美國新冠疫情日記 09/04

水火風災橫掃美國大陸

上週由墨西哥灣新紐奧良附近進入的埃達颱風穿越了美國大陸，直撲向東北部包括紐約州在內的許多地區， 在短短數小時內纽約市就下了七寸雨水， 導致地下室居民溺亡 ，也是近百年來所罕見。

在此同時 ，美國西部的野火和東北部地區的洪水， 再次印證地球暖化帶來的嚴重後果， 如果全世界各國無法阻止溫室體排放很快就會出現更多的災難。

紐約市曾經在近年來投資了數十億的風暴防護設施， 這次的洪水証明沒有發生太大的效果 ，市內的地下鉄變成了大水池， 中央公園也被淹在水中， 在市內貧窮地區， 多半遇难者是在違建的公寓地下室中被淹死的，由于不符合市政府之規定， 許多房主也不敢向當局投訴。

科學家們預估 ，全球氣溫每升高一個攝氏度 ，大氣中之湿度就會增加百分之七， 這意味著下雨量就會增大 ，這也是近年來暴風雨不斷頻繁到來的原因。

我們樂見拜登政府重返巴黎氣候協定， 而且美國特使克里正在中国訪問， 希望中美兩國在氣候變化之議程上共同努力，更指望兩大國能利用此契機 ，改善兩國處於低潮之關係。

Climate Change Has Brought Extreme Weather And Disaster

Last week in Louisiana and Mississippi nearly one million people were without power, wildfires in California forced thousands of residents to flee,  and in New York City more than 7 inches of rain fell in just a few hours drowning people in apartment basements. The extreme weather has now become more frequent as the result of global warming.

People also have known for the past few days after Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in California along with the flash floods in New York and New Jersey, that the crisis is here.

The disasters across the nation this summer have shown that the big problem is that we are just not ready for the extreme weather conditions that are now becoming more frequent as a result of global warming.

It was President Biden who noted in his 1 trillion infrastructure bill that some money must go to gird communities against natural disasters.

We are so glad that U.S. climate envoy John Kelly visited China and met with Chinese officials. The United Nations will host a summit in Glasgow in November of this year. The world leaders will discuss efforts to cut emissions and support developing countries in pursuing low emission economic growth.

We believe that global warming is a problem for the whole world and all of the nations need to face up to it.