硬币的两面：气候变化和环境破坏

政府最重要的作用是保护其公民。在澳大利亚，这通常意味着军事防御、与其他国家的联盟和大量支出。然而，包括我们在内的许多国家政府尚未认识到我们在当前应对日益严峻的气候变化和环境破坏威胁的斗争中面临失败的事实。

The world is facing two environmental crises: climate change and biodiversity loss. Both are critical and must be addressed simultaneously.

世界正面临两大环境危机：气候变化和生物多样性丧失。两者都很重要，必须同时解决。

Climate change is a pressing issue that has been widely recognized and discussed. The world is experiencing rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and sea level rise, all of which are impacting ecosystems, human societies, and economies.

气候变化是一个已被广泛认识和讨论的紧迫问题。世界正在经历气温上升、极端天气事件和海平面上升，所有这些都在影响生态系统、人类社会和经济。

To mitigate climate change, reducing fossil fuel emissions is crucial. However, despite commitments made at previous UN Climate Change Conferences (COPs), such as COP28, some countries, including Australia, have failed to follow through on their promises to phase out fossil fuels.

为了减缓气候变化，减少化石燃料排放至关重要。然而，尽管在之前的联合国气候变化会议（COP）（例如 COP28）上做出了承诺，但包括澳大利亚在内的一些国家未能兑现逐步淘汰化石燃料的承诺。

This failure is concerning, especially given the petro states among them, and the wealthiest democratic countries in the world, such as Australia, that are hiding their sins with their success with renewable energy.

这种失败令人担忧，特别是考虑到其中的石油国家以及世界上最富有的民主国家（例如澳大利亚）正在通过可再生能源的成功来掩盖自己的罪恶。

While climate change is a critical issue, biodiversity loss is equally severe and often overlooked. Biodiversity encompasses the variety of life on Earth, including the different species, genes, and ecosystems.

虽然气候变化是一个关键问题，但生物多样性丧失同样严重且经常被忽视。生物多样性涵盖地球上生命的多样性，包括不同的物种、基因和生态系统。

This variety is essential for maintaining ecosystem services, such as food production, water purification, and carbon sequestration, which are critical for human well-being and survival.

这种多样性对于维持粮食生产、水净化和碳封存等生态系统服务至关重要，而这些服务对人类福祉和生存至关重要。

However, human activities, such as habitat destruction, pollution, and overexploitation, are leading to a rapid decline in biodiversity, threatening the stability and resilience of ecosystems.

然而，栖息地破坏、污染和过度开发等人类活动正在导致生物多样性迅速下降，威胁生态系统的稳定性和恢复力。

In Australia, the recent State of the Environment report highlights the concerning losses of mammals, deforestation, and degradation of soils, which are vital for agriculture and food production.

在澳大利亚，最近的环境状况报告强调了令人担忧的哺乳动物损失、森林砍伐和土壤退化，这些对农业和粮食生产至关重要。

The report also emphasizes the need for urgent action to protect and restore biodiversity, especially in light of rising temperatures and increasing floods, droughts, storms, and fires.

报告还强调需要采取紧急行动保护和恢复生物多样性，特别是考虑到气温上升以及洪水、干旱、风暴和火灾的加剧。

To ensure the survival of both the world and Australia, both climate change and biodiversity loss must be addressed.

为了确保世界和澳大利亚的生存，必须解决气候变化和生物多样性丧失问题。

While world temperature is largely determined by the combined emissions of all countries, Australia's survival also depends on shifting from environmentally damaging practices to enhancing the resilience of ecosystems.

虽然世界气温很大程度上取决于所有国家的排放总量，但澳大利亚的生存还取决于从破坏环境的做法转向增强生态系统的恢复力。

If world temperature peaks at 2.5 or 3.0 degrees C in the coming decades, will Australia still have functioning ecosystems?

如果未来几十年世界气温峰值达到 2.5 或 3.0 摄氏度，澳大利亚还会拥有正常运转的生态系统吗？

This question highlights the urgency of collective action and the need to prioritize both facets of the environmental crisis.

这个问题凸显了采取集体行动的紧迫性以及优先考虑环境危机的两个方面的必要性。

Unfortunately, many members of parliament do not fully grasp the role of ecological services in our survival, and those who do often prioritize measures that will ensure electoral success, such as focusing on economic growth at all costs.

