在有关气候变化的讨论中，常有人提出化石燃料功不可没，正是它们推动了经济增长，让大多数人的生活水平得以提升。从某种程度上说，这一观点确实成立，但它只是极为片面的视角。
One argument that often comes up about climate change is that fossil fuels are good because they powered economic growth that has left most people better off overall. And, to an extent, that has been true, but it's also an extremely limited perspective.
如今显而易见的是，这种经济增长也付出了高昂代价，而我们直到最近才开始为此买单——这些代价体现为极端天气事件带来的破坏与混乱。即便我们实现了净零排放，海平面上升等影响仍将持续数百年，因此很难估量这种经济增长最终会付出多大代价。
It's pretty obvious now that the growth they powered has come with very high costs that we've only recently started to pay, in the form of damages and disruptions from extreme weather events. With things like sea level rise expected to continue for centuries even if we hit net zero, it's difficult to estimate how expensive that growth will eventually be.
不过这种视角同样存在局限性：如今我们已经掌握了更合适的经济增长方式——它们对环境的破坏更小，也不会给后代留下难以应对的碳债务负担。
But that perspective is also limited: We now have better ways to power our growth—ways that are less environmentally damaging now and won't leave our descendants with a carbon debt that will be difficult to manage.