诺贝尔奖得主:不必担心全球变暖

　　You can't discuss climate change, Prof. Laughlin says, without looking backward across geologic time. He puts ordinary rainfall into perspective to illustrate the point. The rain that now falls on the world in a normal year measures a metre – "about the height of a golden retriever." The rain that has fallen since the beginning of the Industrial Age measures 200 metres. The rain that has fallen since the age of dinosaurs would fill Earth's oceans 20,000 times. The rain that has fallen since oxygen formed would fill the entire world 100 times.

　　劳克林说，在讨论气候变化问题时，必须对比过去地质时期的情况。他以普通的降水为例来说明了这一点。现在全球每年降水量通常为1米—“大约有一只金毛猎犬那么高。自工业时代以来的降水总量为200米。”自恐龙时代以来的降水总量是海洋总容量的2万倍。自氧气形成以来所有的降水能把整个世界填满100次。

　　Yet, the amount of water in Earth's oceans hasn't changed significantly in all of this time.

　　然而，一直以来，海洋的水量并没有出现过大的变化。

　　Excess carbon in the atmosphere? It happens all the time. And Earth deals with it. Anything that humans do to mitigate it will be a waste of time. Governments and citizens delude themselves when they think they can make a difference.

　　大气中的碳过多了吗？其实一直都是如此。地球完全可以应付。人类为了减排所做的努力都是徒劳。政府和个人认为他们能改变什么，其实都是在自欺欺人。