紐時賞析／人工冷卻地球可行？英國砸重金贊助小型室外地球工程實驗

氣候變遷影響變得愈來愈具破壞性，根據美國國家海洋暨大氣總署，測量全球陸地與海洋表面平均溫度顯示，上個月是有史以來最熱的八月。圖爲擠滿人潮的英國多塞特郡伯恩茅斯海灘。美聯社

UK to Fund 'Small-Scale' Outdoor Geoengineering Tests

英國贊助小型室外地球工程實驗

A British science agency will provide 57 million pounds, or about $75 million, for researchers to examine ideas for artificially cooling the planet — including outdoor experiments to determine whether any of those ideas could actually work.

英國一間科學機構將提供5,700萬英鎊，約7,500萬美元，讓研究人員檢視人工冷卻地球的構想，包括戶外實驗，以確定這類想法是否確實可行。

The announcement, by the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, or ARIA, is among the largest single infusions of money to date toward research into “solar geoengineering”: the notion of injecting particles into the air to deflect some of the sun’s radiation back into space with the goal of reducing the Earth’s temperature.

先進研究與發明局（ARIA）的這項宣佈，是迄今注入「太陽能地球工程」的最大單筆資金之一：概念是把微粒注入大氣，將部分太陽輻射偏轉回太空，達到降低地球氣溫目標。

The government initiative is focused on testing several types of solar geoengineering. Those approaches could include injecting aerosols, such as sulfur dioxide, into the stratosphere or shooting sea-salt aerosols into low-lying marine clouds to reflect more sunlight away from the Earth.

這項政府倡議聚焦在測試數種太陽能地球工程，方法包括將二氧化硫等氣溶膠注入平流層，或將海鹽氣溶膠射入低層海洋雲，以反射更多日光遠離地球。

The funding comes as the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly destructive. Last month was the warmest August on record, as measured by average global land and ocean surface temperatures, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

這筆資金到來之際，氣候變遷影響變得愈來愈具破壞性。根據美國國家海洋暨大氣總署，測量全球陸地與海洋表面平均溫度顯示，上個月是有史以來最熱的八月。

Yet, the greenhouse emissions that are driving climate change keep rising as humans continue to burn coal, oil and gas.

然而，隨着人類持續燃燒煤炭、石油與天然氣，導致氣候變遷的溫室氣體排放持續上升。

ARIA said it was pursuing geoengineering research because “even under the most aggressive scenarios” of cutting greenhouse gasses, it may not be possible to reduce those emissions fast enough to prevent dangerous increases in global temperatures.

ARIA表示，推動地球工程研究，是因爲「即使在最積極的情況下」減少溫室氣體，減緩排放的速度可能還是不夠快，無法防止全球氣溫危險地上升。

That has led governments and scientists to increasingly consider ways to artificially cool the planet, effectively trying to buy time while heat-trapping pollution is reduced.

這讓政府與科學家愈來愈注意人工冷卻地球的方法，實際上這是在減少溫室氣體污染的同時爭取時間。

But without conducting physical tests of those strategies, the agency said, “there is no prospect of being able to make proper judgments” about whether any type of geoengineering is “feasible, scalable, and controllable.”

該機構說，如沒對這些策略實體試驗，「就無法適當判斷」任何地球工程是否「可行、可擴大及可控制」。

Opponents of geoengineering say it would distract from the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And they worry that the technology could have severe unintended consequences.

反對地球工程的人主張，該工程會分散減少溫室氣體排放迫切需要的注意力，他們並憂慮這項科技可能產生意想不到的嚴重後果。

To address the concern about outdoor experiments, the program will apply a set of constraints when it judges research proposals, British officials said. The technologies being examined must already have undergone modeling and indoor tests, and researchers must show that critical scientific questions “cannot be answered without an outdoor experiment.”

英國官員表示，爲消除對於戶外實驗的疑慮，這項計劃在審查研究提案時會設定一系列限制。送審的技術須經過模擬與室內測試，研究者也須證明實驗的關鍵科學問題「非經戶外實驗無法解答」。

文／Christopher Flavelle and David Gelles　譯／江昱蓁