評論
打印
California burns every year. But amid a record-breaking heatwave, 2020 is the fieriest year yet.
加利福尼亞每年都在燃燒。但在一場破紀錄的熱浪中，2020年是迄今為止最火熱的一年。
As The Economist went to press, more than 7,600 fires had burned over 2.5m acres (1m hectares) of land. The season still has months to run.
本刊付印之際，7600多起火災已經燒毀了250萬英畝（100萬公頃）的土地。這個季節還有還幾個月才結束。
That fits a long-term trend, for California's wildfires are getting steadily worse.
這符合一個長期趨勢，因為加州的森林大火正在持續惡化。
Blazes in the 2010s burned 6.8m acres on average, up from 3.3m acres in the 1990s.
2010年代的火災平均燒毀面積為680萬英畝，而上世紀90年代為330萬英畝。
The fire season lasts nearly three months longer now than it did in the 1970s.
現在的火災季節比上世紀70年代多持續了近3個月。
Over the past decade, the state has spent an average of $3.7bn a year fighting fires.
在過去十年里，該州平均每年花費37億美元用于救火。
Add the cost of rebuilding, treating casualties and restoration, says Headwaters Economics, a think-tank, and that is perhaps a tenth of the total cost.
再加上重建、治療傷亡人員以及修復的成本，智囊團Headwaters Economics表示，這大概是總成本的十分之一。
Although smaller than this year's, the 2018 fire season was particularly destructive. It killed 100 people and burned tens of thousands of buildings.
盡管2018年的火災規模比今年小，但破壞性特別大。一百人遇難，成千上萬棟建筑被燒毀。
The reason is a double whammy of climate change and development.
原因是氣候變化和發展的雙重打擊。
More homes are being built next to forests, in what experts call the "wildland-urban interface" (WUI).
越來越多的房屋建在森林附近，專家們稱之為“森林-城鎮交界域”（WUI）。
A 2018 study estimated that roughly a third of American homes were in the WUI. The problem is acute in California.
2018年的一項研究估計，大約三分之一的美國家庭居住在WUI地區。這個問題在加州非常嚴重。
Pricey housing has pushed people onto cheaper land close to the wilderness.
高額房價迫使人們搬到靠近荒野的廉價土地居住。
At the same time, climate change is extending the dry season, which stores up fuel for fires.
與此同時，氣候變化使旱季延長，為火災儲存了燃料。
In California, a chronic "megadrought"—in which dry years become more common and wet ones scarcer—is making matters even worse.
在加州，一場漫長的“百年難遇的干旱”——干旱年份越來越常見，多雨年越來越罕見——讓問題變得更加糟糕。
One paper, citing tree-ring data, concluded that the drought, which started around 2000, is the second-worst in the past 1,200 years.
一篇論文引用了樹木年輪數據，得出結論——這場始于2000年左右的干旱是過去1200年來第二嚴重的。
It, too, has been linked to climate change. Since neither trend shows much sign of reversing,
它也和氣候變化有關。由于這兩種趨勢都沒有顯示出逆轉的跡象，
people on America's west coast will have to learn to co-exist with more, and more frequent, fires.
美國西海岸的人們將不得不學著與更多且更頻繁的火災共存。
"It's not that different to building on an earthquake-prone landscape," says Max Moritz, a wildfire expert at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
加州大學圣芭芭拉分校的一位森林大火專家Max Moritz表示，“這和在地震易發地區的建筑沒有什么不同?！?/p>
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