不幸的是，许多议员并没有完全理解生态服务在我们生存中的作用，而那些真正理解的人往往会优先考虑确保选举成功的措施，例如不惜一切代价关注经济增长。

As a result, the fate of our nation may be decided by rising temperatures and the eventual collapse of ecological services.

因此，我们国家的命运可能取决于气温上升和生态服务的最终崩溃。

Despite the Biodiversity Council and other organizations documenting high public support for increased environmental protection, this issue ranks lower on the list of public concerns, such as the cost of living and housing.

尽管生物多样性理事会和其他组织记录了公众对加强环境保护的高度支持，但这个问题在生活和住房成本等公众关注的问题上排名较低。

Consequently, funding for the environment remains insufficient.

因此，环境资金仍然不足。

Soil, which serves as our ecological life support system for food production, is teeming with diverse species, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes, mites, worms, and insects—two-thirds of all species on the planet—that work together to maintain its resilience and provide essential services.

土壤是我们粮食生产的生态生命支持系统，充满了多种物种，包括细菌、真菌、病毒、线虫、螨虫、蠕虫和昆虫——占地球上所有物种的三分之二——它们共同努力，保持其弹性并提供基本服务。

However, many of these species, including insects, are experiencing significant declines.

然而，其中许多物种，包括昆虫，正在经历显着下降。

Current farming practices, aimed at maximizing food production, are damaging soil and its constituent species, along with current water policies and land and forest clearance.

当前旨在最大限度地提高粮食产量的农业实践正在破坏土壤及其组成物种，以及当前的水政策以及土地和森林砍伐。

To ensure the health and sustainability of our soils, we must reform intensive farming practices and, if necessary, establish a legal framework to do so.

为了确保土壤的健康和可持续性，我们必须改革集约化耕作方式，并在必要时建立法律框架。

Soil health is maintained by the addition of organic matter, which breaks down to provide nutrients for plants. However, in many modern farming systems, fertilizers are used instead to maintain and increase crop yields.

通过添加有机物来维持土壤健康，有机物分解为植物提供养分。然而，在许多现代农业系统中，肥料被用来维持和增加作物产量。

This practice depletes the living soil, making it more susceptible to erosion by increasingly severe storms.

这种做法会耗尽活土，使其更容易受到日益严重的风暴的侵蚀。

Those in our governance systems have yet to fully consider the possibility that we are already experiencing environmental demise, of which rising temperature is just one aspect.

我们的治理系统尚未充分考虑我们已经经历环境消亡的可能性，气温上升只是其中一个方面。

However, this possibility is on the minds of many scientists who are observing the current rise in epidemics of disease in human and other species, the ongoing failure of laws preventing loss of vegetation, and the mismanagement and pollution of water resources.

然而，许多科学家都在考虑这种可能性，他们正在观察当前人类和其他物种疾病流行的增加、防止植被丧失的法律的持续失败以及水资源的管理不善和污染。

Where is the government education of the public on the essential causes of the biodiversity demise? The total number of people, the “population” of a nation, is the leading factor in the demise of its biodiversity.

政府对公众关于生物多样性消亡的根本原因的教育在哪里？人口总数，即一个国家的“人口”，是其生物多样性消亡的主要因素。

Yet, Australia still doesn't have a population policy.

然而，澳大利亚仍然没有人口政策。

Currently, a biodiverse forest in Manyana, NSW, has received national approval to be felled for the construction of 153 houses under an Environmental Act that is 25 years old, completely disregarding the current biodiversity crisis and facilitating it through state and government ignorance.

目前，新南威尔士州马亚纳市的一片生物多样性森林已获得国家批准，根据一项已有 25 年历史的环境法案，可以砍伐该森林用于建造 153 栋房屋，这完全无视当前的生物多样性危机，并通过州和政府的无知助长了这一危机。

This month, Environmental Justice Australia, a prestigious organization, reacted to government permission for the extension of three NSW coal mines with the following words:

本月，著名组织澳大利亚环境正义组织对政府批准新南威尔士州三个煤矿的扩建做出了如下回应：

"This is a betrayal of our environment. A betrayal of our children. A betrayal of all that we hold dear."

“这是对我们环境的背叛。对我们孩子的背叛。对我们所珍视的一切的背叛。”

When combined with the increase in gas production, these actions

当与天然气产量的增加相结合时，这些行动