Is a Global Recession Good for the Environment?
Times are tough when a millionaire oil man can't get a wind farm built. T. Boone Pickens backed off of his much ballyhooed mega-wind project in Texas this week, citing the declining cost of natural gas. Fossil fuel burning power plants are still too good of a deal to bother investing $2 billion into wind turbines.
A bear market might seem like a boon for the environment: less overall economic activity, like manufacturing and driving, means less overall pollution. Right?
Actually, as the Pickens example proves, global economic downturns take a toll on the environment by restraining economic activity that could improve the situation. But that's not all. Over-farming and drought led to 400,000 square kilometers of prime top soil blowing away in the wind in the 1930s, exacerbating, and exacerbated by, the Great Depression. And the economic crises that crippled the economies of southeast Asia in the 1990s also set in motion a rapid uptick in environmentally damaging pursuits such as illegal logging and cyanide fishing, according to the World Bank.
Even as I speak, economic worries have prompted some European countries to begin backpedaling on their commitments to cut back on global warming pollution.
So an economic downturn is no friend of the environment. Brother, can you spare a turbine?
全球经济衰退对环境有好处吗？
当一个石油百万富翁不能如愿建立一个风电场的时候，看来日子是比较艰难了。鉴于目前天然气价格的下降，T. Boone Pickens在本周撤销了在得克萨斯州（Texas）建立巨型风电场的项目，这个项目还曾经被大肆宣传过。使用化石燃料的火力发电厂目前仍然是个非常不错的选择，所以也就没有谁去投资20亿美元来修建风力发电厂了。
熊市可能看起来对环境有利：总体经济活动（比如制造业和驾车）减少意味着总体的污染减少。真是这样吗？
实际上正如上面Pickens的例子证明，全球经济减退会对环境带来不良后果，因为那些能提高环境质量的经济活动在全球经济衰退中受到了抑制。但这还不是全部问题。在上个世纪30年代，过度耕作以及干旱导致了40万平方公里的优质表层土壤被风刮走，这种恶果既加剧了大萧条，同时也是被大萧条所加剧。根据世界银行的报道，上次90年代的东南亚经济危机也导致了一些破环环境的活动极速上升，比如非法采伐树木以及使用氰化物捕鱼。
就在我说这些的时候，一些欧洲国家出于对经济的担心开始不遵守他们以前减少污染的承诺。
所以，经济下滑对环境没有好处。哥们儿，能否放风电场一马？
Vocabulary:
Recession：衰退
Ballyhoo：大肆宣传
Turbine：涡轮机
Boon：恩惠；方便
Take a toll：产生负面影响
Restrain：限制
Drought：干旱
Exacerbate：加剧；变得更糟
Uptick：上升
Cyanide：氰化物 （例如NaCN, KCN）
Backpedal：倒蹬脚踏板；不遵守诺言
关键字:双语新闻
生词表:
Times are tough when a millionaire oil man can't get a wind farm built. T. Boone Pickens backed off of his much ballyhooed mega-wind project in Texas this week, citing the declining cost of natural gas. Fossil fuel burning power plants are still too good of a deal to bother investing $2 billion into wind turbines.
A bear market might seem like a boon for the environment: less overall economic activity, like manufacturing and driving, means less overall pollution. Right?
Actually, as the Pickens example proves, global economic downturns take a toll on the environment by restraining economic activity that could improve the situation. But that's not all. Over-farming and drought led to 400,000 square kilometers of prime top soil blowing away in the wind in the 1930s, exacerbating, and exacerbated by, the Great Depression. And the economic crises that crippled the economies of southeast Asia in the 1990s also set in motion a rapid uptick in environmentally damaging pursuits such as illegal logging and cyanide fishing, according to the World Bank.
Even as I speak, economic worries have prompted some European countries to begin backpedaling on their commitments to cut back on global warming pollution.
So an economic downturn is no friend of the environment. Brother, can you spare a turbine?
全球经济衰退对环境有好处吗？
当一个石油百万富翁不能如愿建立一个风电场的时候，看来日子是比较艰难了。鉴于目前天然气价格的下降，T. Boone Pickens在本周撤销了在得克萨斯州（Texas）建立巨型风电场的项目，这个项目还曾经被大肆宣传过。使用化石燃料的火力发电厂目前仍然是个非常不错的选择，所以也就没有谁去投资20亿美元来修建风力发电厂了。
熊市可能看起来对环境有利：总体经济活动（比如制造业和驾车）减少意味着总体的污染减少。真是这样吗？
实际上正如上面Pickens的例子证明，全球经济减退会对环境带来不良后果，因为那些能提高环境质量的经济活动在全球经济衰退中受到了抑制。但这还不是全部问题。在上个世纪30年代，过度耕作以及干旱导致了40万平方公里的优质表层土壤被风刮走，这种恶果既加剧了大萧条，同时也是被大萧条所加剧。根据世界银行的报道，上次90年代的东南亚经济危机也导致了一些破环环境的活动极速上升，比如非法采伐树木以及使用氰化物捕鱼。
就在我说这些的时候，一些欧洲国家出于对经济的担心开始不遵守他们以前减少污染的承诺。
所以，经济下滑对环境没有好处。哥们儿，能否放风电场一马？
Vocabulary:
Recession：衰退
Ballyhoo：大肆宣传
Turbine：涡轮机
Boon：恩惠；方便
Take a toll：产生负面影响
Restrain：限制
Drought：干旱
Exacerbate：加剧；变得更糟
Uptick：上升
Cyanide：氰化物 （例如NaCN, KCN）
Backpedal：倒蹬脚踏板；不遵守诺言
关键字:双语新闻
生词表:
京公网安备 11011202003401号
