美国国家公共电台 NPR--How climate change may affect your long-term finances

How climate change may affect your long-term finances

Transcript¹

A majority of people in the U.S. have experienced extreme weather in the last five years, according to a new survey conducted by NPR, Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Extreme weather - it's much more common because of climate change, and most people in the United States have experienced some form of extreme weather in the last five years. That's according to a new survey conducted by NPR, Harvard University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Rebecca Hersher from NPR's climate team is here with more. Good morning, Rebecca.

REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE²: Good morning.

FADEL: So, Rebecca, for the purposes of this survey, if you would start by defining what we mean by extreme weather events.

HERSHER: Yeah, absolutely. So here we're talking about things like hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornadoes³ and heat waves. That is what this survey was talking about. And what it did was it asked people all over the country whether they've been personally affected⁴ by that kind of weather. And most people said yes. So about three-quarters of U.S. adults have experienced extreme weather in the last five years.

FADEL: Why is it important to hear these answers, do this survey?

HERSHER: Well, you know, I cover climate change, and weather disasters are getting more common as the Earth heats up. So you can see that right now - you know, a record-breaking drought in the West. It's the seventh year in a row that we're expecting more hurricanes than usual. So it's useful to ask people, you know, what are your experiences? And one thing that this survey found is that many people who are affected by extreme weather have long-term health and financial problems.

FADEL: What kind of problems?

HERSHER: One example that came up a lot is debt...

FADEL: Yeah.

HERSHER: ...Also trouble paying bills. And some types of disasters stick out. So about a fifth of people who experience floods - they had long-term financial problems. And as far as health goes, about a third of the people who are affected by wildfires said that they had serious problems, mostly because of smoke in the air. So that, you know - it potentially represents tens of millions of households that are struggling with these long-term problems from climate change.

FADEL: A lot of people affected...

HERSHER: Yeah.

FADEL: ...But, presumably, some families hit harder by this than others. For example, if you're already living paycheck to paycheck, a weather disaster would likely impact you in a bigger and more dangerous way, right?

HERSHER: Yeah, exactly. And the survey results back that up - both in terms of income and in terms of race and ethnicity, actually. So people who are already marginalized in our society, they are more likely to suffer long-term financial impacts, long-term health impacts after a weather disaster. So, for example, Native American people experience financial problems after disasters at more than four times the rate of white people. That's what the survey found. And I talked to economist⁵ Caroline Ratcliffe about this. She did a big study a couple years ago that looked at the financial effects of weather disasters.

CAROLINE RATCLIFFE: Disasters can have the effect of widening existing inequalities.

HERSHER: So basically, what that means is extreme weather expands that gap between richer people and poorer people.

FADEL: That's really sobering. Do we know if people are making that connection between climate change and what's happening in their daily lives?

HERSHER: You know, that's a really interesting question, and it's something that this survey tried to suss out. It's something past surveys have tried to suss out. So this survey asked people how concerned they are about climate change. You know, do they consider it a major problem, a crisis? And they also asked about support for specific policies - so things like federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions⁶ from cars and trucks and power plants, and also state efforts to make infrastructure⁷ more resilient to extreme weather.

So the survey found that people who said they've experienced extreme weather are more concerned about climate change and more supportive of these types of climate policies. And experts say it's hard to tease apart why that is exactly because survey results rely on people's subjective⁸ experiences. But it's clear that most people are experiencing some type of extreme weather.

FADEL: Rebecca Hersher from NPR's climate team. Thanks, Rebecca.

HERSHER: Thanks so much.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。