美国新冠疫情日记 09/04

水火风灾横扫美国大陆

上週由墨西哥湾新纽奥良附近进入的埃达颱风穿越了美国大陆，直扑向东北部包括纽约州在内的许多地区， 在短短数小时内纽约市就下了七寸雨水， 导致地下室居民溺亡 ，也是近百年来所罕见。

在此同时 ，美国西部的野火和东北部地区的洪水， 再次印证地球暖化带来的严重后果， 如果全世界各国无法阻止温室体排放很快就会出现更多的灾难。

纽约市曾经在近年来投资了数十亿的风暴防护设施， 这次的洪水証明没有发生太大的效果 ，市内的地下鉄变成了大水池， 中央公园也被淹在水中， 在市内贫穷地区， 多半遇难者是在违建的公寓地下室中被淹死的，由于不符合市政府之规定， 许多房主也不敢向当局投诉。

科学家们预估 ，全球气温每升高一个摄氏度 ，大气中之湿度就会增加百分之七， 这意味着下雨量就会增大 ，这也是近年来暴风雨不断频繁到来的原因。

我们乐见拜登政府重返巴黎气候协定， 而且美国特使克里正在中国访问， 希望中美两国在气候变化之议程上共同努力，更指望两大国能利用此契机 ，改善两国处於低潮之关係。

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.