The Truth about the Environment For many environmen

游客2024-01-02  6

问题                          The Truth about the Environment
    For many environmentalists, the world seems to be getting worse. They have developed a hit-list of our main fears: that natural resources are running out; that the population is ever growing, leaving less and less to eat; that species are becoming extinct in vast numbers, and that the planet’s air and water are becoming ever more polluted.
    But a quick look at the facts shows a different picture. First, energy and other natural resources have become more abundant, not less so, since the book The Limits to Growth was published in 1972 by a group of scientists. Second, more food is now produced per head of the world’s population than at any time in history. Fewer people are starving. Third, although species are indeed becoming extinct, only about 0.7% of them are expected to disappear in the next 50 years, not 25-50%, as has so often been predicted. And finally, most forms of environmental pollution either appear to have been exaggerated, or are temporary-associated with the early phases of industrialisation and therefore best cured not by restricting economic growth, but by accelerating it. One form of pollution—the release of greenhouse gases that causes global warming—does appear to be a phenomenon that is going to extend well into our future, but its total impact is unlikely to pose a devastating problem.
    Yet opinion polls suggest that many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and many factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.

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答案                            环境的真相
    在许多环境保护者看来,这个世界正越变越糟。他们为人类担心的事列了一个黑名单:自然资源在枯竭,人口在增长,食物在变少,物种在大量灭绝,地球的空气和水受到前所未有的污染。
    然而,看看周围的事实,会发现事情并非如此。首先,自1972年科学家们出版了《增长的极限》一书后,能源和其他自然资源变得丰富了,而非稀少了。第二,如今,世界人均粮食产量高于历史上任何时期。遭受饥荒的人变少了。第三,虽然物种确实在不断灭绝,但在未来50年内,预计只有大约0.7%的物种会消失,而非人们总是在预测的25-50%。最后,大多数污染现象,要么被夸大了,要么就是由处于初级阶段的工业化造成,是暂时现象,因而缓解污染要通过加速经济增长,而非限制增长。温室效应气体的排放作为一种引起全球变暖的污染,似乎确实是会影响到人类未来的现象,但其综合影响却不太可能带来灾难性的问题。
    民意投票调查显示,许多人相信,环境标准在下滑,似乎有很多因素会造成认识与现实的分离。

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