卫报气候组 两部开创性纪录片上映二十年后，阿尔·戈尔承认自己对化石燃料行业及其政治盟友猛烈且持续的抨击感到惊讶。但这位美国前副总统坚称，他依然乐观地认为世界将直面气候危机。
Guardian Climate Desk Two decades after the release of his groundbreaking documentary , Al Gore has admitted he was surprised by the ferocious, ongoing backlash from the fossil fuel industry and its political allies. But the former US vice-president insists he still has optimism the world will confront the climate crisis.
在纽约举行的一场纪念影片上映及他随后气候倡导工作20周年的活动上，现年78岁的戈尔开玩笑说：“我常说，要不是我，我们现在可能会有个大麻烦。”这是他在被问及过去二十年取得的进展时说的。
At a New York event to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the film and his subsequent climate advocacy work, Gore, now 78, joked: “I always say if it hadn’t been for me, we might have a big problem right now” when asked about the progress made over the past two decades.
“遗憾的是，科学家们已被证明完全正确，”戈尔周三表示。“在某些重要方面，他们甚至可能低估了破坏的程度。抵制力量比我预想的更持久、更顽强。”戈尔说，化石燃料行业已“控制了太多政府”，甚至在“令人震惊的程度上”控制了联合国顶级气候科学机构，他引用卫报近期的报道称，沙特石油操盘手参与了备受瞩目的联合国气候报告的撰写。2006年上映的纪录片记录了戈尔在2000年美国大选失利后，向全球观众反复展示的一场关于日益加剧的气候危机的幻灯片演讲。
“The scientists unfortunately have been proven to be absolutely correct,” Gore said on Wednesday. “In some important ways, they may have even understated what the damage is doing. The resistance has been more durable and sustained than I expected it to be.” The fossil fuel industry has “captured control of too many governments” and even the UN’s top climate science apparatus “to a shocking degree,” Gore said, citing recent reporting by the Guardian that Saudi oil operatives were involved in crafting high-profile UN climate reports released in 2006 documents a slideshow talk that Gore repeatedly showed to audiences around the world on the mounting climate crisis after he lost the 2000 US presidential election.
在这部里程碑式影片的推动下，戈尔发起了一场草根运动，培训新的气候活动家，他的“气候现实项目”在196目前的气温上升速度将突破国际商定的阈值，并将导致“彻底的毁灭”，戈尔警告说，并补充称，即将到来的“临界点”——如冰盖疯狂融化和亚马逊雨林变成稀树草原——将把世界推向灾难。
In the wake of the landmark film, Gore started a grassroots movement to train new climate activists, with his Climate Reality Project amassing a network of 4.5 million people across 196 countries. The past two decades have also seen barely restrained global heating, which has caused effects that are “growing so rapidly, and they are becoming more and more frequent,” as Gore pointed out, citing record heatwaves that wracked numerous countries this summer and the recent disaster on the Nepal-Tibet border that was triggered by a collapsing glacier.
“而且我非常坚定地认为，我们非常接近那个积极的临界点，届时公众舆论的力量将势不可挡。”戈尔在该活动上表示，该活动以他与电视气象预报员阿尔·罗克的对话形式举行，作为气候周的一部分。他表示，自己长期为应对气候危机动员行动的斗争，是民权运动和争取妇女权利斗争等以往斗争的延续。
The current rate of temperature rise is set to breach internationally agreed thresholds and is set to cause “utter devastation,” Gore warned, adding that looming “tipping points” such as rampant melting of the ice sheets and the Amazon turning into a savanna will push the world towards catastrophe.
“在所有那些以往的案例中，一些倡导者曾感到绝望，他们的传记和日记中充满了此类表达，”他说。
“And I really strongly believe that we are very close to that positive tipping point where the mass of public opinion is going to be unstoppable.” Gore told the event, staged as a conversation with Al Roker, the TV weather forecaster, as part of climate week that he saw his long battle to rally action on the climate crisis as a continuation of previous struggles such as the civil rights movement and the fight for women’s rights.
