我的家鄉(xiāng)，加州不再

I have lived nearly all my life in California, and my love for this place and its people runs deep and true. There have been many times in the past few years when I’ve called myself a California nationalist: Sure, America seemed to be going crazy, but at least I lived in the Golden State, where things were still pretty chill.

我從出生至今幾乎一直住在加利福尼亞，我對這個地方和這里的人的愛深沉而真實。過去幾年里，我曾多次自稱為加州民族主義者：是，美國好像是瘋了，但至少我住在“金州”，這里仍然是個很愜意的地方。

But lately my affinity for my home state has soured. Maybe it’s the smoke and the blackouts, but a very un-Californian nihilism has been creeping into my thinking. I’m starting to suspect we’re over. It’s the end of California as we know it. I don’t feel fine.

但最近，我對家鄉(xiāng)的感情開始惡化。也許是因為濃煙和停電，但一種很不加州的虛無主義已經(jīng)潛入我的思維。我開始懷疑我們完蛋了。我們所知的那個加州完了。我感覺很不好。

It isn’t just the fires — although, my God, the fires. Is this what life in America’s most populous, most prosperous state is going to be like from now on? Every year, hundreds of thousands evacuating, millions losing power, hundreds losing property and lives? Last year, the air near where I live in Northern California — within driving distance of some of the largest and most powerful and advanced corporations in the history of the world — was more hazardous than the air in Beijing and New Delhi. There’s a good chance that will happen again this month, and that it will keep happening every year from now on. Is this really the best America can do?

不僅僅是著火——雖然這火燒的實在是，天吶。在這個美國人口最多、最繁榮的州，生活從此以后就會變成這樣嗎?每年都有數(shù)十萬人疏散，數(shù)百萬人被斷電，成千上萬的人失去財產(chǎn)和生命?去年，在我所在的北加州一帶——開車沒多久就能到達(dá)人類歷史上規(guī)模最大、實力最強、最先進(jìn)的企業(yè)所在地——空氣質(zhì)量比北京和新德里還要糟糕。本月，這種事很有可能會再次發(fā)生，而且從現(xiàn)在起，每年都會發(fā)生。美國真的就只有這點水平了嗎?

Probably, because it’s only going to get worse. The fires and the blackouts aren’t like the earthquakes, a natural threat we’ve all chosen to ignore. They are more like California’s other problems, like housing affordability and homelessness and traffic — human-made catastrophes we’ve all chosen to ignore, connected to the larger dysfunction at the heart of our state’s rot: a failure to live sustainably.

很可能是這樣，因為情況只會變得更糟。地震是一種我們選擇忽視的天災(zāi)，火災(zāi)和停電則有所不同，它們更像是加州的其他問題，比如住房可負(fù)擔(dān)性、無家可歸人口和交通——這是我們選擇忽視的人禍，它和位于我們這個州腐爛的核心的一種更廣泛層面的失調(diào)有關(guān)：我們無法可持續(xù)地生活。

Now choking under the smoke of a changing climate, California feels stuck. We are BlackBerry after the iPhone, Blockbuster after Netflix: We’ve got the wrong design, we bet on the wrong technologies, we’ve got the wrong incentives, and we’re saddled with the wrong culture. The founding idea of this place is infinitude — mile after endless mile of cute houses connected by freeways and uninsulated power lines stretching out far into the forested hills. Our whole way of life is built on a series of myths — the myth of endless space, endless fuel, endless water, endless optimism, endless outward reach and endless free parking.

如今，加州因不斷變化的氣候帶來的煙霧而窒息，有種被困住的感覺。我們是iPhone之后的黑莓，Netflix之后的百視達(dá)(Blockbuster)：我們用了錯誤的設(shè)計，我們押錯了技術(shù)，我們得到了錯誤的激勵，我們背負(fù)著錯誤的文化。這個地方的創(chuàng)始理念是無窮無盡——連綿不絕的可愛房子，由高速公路和延伸到森林覆蓋的山中的未絕緣電線連接。我們的整個生活方式建立在一系列迷思之上：無盡的空間、無盡的燃料、無盡的水、無盡的樂觀、無盡的拓展空間和無盡的免費車位的迷思。

One by one, those myths are bursting into flame. We are running out of land, housing, water, road space and now electricity. Fixing all this requires systemic change, but we aren’t up to the task. We are hemmed in by a resentful national government and an uncaring national media, and we have never been able to prize sustainability and equality over quick-fix hacks and outsized prizes to the rich.

這些迷思一個接一個突然燃燒起來。我們的土地、住房、水、道路空間即將用盡，如今電也快用完。解決所有這些問題需要系統(tǒng)性的變革，但我們無法勝任這項任務(wù)。我們被一個懷著憎恨的國家政府和漠不關(guān)心的全國媒體所束縛，并且我們從來沒能把可持續(xù)性和平等置于權(quán)宜之計和對富人的巨額獎勵之上。

All of our instincts seem to make things worse. Our de facto solution to housing affordability has been forcing people to move farther and farther away from cities, so they commute longer, make traffic worse and increase the population of fire-prone areas. We “solved” the problem of poor urban transportation by inviting private companies like Uber and Lyft to take over our roads. To keep the fires at bay, we are now employing the oldest I.T. hack in the book: turning the power off and then turning it back on again. Meanwhile, the rich are getting by: When the fires come, they hire their own firefighters. (Their gardeners and housekeepers still had to go to work, though.)

