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为什么亿万富翁不能拯救我们?(上)

来源:可可英语 编辑:Magi   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

On January 25th, 2021, a group of elite billionaires and political movers convened through their screens for the World Economic Forum, also known as Davos.

2021年1月25日,一群精英亿万富翁和政治活动家召开了线上世界经济论坛,也被称为达沃斯。

If ever there was an event that laid bare just how strong the connection between money and power is, this would be it.

如果说有什么活动能证明金钱和权力之间的联系有多么紧密,那就是这个会议了。

Across the span of four days, thought leaders, politicians, and billionaires basked in the light of ideas like "fair economic" and "social systems technologies for good" and "how to save the planet".

在四天的时间里,思想领袖、政治家和亿万富翁们沐浴在“公平经济”、“社会制度技术向善”和“如何拯救地球”等观点的光芒中。

In short, it's a conference for the global ruling class to decide on how they think the world should work, and to put those ideas into action.

简而言之,这是一个全球统治阶级的会议,决定他们认为世界应该如何运作,并将这些想法付诸行动。

Davos is just one example of elite do-gooding and philanthropy in the billionaire class.

达沃斯只是亿万富翁阶层的精英行善和慈善事业的一个例子。

At first glance, big ticket donations seem great, especially for climate action.

乍一看,大额捐款似乎很好,特别是对于气候行动来说。

More money towards crucial initiatives right?

将更多的钱用于关键的倡议,是吗?

Well, as we'll soon see, billionaire philanthropy is far from the social good we paint it out to be.

我们很快就会看到,亿万富翁的慈善事业远远不是我们所说的社会公益。

As wealth inequality soars and climate change destroys the lives of millions, the hyper-rich are beginning to realize that hoarding all of their money might not be the best thing for their public image.

财富不平等的飙升和气候变化摧毁了数百万人的生活,超级富豪们开始意识到,囤积他所有的钱可能对他们的公众形象来说不利。

As a result, there's been a deluge of high-profile climate philanthropy in recent years, with the likes of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk at the helm.

因此,近年来,在比尔·盖茨、杰夫·贝索斯和埃隆·马斯克等人的掌舵下,出现了大量高调的气候慈善事业。

They almost seem to be trying to outcompete each other in terms of donations.

他们几乎是想在捐款方面相互竞争。

Musk created a four year tech competition that awards $100 million to whoever invents the most effective carbon capture technology.

马斯克创造了一个为期四年的技术竞赛,谁发明了最有效的碳捕获技术,谁就能获得1亿美元的奖金。

Bill Gates wrote a whole book on climate change, which I'll talk about later, and gathered his billionaire boys club to create a $1 billion venture fund that invests in fringe climate technologies like cloud seeding.

比尔·盖茨写了一整本关于气候变化的书,我稍后会讲到,并召集他的亿万富翁男孩俱乐部创建了一个10亿美元的风险基金,投资于云播种等边缘气候技术。

And finally, Jeff Bezos stomped into the climate philanthropy space by establishing a $10 billion Earth Fund, which will dole out grants to climate-oriented nonprofits and for-profits over the next 10 years.

最后,杰夫·贝索斯通过建立一个100亿美元的地球基金进入了气候慈善事业领域,该基金将在未来10年内向以气候为导向的非营利组织和营利组织发放资助。

While these gifts initially seem impressive, even a cursory glance at the math reveals otherwise.

虽然这些礼物最初看起来令人印象深刻,但即使粗略地看一下数学,也会发现情况并非如此。

Musk’s $100 million reward is just 0.06% of his wealth as of writing this.

马斯克的1亿美元奖励只是他在写这篇文章时财富的0.06%。

That's the equivalent of someone with a net worth of $40,000 giving away $23.

这相当于一个净资产为4万美元的人送出了23美元。

And to add insult to injury, his $100 million prize is actually spread out over a number of different winners and runners-up, so the grand prize is really only $50 million.

更糟糕的是,他的1亿美元奖金实际上是分散在一些不同的赢家和亚军身上,所以大奖实际上只有5000万美元。

Jeff Bezos' $10 billion fund is definitely larger, but still insignificant considering he's currently the wealthiest man on the planet right now, and the sum is also being handed out over a 10 year period.

杰夫·贝索斯的100亿美元基金肯定更大,但考虑到他目前是地球上最富有的人,仍然微不足道,而且这笔钱也是在10年内发放的。

So really the fund is granting just 0.51% of Bezos' net worth every year.

因此,实际上该基金每年只发放贝佐斯净资产的0.51%。

But these quick calculations are just the tip of the iceberg.

但这些快速计算只是冰山一角。

If you dig even deeper, the new world of climate philanthropy is a lot less about changing the world than philanthropists would like us to think.