“但他们仍然坚持下去，因为正如其他人所说，勇气不是没有恐惧或绝望。而是尽管有恐惧和绝望，仍决定继续前行。而且我非常坚定地认为，我们非常接近那个积极的临界点，届时公众舆论的力量将势不可挡。”虽然世界仍在冲向比工业化前平均水平高出2摄氏度以上的危险全球气温上升，但清洁能源的快速部署已有助于确保此前预测的到本世纪末气温上升4摄氏度或更多的灾难性前景现在被认为不太可能发生。
“And in all those previous cases, some of the advocates felt despair, and the biographies and diaries are filled with those kinds of expressions,” he said. “But they kept going anyway because, as others have said, courage is not the absence of fear or despair. It’s the decision to go forward in spite of it. And I really strongly believe that we are very close to that positive tipping point where the mass of public opinion is going to be unstoppable.” While the world is still barreling toward a dangerous global temperature rise of beyond 2C hotter than the pre-industrial average, the speedy deployment of clean energy has helped ensure that previous, disastrous projections of a 4C or more temperature rise by the end of the century are now considered unlikely.
戈尔表示，虽然许多发展中国家仍难以获得可再生能源和电池项目的充足融资，但他有信心，清洁能源的大规模采用——现在通常比煤炭和天然气等化石燃料更便宜——将扎根。
“But they kept going anyway because, as others have said, courage is not the absence of fear or despair. It’s the decision to go forward in spite of it. And I really strongly believe that we are very close to that positive tipping point where the mass of public opinion is going to be unstoppable.” While the world is still barreling toward a dangerous global temperature rise of beyond 2C hotter than the pre-industrial average, the speedy deployment of clean energy has helped ensure that previous, disastrous projections of a 4C or more temperature rise by the end of the century are now considered unlikely.
“我们的势头终将超越阻力的那一天即将到来。我们现在已经非常接近了，”他说。“我认为我们将赢得这场胜利。剩下的问题是，我们能否及时获胜，以避免我所谈到的那些负面临界点。”
Gore said that while many developing countries still struggle to get adequate financing for renewables and battery projects, he is confident that the mass adoption of clean energy, now routinely cheaper than fossil fuels such as coal and gas, will take hold.
戈尔的这番言论发表在联合国秘书长古特雷斯主办的一场重大联合国气候活动前不久。这位即将卸任的联合国秘书长、气候行动的积极倡导者古特雷斯对化石燃料的持续扩张表示惋惜，称其“违背科学、经济学和常识”。他补充道：“我们已经看到，对化石燃料的依赖如何造成破坏——推高成本、耗尽预算、挤压家庭开支，并让各国沦为远在国外的冲突和决策的任人宰割的对象。”
“The day is coming when our momentum will overtake the resistance. We’re getting very close now,” he said. “I think we are going to win this. The remaining question is whether we will win it in time to avoid those negative tipping points I talked about.” Gore’s comments came shortly before a headline UN climate event hosted by António Guterres, the outgoing UN secretary general and vocal proponent of climate action Guterres lamented ongoing expansion of fossil fuels that is “defying science, economics and common sense.” He added: “We have seen how fossil fuel dependence wreaks havoc—driving up costs, draining budgets, squeezing households and leaving countries at the mercy of conflicts and decisions far beyond their borders.”
但这位秘书长表示，各国现在可以通过将可再生能源采用量增加两倍、减少森林砍伐和实现经济电气化，走上一条不同的道路。“可再生能源几乎在任何地方都是最便宜、最快捷、最安全的新增电力来源，”他说。“清洁能源已从替代选择变为不可阻挡的趋势。”
But the secretary general said that countries are now able to take a different path by tripling renewable adoption, reducing deforestation and electrifying their economies. “Renewables are the cheapest, fastest, and most secure source of new electricity almost everywhere,” he said. “Clean energy has gone from alternative to unstoppable.”