. “As it melts, we’re seeing new places with very attractive geology.”
“就我而言，我不介意整個冰蓋都消失。”格陵蘭島最大的本土礦業公司NunamMinerals首席執行官奧勒?克里斯蒂安森(Ole Christiansen)說。他正從格陵蘭島首都努克沿著峽灣前往一處提議的金礦開采地。“隨著冰蓋的融化，我們看到了地貌特征更引人入勝的新地方。”
The Black Angel lead and zinc mine, which closed in 1990, is applying to reopen this year, said Jorgen T. Hammeken-Holm, who oversees licensing at the country’s mining bureau, “because the ice is in retreat and you’re getting much more to explore.”
在格陵蘭礦務局負責許可證發放的官員約爾延?T?哈梅肯-霍爾姆(Jorgen T. Hammeken-Holm)表示，1990年關停的黑天使(Black Angel)鉛鋅礦，正在申請今年重新開礦。她說，“因為冰川正在消退，可供勘探的地方越來越多了。”
The Greenlandic government hopes that mining will provide new revenue. In granting Greenland home rule in 2009, Denmark froze its annual subsidy, which is scheduled to be decreased further in the coming years.
格陵蘭政府希望采礦能帶來新的收入。2009年，丹麥允許格陵蘭實行地方自治，并將凍結給格陵蘭島撥付的年度補貼。根據安排，補貼金額會在接下來的幾年里進一步減少。
Here in Narsaq, a collection of brightly painted homes bordered by spectacular fjords, two foreign companies are applying to the government for permission to mine.
在納薩克當地，一片房屋涂著明亮的顏色，不遠處就是壯觀的峽灣。兩家外國公司正在向政府申請采礦許可。
“This is huge; we could be mining this for the next 100 years,” said Eric Sondergaard, a geologist with the Australian-owned company Greenland Minerals and Energy, who was on the outskirts of Narsaq one day recently, picking at rocks on a moon-like plateau rich with an estimated 10.5 million tons of rare earth ore.
澳大利亞所有的格陵蘭礦產和能源公司(Greenland Minerals and Energy)的地質學家埃里克?森諾高(Eric Sondergaard)前不久說，“這兒儲藏豐富，我們可能未來100年都會在這里采礦。”當時，他正在納薩克郊外一個月亮型的高原上反復檢查巖石。據估計，這個高原蘊藏著1050萬噸稀土礦石。
That proximity promises employment, and the company is already schooling some young men in drilling and in English, the international language of mine operations. It plans to build a processing plant, a new port and more roads. (Greenland currently has none outside of settled areas.) Narsaq’s tiny airport, previously threatened with closure from lack of traffic, could be expanded. A local landlord is contemplating converting an abandoned apartment block into a hotel.
由于臨近礦藏，采礦業在這里提供了就業機會。這家公司已經開始教一些年輕人鉆孔和英語了。英語是采礦作業使用的國際語言。公司計劃修建一座加工廠和一座新港口，還打算多修些公路。（目前，在格陵蘭島上的定居點以外還沒有公路。）納薩克那個小機場過去因為旅客太少，差一點被關閉，但現在可能還會擴建。當地的一名房東正盤算著把一處閑置的公寓樓改造成旅館。
“There will be a lot of people coming from outside and that will be a big challenge since Greenlandic culture has been isolated,” said Jasper Schroder, a student home in Narsaq from university in Denmark.
在丹麥一所大學就讀的大學生雅斯佩爾?施羅德(Jasper Schroder)家在納薩克，他說，“會有很多外國人來，因為格陵蘭島的文化一直都很孤立，這會是一個很大的挑戰。”
Still, he supports the mine and hopes it will provide jobs and stem the rash of suicides, particularly among his peers; Greenland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. “People in this culture don’t want to be a burden to their families if they can’t contribute,” he said.
但他還是支持采礦，并且希望采礦業能提供工作機會，遏止草率的自殺事件，尤其是他的同齡人的自殺。格陵蘭是全世界自殺率最高的地方之一。他說，“生活在這種文化中的人，如果不能為家庭做出貢獻，就不想成為家人的負擔。”
But not all are convinced of the benefits of mining. “Of course the mine will help the local economy and will help Greenland, but I’m not so sure if it will be good for us,” said Dorothea Rodgaard, who runs a local guesthouse. “We are worried about the loss of nature.”
然而，不是所有人都相信采礦會帶來好處。在本地經營著一家家庭旅館的多羅特婭?羅德高(Dorothea Rodgaard)說，“當然，采礦會有助于本地的經濟，也有助于格陵蘭，但它是否對我們有利，我就不是那么確定了。我們擔心自然環境的損失。”
本文最初發表于2012年9月23日。
