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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."
瓦克纳格尔又指出：“从20世纪80年代起，我们一直在提取生物圈的老本，而不 是依雒它每年的利息生存。为了支持我们的消费，我们一直在变卖储存的资源，听任二氧化碳在大气中不断积累。”
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."
石油是罪魁祸首。化石燃料，尤其是石油的燃烧，驱动着全球经济的发展。石油是一种含有浓缩能量的神奇物质:三大汤匙的原油能够提供与8小时的人力劳动相等同的能量。地质学家科林·J.坎贝一针见血地指出:“这就好像我们每个人都有一群奴隶为我们干活一样，而 且几乎不用花钱。”
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.
拿破仑曾经说过，军队要填饱肚子才能前进。我们推动现代全球化经济发展则靠的是石油。但这是一种浮士德式的交易。现在，这笔交易的成本已经超过了收益。以气候系统为例—— 这是一项关键的“自然服务”，却受到人类制造的温室气体排放物的威胁。这些排放物中，大部分是二氧化碳，它是燃烧矿物燃料产生的主要副产品。我们燃烧的石油和煤越多，排放到大气里的二氧化碳也越多，生态平衡也就会遗到更严重的破坏。
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.
世界上最杰出的气候科学家们说，如果二氧化碳在大气中的含量不超过百万分之350这—指标，就有可能避免危险的气候变化。但现在我们这一数字已经达到百万分之390, 而且预计到本世纪末会达到百万分之650。这将意味着全球温度将平均上升4℃。如果这个预计的情况成为现实，那我们就有大麻烦了。非洲、中国、印度和拉丁美洲的大部分地区都将变成沙漠。你们听说过“环境难民”这个词语吗？把它记在脑子里吧，因为你们在今后的岁月里将会频繁地听到这个词语。
