O brave new world: Geoscientists in an emerging green economy
O brave new world: Geoscientists in an emerging green economy
复制标题
美丽的新世界：新兴绿色经济中的地球科学家
作者：
Jean Bahr
“哦，美丽的新世界”这句话让人想起莎士比亚近 400 年前写的浪漫喜剧《暴风雨》。剧中，少女米兰达在一座偏远的岛屿上长大，身边只有年迈的父亲普洛斯彼罗和畸形奴隶卡利班陪伴。一场海难将那不勒斯国王、他的儿子斐迪南和其他人带到了岛上。在剧的最后一幕中，当米兰达面对这些新来的人时，她真诚地、尽管有些天真地高兴地惊叹道：“哇！这里有多少善良的生物！人类是多么美丽！哦，美丽的新世界，竟然没有这样的人！”大约 300 年后，奥尔德斯·赫胥黎 (Aldous Huxley) 将米兰达的这句话作为小说的标题；然而，与莎士比亚笔下人物所设想的令人愉快的新世界相反，赫胥黎笔下的美丽新世界是社会和技术失控的反乌托邦噩梦。这句话的哪些含义应该适用于新兴的绿色经济？我们都记得 2008 年秋天市场崩溃的噩梦，随后是 2009 年秋天我们仍然面临的金融危机。崩溃之后，联合国环境规划署（UNEP，2008a）启动了“绿色经济倡议”，以传达全球绿色工业革命计划（UNEP，2008a）。在描述这一举措的动机时，环境署指出，“危机是一件可怕的浪费事。”在美国，巴拉克·奥巴马总统在竞选期间将绿色经济作为优先事项。他始终致力于实现这一目标，支持《美国复苏和再投资法案》中的绿色就业培训条款，并表示计划在未来十年内投资 1500 亿美元用于能源研究和向清洁能源经济转型（www.whitehouse.gov，2009 年）。奥巴马总统并不是唯一倡导这种转型的世界领导人。基于对环境的担忧，英国首相戈登·布朗在经济危机前大力支持绿色措施，现在他也将“建设绿色英国”视为经济复苏的途径（BBC新闻，2009年4月8日）。与英国一样，西班牙也将绿色技术视为解决失业问题和通向未来繁荣的途径（Faiola，2009）。即使在像澳大利亚这样在当前经济形势下表现优于其他国家的国家，环保组织和澳大利亚工会理事会主席莎兰·伯罗（Sharan Burrow）都呼吁实现绿色就业（新华社，2009）。新兴的绿色经济早于当前的经济危机。例如，加拿大广播公司 (CBC) 新闻 2008 年 3 月的特别报道（Kelly，2008）指出，鉴于碳排放的预期削减，绿色技术已成为投资者的热门商品。在过去的二十年里，德国一直在“精心设计”缓慢而稳定地走向绿色，政府与工业界合作创造市场和企业，从更高的环境标准中获利（Theil，2008）。许多书籍（例如，Milani，2000 年；Danaher 等人，2007 年）以及加拿大政府在发布 2005 年预算计划时发布的题为“迈向绿色经济”的文件（加拿大财政部，2005 年），提供了过去十年中人们对绿色经济日益浓厚的兴趣的额外证据。在新兴经济大国印度 (http://www.greeneconomyindia.com/) 和中国 (http://www.efg2009.org/)，探索建立绿色就业机会和企业以实现可持续发展的团体也很活跃。 2009年3月，联合国绿色经济倡议成立了一个全球工作组，目标是制定各种实际项目和政策建议。作为这一整体倡议的一部分，联合国生成了关于“全球绿色新政”（UNEP，2009）和绿色就业报告（UNEP，2008b）的报告。正如所预料的那样，人们并没有普遍热衷于走向绿色。事实上，一些人认为这些发展是迈向“美丽新世界”的一步，它更接近赫胥黎的愿景，而不是莎士比亚的愿景，这表明绿色举措将扼杀就业和整体经济。检查联合国关于绿色就业的报告（UNEP，2008b）可能会揭示一些担忧的根源。首先，报告将绿色就业定义为“有助于保护或恢复环境质量的工作”。对我来说，这听起来很适合许多地球科学家。我们的研究旨在阐明地球的历史和运作方式，直接和间接地有助于增进对塑造环境过程的理解。因此，我认为地球科学是
The phrase “O brave new world” hearkens back to Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “The Tempest,” written almost 400 years ago. In that play, the maiden, Miranda, has been raised on a remote island with only her aging father, Prospero, and the deformed slave, Caliban, for company. A shipwreck brings the King of Naples, his son, Ferdinand, and others in their party to the island. When confronted with these newcomers in the final act of the play, Miranda exclaims with genuine, albeit somewhat naïve, delight “O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in’t!” Some 300 years later, Aldous Huxley appropriated Miranda’s line as the title of a novel; however, in contrast to the delightful new world envisioned by Shakespeare’s character, Huxley’s brave new world was a dystopian nightmare of society and technology run amok. Which of these senses of the phrase should apply to an emerging green economy? We all recall the nightmare of the market crash in the fall of 2008, followed by a financial crisis that we are still facing in the fall of 2009. On the heels of the crash, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2008a) launched a “Green Economy Initiative” to communicate global plans for a green industrial revolution (UNEP, 2008a). In describing the motivations for this initiative, UNEP noted that “[a] crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” In the United States, President Barack Obama made greening of the economy a priority