VOA慢速英语：气候变化引发削减消费争论

Degrowth economics is the idea that the planet cannot survive endless economic growth. That idea goes against modern economics, where growth is widely considered the best way for nations to build wealth.
去增长经济学认为地球无法在无休止的经济增长中生存。这种观点与现代经济学背道而驰，在现代经济学中，增长被广泛认为是国家积累财富的最佳方式。
 
But the theory is becoming more accepted. Climate change continues to worsen and supply shortages are giving people a taste of a world with limited resources. The problems have led some economic experts to consider what a degrowth world might look like.
但这一理论正在被越来越多的人接受。气候变化继续恶化，供应短缺正在让人们体验资源有限的世界。这些问题让一些经济专家开始思考一个去增长的世界会是什么样子。
 
More talks on degrowth
关于去增长的讨论
 
The U.N. climate science agency this year called for cuts in consumer demand, a major degrowth idea. In April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared that cuts to consumer demand were needed to reduce carbon emissions. Efforts to reduce carbon emissions were previously centered on increasing the use of clean fuel technology.
联合国气候科学机构今年呼吁削减消费者需求，这是一个主要的去增长的理念。4 月，政府间气候变化专门委员会宣布，需要削减消费者需求以减少碳排放。减少碳排放的努力以前集中在增加清洁燃料技术的使用上。
 
The term has also started to appear in investment notes.
该术语也开始出现在投资笔记中。
 
"It is a provocative term," said Aniket Shah. He is with the investment banking company Jefferies. "But it's not about going to a low-income country saying, 'You can't grow anymore'," he said. "It's saying: We need to look at the entire system and see how do we over time decrease total consumption and production in aggregate."
“这是一个具有挑衅性的词，”阿尼克特·沙阿说。他在投资银行公司杰富瑞工作。“但这并不是要对一个低收入国家说，‘你不能再成长了’，”他说。“它的意思是：我们需要审视整个系统，看看我们如何随着时间的推移减少总消费量和总产量。”
 
The World Economic Forum, the organization that runs the Davos economic meeting, published a degrowth article in June. The article suggested that "it might mean people in rich countries changing their diets, living in smaller houses and driving and traveling less."
6 月，举办达沃斯经济会议的组织世界经济论坛发表了一篇去增长的文章。文章指出“这可能意味着让富裕国家的人们改变饮食习惯，住更小的房子，减少开车和旅行。”
 
For Jefferies' Shah, those kinds of behavioral changes could make degrowth investments more popular.
对于在杰富瑞工作的沙阿来说，这些行为变化可能会使去增长投资更受欢迎。
 
He said that the online meeting service Zoom, for example, is a company that could be considered degrowth.
他说，例如，在线会议服务公司Zoom就可以被视为去增长的公司。
 
"...I can certainly see how a world that uses more web-conferencing ... means less travel, which is a very high-carbon-intensive way of transportation," said Shah.
“......由此可以看到一个使用更多网络会议的世界......意味着更少的旅行，旅行可是一种非常高碳密集的交通方式。”沙阿说。
 
Different economic measurements
不同的经济衡量标准
 
Some countries have tried to measure economic outcomes differently than just growth. The small Asian nation of Bhutan famously created a "gross national happiness" measurement. Japan is looking into creating a "green GDP" measurement. GDP, short for Gross Domestic Product, means the value of goods and services produced in a country.
有些国家试图以不同的方式衡量经济成果，而不仅仅是增长。亚洲小国不丹创造了“国民幸福总值”衡量标准。日本正在研究建立“绿色GDP”衡量标准。GDP是​​国内生产总值的缩写，是指一个国家生产的商品和服务的价值。
 
But still, economic policy and markets are mostly driven by increasing consumption and production.
但是，经济政策和市场主要是由不断增长的消费和生产驱动的。
 
Tim Jackson is an economist who has long criticized that model. He said the pandemic and the Ukraine war both challenged consumption with other concerns, like health or global political goals.
蒂姆杰克逊作为长期以来批判这种模式的经济学家。他表示，疫情和战争都在其他问题上对消费构成挑战，例如健康或全球政治目标。
 
At the same time, some countries could enter a state where their economies show little if any growth. This could be caused by many things like an aging population, limited international trade, or a lack of economic reforms.
与此同时，一些国家可能会进入一种经济微增长的状态。这可能由多种因素造成，例如人口老龄化、国际贸易有限或缺乏经济改革。
 
Japan is a country that has experienced this. Experts also see it as a risk for Germany unless it quickly reforms its economic model.
日本就是一个经历过这种情况的国家。专家们还认为，除非德国迅速改革其经济模式，否则这对德国来说也是一种风险。
 
"Particularly in the advanced economies we are moving into a situation where to all intents and purposes, we're pretty much not looking at continued growth already," said Jackson. "If we haven't got an economics that will deal with that .. then we've got very little chance of managing it successfully."
杰克逊说：“尤其是在发达经济体，我们正步入这样一种局面：无论出于何种意图和目的，我们基本上已经看不到持续增长的迹象了。如果我们没有一套可以解决这个问题的经济学……那么，我们成功管理它的可能性微乎其微。”
 
I'm Dan Novak.
丹·诺瓦克报道。