经济学人下载: 加州:危机未平,野火又起(1)

United States
美国版块

Natural disasters
自然灾害

The condor’s cry
加州秃鹰的哀号

California has been roiled by covid-19, drought, heatwaves and now two of the biggest fires on record
疫情、干旱、热浪和有史以来两次最大规模的野火吞噬了加利福尼亚州

The webcam above her nest shows Iniko, a four-month-old California condor, high in the trees of the Ventana wilderness area, looking out as flames advance towards her. She is part of a 20-year breeding programme to reintroduce the giant birds, which were extinct in the wild, to California’s central coast. She is alone—her parents have fled the danger—and cannot yet fly. At 10:40pm on August 20th the webcam shows a flash of wing feathers, then the live stream goes dark, as the flames, presumably, engulf the nest.
鸟巢上方的网络摄像机显示，有一只四个月大的加州秃鹰伊尼科，高高地站在文塔纳荒野地区的树上，在火苗向她逼近时，她正在向外张望。她是一项为期20年的繁殖计划的一部分，该计划旨在将这种在野外濒临灭绝的巨型鸟类重新引入加州的中央海岸。她的父母都已经逃离了危险，只剩下无法飞行的她自己。8月20日晚上10点40分，网络摄像机显示羽翼一闪而过，然后直播镜头暗了下来，大概是火焰吞噬了鸟巢。

Had the fire been in a previous year, Iniko would probably have been old enough to fly: the worst of the fire season takes place in September or October. But the season of 2020 has started early and with astonishing force. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said that there had been over 700 wildfires between August 15th and 26th, burning 1.3m acres (500,000 hectares). That is two-thirds as much, in just 12 days, as burned as in the whole of 2018, the worst year to date, and the season has not yet reached its peak. The two biggest conflagrations, one east of San Jose, the other north of San Francisco, are the state’s second- and third-largest on record. Gavin Newsom, the governor, was not exaggerating when he said: “We simply haven’t seen anything like this in many, many years.”
若这场野火的发生时间同前一年，伊尼科可能长大到足以飞行了：加州野火最严重的季节是在9月或10月。但在2020年，野火季开始的很早，而且威力惊人。加州林业和消防局表示，8月15日至26日期间发生了700多起野火，烧毁了130万英亩林地（合50万公顷）。在短短12天内野火发生的数量就达到了2018年全年发生的三分之二，这是迄今为止最严重的一年，而且今年的野火季尚未到达顶峰。加州发生的两次最大型的火灾，一次是在圣何塞以东，另一次是在旧金山以北，是该州有记录以来的第二大规模和第三大规模的火灾。加州州长加文·纽森毫不夸张地表示：“我们已经有很多，很多年没有见过这么大的野火了。”

Some previous fires have been manmade. One started when a car tyre blew and the wheel’s metal rim scraped the pavement. This year’s fires are the latest and starkest example of a different man-made influence: climate change.
以前的一些火灾是人为造成的。其中有一次是汽车爆胎，车轮的金属轮缘刮擦了人行道引发了野火。而今年的野火是最新且最明显的例子，即不是由人为诱发，而是受到气候变化的影响。