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来源：小宇宙
What is Ecological Debt?
Discussions around ecological debt are closely linked to those of overshoot and the overuse of planet Earth's resources. Humans have now long been depleting Earth's resources far quicker than the planet is able to generate them.
Every year we continue to consume too many resources and pollute the planets. If we consider that as mounting ecological debt, let's say we're now paying interest. It takes the form of extreme weather event, food shortages, the disappearance of other species, unremedied environmental degradation, and the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere. All this ecological debt is carried forward to future generations.
Is there another definition of ecological debts then?
Indeed, and it's worked its way into international debate since the 1990s when the climate crisis started gaining increased attention. It's to do with the imbalance between industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere and developing ones in the southern hemisphere.
If you look back at history, many wealthier countries actually built themselves up at the expense of poorer ones, often including their former colonies. That has taken the form of outsourcing production, depositing waste, and pillaging resources, for example, thereby forcing the ecological burden of their development onto other countries.
How big of a north-south divide are we looking at?
A recent groundbreaking study published in Lancet planetary health sought to assign responsibility for environmental damage over the last 50 years. It found that high income countries were overwhelmingly responsible for the majority of global ecological damage.
The US was the worst culprit, accounting for 27% of all excess material use. The EU wasn't far behind, with a combined 25% among its member countries. That included the UK as the analysis period was before Brexit.
Other wealthy countries like Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Japan also contributed significantly, but southern hemisphere countries were only responsible for 8% in total, highlighting the stark difference.
The study's authors insisted that high-income countries drastically need to reduce their resource consumption to sustainable levels. You could say they owe it to the rest of the world because of their ecological debt. It's a wrong that needs to be put right. Northern Hemisphere countries developed more quickly with others in poorer parts of the world paying the price.
But the definition of ecological debt is somewhat abstract, so it's hard to put any precise figure on the damage done. That has also made it challenging to get on the political agenda with concrete measures. There you have it.
词汇表
ecological debt [ˌiːkəˈlɒdʒɪkəl det] 生态债务（指人类对资源消耗超过地球再生能力，所欠下的“环境账”）
overshoot [ˌəʊvəˈʃuːt] n. 生态超载，过度消耗（资源消耗超过地球再生能力）
deplete [dɪˈpliːt] vt. 耗尽，使枯竭
mounting [ˈmaʊntɪŋ] adj. 不断增加的，加剧的
unremedied [ʌnˈremədid] adj. 未补救的，未纠正的
degradation [ˌdeɡrəˈdeɪʃn] n. 退化，恶化，降级
buildup [ˈbɪldʌp] n. 累积，积聚，增加
work its way into 逐渐进入，慢慢渗透
industrialized [ɪnˈdʌstriəlaɪzd] adj. 工业化的
hemisphere [ˈhemɪsfɪə(r)] n. （地球或天体的）半球
colony [ˈkɒləni] n. 殖民地
outsource [ˈaʊtsɔːs] vt. 外包，交外办理
deposit [dɪˈpɒzɪt] vt. 放置，倾倒（废弃物）
pillage [ˈpɪlɪdʒ] v. 掠夺，抢劫
north-south divide 南北差距，南北鸿沟
groundbreaking [ˈɡraʊndbreɪkɪŋ] adj. 开创性的，突破性的
assign…for [əˈsaɪn] 将…归因于，确定…的责任
overwhelmingly [ˌəʊvəˈwelmɪŋli] adv. 压倒性地，绝大多数地
culprit [ˈkʌlprɪt] n. 罪魁祸首，责任人
Brexit [ˈbreksɪt] n. 英国脱欧（British exit的混成词）
stark [stɑː(r)k] adj. 明显的，鲜明的
drastically [ˈdræstɪkli] adv. 迫切地，极其，非常
political agenda [əˈdʒendə] 政治议程
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Discussions around ecological debt are closely linked to those of overshoot and the overuse of planet Earth's resources. Humans have now long been depleting Earth's resources far quicker than the planet is able to generate them.
Every year we continue to consume too many resources and pollute the planets. If we consider that as mounting ecological debt, let's say we're now paying interest. It takes the form of extreme weather event, food shortages, the disappearance of other species, unremedied environmental degradation, and the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere. All this ecological debt is carried forward to future generations.
Is there another definition of ecological debts then?
Indeed, and it's worked its way into international debate since the 1990s when the climate crisis started gaining increased attention. It's to do with the imbalance between industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere and developing ones in the southern hemisphere.
If you look back at history, many wealthier countries actually built themselves up at the expense of poorer ones, often including their former colonies. That has taken the form of outsourcing production, depositing waste, and pillaging resources, for example, thereby forcing the ecological burden of their development onto other countries.
How big of a north-south divide are we looking at?
A recent groundbreaking study published in Lancet planetary health sought to assign responsibility for environmental damage over the last 50 years. It found that high income countries were overwhelmingly responsible for the majority of global ecological damage.
The US was the worst culprit, accounting for 27% of all excess material use. The EU wasn't far behind, with a combined 25% among its member countries. That included the UK as the analysis period was before Brexit.
Other wealthy countries like Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Japan also contributed significantly, but southern hemisphere countries were only responsible for 8% in total, highlighting the stark difference.
The study's authors insisted that high-income countries drastically need to reduce their resource consumption to sustainable levels. You could say they owe it to the rest of the world because of their ecological debt. It's a wrong that needs to be put right. Northern Hemisphere countries developed more quickly with others in poorer parts of the world paying the price.
But the definition of ecological debt is somewhat abstract, so it's hard to put any precise figure on the damage done. That has also made it challenging to get on the political agenda with concrete measures. There you have it.
词汇表
ecological debt [ˌiːkəˈlɒdʒɪkəl det] 生态债务（指人类对资源消耗超过地球再生能力，所欠下的“环境账”）
overshoot [ˌəʊvəˈʃuːt] n. 生态超载，过度消耗（资源消耗超过地球再生能力）
deplete [dɪˈpliːt] vt. 耗尽，使枯竭
mounting [ˈmaʊntɪŋ] adj. 不断增加的，加剧的
unremedied [ʌnˈremədid] adj. 未补救的，未纠正的
degradation [ˌdeɡrəˈdeɪʃn] n. 退化，恶化，降级
buildup [ˈbɪldʌp] n. 累积，积聚，增加
work its way into 逐渐进入，慢慢渗透
industrialized [ɪnˈdʌstriəlaɪzd] adj. 工业化的
hemisphere [ˈhemɪsfɪə(r)] n. （地球或天体的）半球
colony [ˈkɒləni] n. 殖民地
outsource [ˈaʊtsɔːs] vt. 外包，交外办理
deposit [dɪˈpɒzɪt] vt. 放置，倾倒（废弃物）
pillage [ˈpɪlɪdʒ] v. 掠夺，抢劫
north-south divide 南北差距，南北鸿沟
groundbreaking [ˈɡraʊndbreɪkɪŋ] adj. 开创性的，突破性的
assign…for [əˈsaɪn] 将…归因于，确定…的责任
overwhelmingly [ˌəʊvəˈwelmɪŋli] adv. 压倒性地，绝大多数地
culprit [ˈkʌlprɪt] n. 罪魁祸首，责任人
Brexit [ˈbreksɪt] n. 英国脱欧（British exit的混成词）
stark [stɑː(r)k] adj. 明显的，鲜明的
drastically [ˈdræstɪkli] adv. 迫切地，极其，非常
political agenda [əˈdʒendə] 政治议程
🪴翻译和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】
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