during his campaign. He has remained committed to that goal through support of green job training provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and in his stated plans to invest US$150 billion over the next ten years for energy research and a transition to a clean energy economy (www.whitehouse.gov, 2009). President Obama is not the only world leader who has been advocating this type of transition. Based on environmental concerns, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a strong proponent of greening measures prior to the economic crisis, and he now also sees “building a greener Britain” as a route to economic recovery (BBC News, 8 Apr. 2009). Like Britain, Spain sees green technology as a solution to unemployment and a path toward future prosperity (Faiola, 2009). And even in countries like Australia that have fared better than others in the current economic climate there are calls for greening of jobs not only from environmental groups but also from Australian Council of Trade Unions President Sharan Burrow (Xinhua, 2009). The emerging green economy pre-dates the current economic crisis. For example, a Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) News special report from March of 2008 (Kelly, 2008) noted that green technologies have become hot commodities for investors in light of anticipated cuts in carbon emissions. Germany has been slowly but steadily going green “by design” for the last two decades, with the government working in tandem with industry to create markets and businesses that profit from higher environmental standards (Theil, 2008). Numerous books (e.g., Milani, 2000; Danaher et al., 2007) as well as a document titled “Moving towards a green economy,” issued by the Canadian government (Dept. of Finance Canada, 2005) in conjunction with release of its 2005 budget plan, provide additional evidence of the building interest in a green economy over the last decade. Groups exploring ways to build green jobs and businesses for sustainable development are also active in the emerging economic giants India (http://www.greeneconomyindia.com/) and China (http://www.efg2009.org/). In March of 2009, the United Nations (UN) Green Economy Initiative formed a global task force with the goal of developing a variety of practical projects and policy proposals. As part of this overall initiative, the UN generated reports on a “Global Green New Deal” (UNEP, 2009) and on green jobs (UNEP, 2008b). As might be expected, there has not been universal enthusiasm for going green. In fact, some see these developments as a move toward a “brave new world” closer to Huxley’s vision than to Shakespeare’s, suggesting that green initiatives will kill jobs and the economy overall. Examining the UN report on green jobs (UNEP, 2008b) may shed some light on some of the sources of apprehension. First of all, the report defines green jobs as “work that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment.” To me, that sounds like a good fit for many geoscientists. Our research to elucidate the history and workings of our planet contributes directly and indirectly to improved understanding of the processes that shape the environment. Thus, I see geoscience as