我們所有的本能似乎使事情變得更糟。我們對住房可負(fù)擔(dān)性問題的解決方法，實際上就是迫使人們越來越遠(yuǎn)離城市，因此他們的通勤時間更長，交通狀況更糟，并增加了火災(zāi)多發(fā)區(qū)域的人口。通過邀請優(yōu)步(Uber)和Lyft等私人公司接管我們的道路，我們“解決了”城市交通狀況不佳的問題。為控制火災(zāi)，我們現(xiàn)在采用的是我們所知的最古老的IT伎倆：關(guān)機(jī)，然后再打開。與此同時，富人們在勉力支撐：當(dāng)火災(zāi)來臨時，他們雇傭自己的消防員。(不過，他們的園丁和管家還是得上班。)

Does all this sound overdramatic? You might point out that if it seems like dystopian apocalypse in California, it’s because it has always felt like dystopian apocalypse in California. The California of Joan Didion, Charles Manson and Ronald Reagan was no picnic; nor was the California of Pete Wilson, Rodney King or Arnold Schwarzenegger. California has always been a place that seems to be on the edge and running on empty, and maybe the best you can ever say about it is, hey, at least we’re not Florida.

這一切聽起來是不是太夸張了?你可能會指出，如果這看起來像是加州的反烏托邦天啟，那是因為加州總給人一種反烏托邦天啟的感覺。瓊·迪迪安(Joan Didion)、查爾斯·曼森(Charles Manson)和羅納德·里根(Ronald Reagan)的加州可不是個省油的燈;皮特·威爾遜(Pete Wilson)、羅德尼·金(Rodney King)或阿諾德·施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)的加州也不是。加州似乎一直是一個瀕臨發(fā)瘋的、靠著虛妄在運轉(zhuǎn)的地方，或者怎么把話說的好聽點，就是至少我們不是佛羅里達(dá)吧。

But this time it’s different. The apocalypse now feels more elemental — as if the place is not working in a fundamental way, at the level of geography and climate. And everything we need to do to avoid the end goes against everything we’ve ever done.

但這次不同?，F(xiàn)在的天啟給人一種更原始的感覺——仿佛這里從根本上，在地理和氣候的層面上，已經(jīng)無法運轉(zhuǎn)了。要避免走向末日，我們要做的事情，與我們過去在做的所有事情都背道而馳。

The long-term solutions to many of our problems are obvious: To stave off fire and housing costs and so much else, the people of California should live together more densely. We should rely less on cars. And we should be more inclusive in the way we design infrastructure — transportation, the power grid, housing stock — aiming to design for the many rather than for the wealthy few.

我們許多問題的長期解決方案顯而易見：為避免火災(zāi)、住房成本以及其他許多問題，加州人應(yīng)該生活在一個更密集的區(qū)域。我們應(yīng)該減少對汽車的依賴。我們應(yīng)該在基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施——交通、電網(wǎng)、住房儲備——的設(shè)計上更具包容性，以為多數(shù)人設(shè)計為目標(biāo)，而不是為少數(shù)富人設(shè)計。

If we redesigned our cities for the modern world, they’d be taller and less stretched out into the fire-prone far reaches — what scientists call the wildland-urban interface. Housing would be affordable because there’d be more of it. You’d be able to get around more cheaply because we’d ditch cars and turn to buses and trains and other ways we know how to move around a lot of people at high speeds, for low prices. It wouldn’t be the end of the California dream, but a reconceptualization — not as many endless blocks of backyards and swimming pools, but perhaps a new kind of more livable, more accessible life for all.

如果我們?yōu)楝F(xiàn)代世界重新設(shè)計我們的城市，它們會變得更高，更少延伸到容易著火的地方——科學(xué)家所說的荒地-城市分界面。住房將變得可以負(fù)擔(dān)，因為將有更多的住房。你的出行可以更便宜，因為我們將放棄汽車，轉(zhuǎn)向公共汽車和火車，以及其他以低價格、高速度運輸大量人群的方式。這不會是加州夢的終結(jié)，而是一種概念的重建——不再是無數(shù)街區(qū)的后院和游泳池，而或許是一種更宜居、更便捷的新的生活方式。

But who wants to do all this? Not the people of this state. Sure, we’ll ban plastic bags and try to increase gas-mileage standards (until the federal government tries to stops us, which of course it can, because our 40 million people get the same voting power in the Senate as Wyoming’s 600,000).

但誰愿意做這一切呢?不是這個州的人民。當(dāng)然，我們將禁止使用塑料袋，并設(shè)法提高油耗標(biāo)準(zhǔn)(直到聯(lián)邦政府試圖阻止我們，它當(dāng)然可以這么做，因為我們的4000萬人在參議院擁有的投票權(quán)，與懷俄明州的60萬人一樣)。

But the big things still seem impossible here. In a state where 40 years ago, homeowners passed a constitutional amendment enshrining their demands for low property taxes forever, where every initiative at increasing density still seems to fail, where vital resources like electricity are managed by unscrupulous corporations and where cars are still far and away the most beloved way to get around, it’s hard to imagine systemic change happening anytime soon.

但在這里，大的事情似乎仍不可能。在這個州，很難想象系統(tǒng)性變革會很快發(fā)生——40年前業(yè)主通過了一項憲法修正案，把他們關(guān)于永遠(yuǎn)享受低房產(chǎn)稅的要求寫入法律;每一項增加樓房密度的舉措似乎仍會以失敗告終;電力等重要資源由寡廉鮮恥的企業(yè)管理，并且汽車無疑仍是最受歡迎的出行方式。

And so we muddle on toward the end. All the leaves are burned and the sky is gray. California, as it’s currently designed, will not survive the coming climate. Either we alter how we live here, or many of us won’t live here anymore.

我們就這樣應(yīng)付著走向終結(jié)。所有的樹葉都被燒焦，天空變成灰色。按照目前的設(shè)計，加州將無法承受未來的氣候變化。要么我們改變我們在這里的生活方式，要么我們中的許多人將不再生活在這里。