如果你更深入地挖掘,气候慈善事业的新世界远没有慈善家们想的那样,是为了改变世界。

"It's these nice deeds, this sprinkling of nice deeds, that help us uphold a system in which rich people can monopolize the future, horde progress and kill the American dream.

“正是这些善举,这些洒脱的善举,帮助我们维护了一个富人可以垄断未来,掠夺进步和扼杀美国梦的体系。

And not satisfy with that, they're trying to kill the planet now, too.”

他们不满足于此,现在也在试图杀死地球。”

That's Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All.

这就是《赢家通吃》的作者阿南德·吉里达拉达斯。

This clip perfectly demonstrates how philanthropy, especially in the climate space, is more of a charade than an actual avenue for change.

这个片段完美地展示了慈善事业,尤其是在气候领域,更像是一场戏,而不是一个实际的变革途径。

Philanthropy should be seen less as an act of altruism and more as an act of self and wealth preservation.

慈善事业不应该被看作是利他主义的行为,而应该被看作是自我和财富保护的行为。

Philanthropy, as far back as Rockefeller and Carnegie, works to benefit billionaires in three main ways.

早在洛克菲勒和卡内基时期,慈善事业就以三种主要方式为亿万富翁谋福利。

The first is through image whitewashing.

首先是通过形象的粉饰。

One way this happens is through large donations to museums and schools in return for a family name on a building or a gallery wing.

其中一种方式是通过向博物馆和学校提供大量捐赠,以换取建筑或画廊侧翼上的家族名字。

This is exemplified in the Sackler family's donations to a number of academic institutions in the midst of lawsuits accusing the family of fueling the opioid crisis in the U.S. with their company's product OxyContin.

萨克勒家族对一些学术机构的捐赠就是一个例子,当时有诉讼指控该家族用其公司的产品OxyContin助长了美国的阿片类药物危机。

And we can also see this in Jeff Bezos' multiple environmental donations.

我们还可以从杰夫·贝索斯的多项环保捐款中看到这一点。

"690,000 dollars to the Australian wildlife recovery fund”.

“69万美元给澳大利亚野生生物恢复基金”

That seem to attempt to counteract the dismal environmental and ethical reputation of Amazon.

那似乎是为了抵消亚马逊在环境和道德方面的糟糕声誉。

A union-busting company that has acquired a massive carbon footprint and squeezes its workers so hard that they have to pee in bottles just to complete orders.

一个破坏工会的公司已经获得了巨大的碳足迹,并将其工人压榨到为了完成订单而不得不在瓶子里撒尿。

Same thing with Elon Musk, "Tesla factory workers in California are working so hard they're passing out on the production line” , and even Bill Gates, who amassed his fortune by crushing the competition with intellectual property laws and monopolies.

埃隆·马斯克也是如此,“加利福尼亚州特斯拉工厂的工人工作得如此卖力,以至于在生产线上都要晕倒了”,甚至比尔-盖茨也是如此,他通过用知识产权法和垄断来压制竞争对手,积累了自己的财富。

On top of all of that, multiple studies have shown that the richest 1% cause double the amount of emissions of the world's poorest 50%.

除此以外,多项研究表明,最富有的1%的人造成的排放量是世界上最贫穷的50%的人的两倍。

So, if these billionaires really want to make change, they need first to look towards the exploitative practices that are making them rich.

因此,如果这些亿万富翁真的想做出改变,他们首先需要着眼于那些使他们致富的剥削行为。

And if you're thinking these industry titans are extremely generous, a recent study found that the richest 20 people only donated 0.8% of their wealth.

如果你认为这些行业巨头非常慷慨,最近的一项研究发现,最富有的20人只捐出了他们财富的0.8%。

Essentially, billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are spending millions to mask the harm they cause making billions.

从本质上讲,像杰夫·贝索斯和埃隆·马斯克这样的亿万富翁正在花费数百万美元来掩盖他们对赚取数十亿美元的伤害。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
effective [i'fektiv]

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adj. 有效的,有影响的

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social ['səuʃəl]

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adj. 社会的,社交的
n. 社交聚会

 
dismal ['dizməl]

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adj. 阴沉的,凄凉的,暗的

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span [spæn]

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n. 跨度,跨距,间距
vt. 横跨,贯穿,估

 
uphold [ʌp'həuld]

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v. 支撑,赞成,鼓励

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philanthropy [fi'lænθrəpi, fə-]

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n. 慈善事业;博爱,慈善

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academic [.ækə'demik]

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adj. 学术的,学院的,理论的
n.

 
recovery [ri'kʌvəri]

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n. 恢复,复原,痊愈

 
capture ['kæptʃə]

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vt. 捕获,俘获,夺取,占领,迷住,(用照片等)留存<

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charade [ʃə'rɑ:d]

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n. 看手势猜字谜游戏,易识破的伪装

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