Deep-Red Alaska, Feeling Thaw, Devises Climate Change Plan
深紅阿拉斯加 因應氣候變遷
By Brad Plumer

In the Trump era, it has mainly been blue states that have taken the lead on climate change policy, with liberal strongholds like California and New York setting ambitious goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
在川普時代，於氣候變遷政策上扮演領頭羊的主要是美國的藍色州，加州、紐約州這些自由派重鎮都為減少溫室氣體排放訂下遠大目標。

Now, at least one deep-red state could soon join them: Alaska, a major oil and gas producer, is creating its own plan to address climate change. Ideas under discussion include cuts in state emissions by 2025 and a tax on companies that emit carbon dioxide.
現在，至少有一個深紅州可能即將加入藍州的行列，那就是阿拉斯加這個石油和天然氣的主要生產州，該州正制定自己的計畫，以因應氣候變遷問題。討論中的點子包括在2025年前讓該州進一步減排，以及對排放二氧化碳的公司課稅。

While many conservative-leaning states have resisted aggressive climate policies, Alaska is already seeing the dramatic effects of global warming firsthand, making the issue difficult for local politicians to avoid. The solid permafrost that sits beneath many roads, buildings and pipelines is starting to thaw, destabilizing the infrastructure above. At least 31 coastal towns and cities may need to relocate, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, as protective sea ice vanishes and fierce waves erode Alaska’s shores.
儘管許多保守州抗拒施行積極的氣候政策，但阿拉斯加已親眼目睹全球暖化的巨大影響，以致當地政治人物難以再躲避這個問題。位於許多道路、建築物和管道下方的堅實永凍層已開始融化，破壞了上方基礎設施的穩定。由於保護性的海冰消失，強浪侵蝕阿拉斯加海岸，至少31個沿海城鎮可能必須遷移，耗資數億美元。

“The change has been so real and so widespread that it’s become impossible to ignore,” Byron Mallott, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, said while visiting Washington to discuss climate policy. “Folks are realizing that it’s something we have to deal with.”
該州民主黨籍副州長拜倫．馬洛特訪問華盛頓，討論氣候政策時說：「變化如此真實又廣泛，令人無法忽視。人們意識到這是我們非得處理不可的問題。」

The state is still finalizing its climate strategy. In October, Gov. Bill Walker, a former Republican who won election as an independent in 2014, created a task force headed by Mallott that would propose specific policies to reduce emissions and help the state adapt to the impacts of global warming. The recommendations are due by September.
該州仍在為其氣候策略作最後的拍板定案。原為共和黨員，2014年以無黨籍身分參選並當選的州長比爾．沃克，去年10月設置了一個由馬洛特領導的專案小組，針對該州減排以及適應全球暖化衝擊，提出具體政策。這些建議應於9月前提出。

In addressing climate change, Alaska will have to grapple with its own deep contradictions. Roughly 85 percent of the state’s budget is funded by revenues from the production of oil, which is primarily exported to the rest of the United States, and local politicians have largely been unwilling to curtail the supply of fossil fuels. Both Walker and Mallott supported the recent decision by Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, a move opposed by environmentalists.
在對付氣候變遷上，阿拉斯加將必須努力克服自身的嚴重矛盾。該州約85%的預算來自生產石油的歲收，這些石油生產主要輸往美國其他地區，而該州在地政治人物大抵不樂意削減這些化石燃料供應。沃克和馬洛特兩人都支持國會最近的決定，開放「北極國家野生動物保護區」，以進行石油和天然氣探勘，環保人士則反對這項行動。

“The state will continue to be an energy producer for as long as there is a market for fossil fuels,” the men wrote in a recent Op-Ed for The Juneau Empire. But, they added, “We should not use our role as an energy producer to justify inaction or complacency in our response to the complex challenge of climate change.”
這些人最近在「朱諾帝國」報的言論版寫道：「只要化石燃料市場存在一天，本州就會繼續成為能源生產州。」不過，他們也寫道：「我們不該拿我們是能源生產州的角色，作為我們在對氣候變遷這項複雜挑戰的反應上，不作為或自以為是的藉口。」

To that end, the state’s climate task force released a draft in April that included a proposal for Alaska to get 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources like solar, wind, hydropower, and geothermal by 2025, up from 33 percent in 2016.
為此，該州的氣候專案小組四月提出了一份草案，建議之一是2025年之前，阿拉斯加從太陽能、風能、水力發電和地熱等再生能源取得50%的電力，高於2016年的33%。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/climate/alaska-climate-change.html

Video：Battleground Alaska: Commerce vs. Wilderness
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000005573211/battleground-alaska-where-commerce-and-wilderness-spar.html

2018-06-03 聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 王麗娟

說文解字看新聞 王麗娟

文章一開始即提及美國的藍州（blue states），指的是民主黨勢力較強的州，紅色則是共和黨的代表色，因此共和黨勢力較強的州是紅州（red states）。本文主角阿拉斯加州被標識為深紅（deep-red），表示一向是共和黨的票倉，也是支持現任美國總統川普的州。文章特別提及阿拉斯加州的政治色彩，旨在強調該州與不相信氣候變遷（climate change）的川普背道而馳，正設法制定包括減排（emissions cuts）二氧化碳（carbon dioxide）在內的政策。

阿拉斯加州地底下的永凍層（permafrost）已開始融化（thaw）， 是該州積極制定氣候變遷政策主因。永凍層指的是超過2年維持在攝氏零度以下低溫的土層。thaw可作動詞或名詞用，意為融化、融解、融雪。thaw也可指關係解凍，食物解凍，如The icy relationship between North Korea and South Korea seems to be thawing thanks to the Winter Olympics.（由於冬季奧運會，北韓和南韓之間的冰冷關係似乎正在解凍。）There are many ways to safely thaw frozen foods.（有許多方法可安全解凍冷凍食物。）

When Spies Hack Journalism
當間諜駭入新聞界
By Scott Shane

For decades, leakers of confidential information to the press were a genus that included many species: the government worker infuriated by wrongdoing, the ideologue pushing a particular line, the politico out to savage an opponent. In recent years, technology has helped such leakers operate on a mass scale: Chelsea Manning and the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables, Edward Snowden and the stolen National Security Agency archive, and the still-anonymous source of the Panama Papers.
數十年來，向新聞界揭露機密情報的洩密者，多為同一屬但涵蓋許多種的人物：被不法行為激怒的政府工作人員，推動特定路線的意識型態者，試圖攻擊對手的政治人物。近年來，科技成為這些洩密者採取大規模行動的助力：雀兒喜．曼寧和「維基解密」的外交電報，愛德華．史諾登和被竊的國家安全局檔案，以及「巴拿馬文件」和它仍是無名氏的消息來源。

But now this disparate cast has been joined by a very different sort of large-scale leaker, more stealthy and better funded: the intelligence services of nation states, which hack into troves of documents and then use a proxy to release them. What Russian intelligence did with shocking success to the Democrats in 2016 shows every promise of becoming a common tool of spycraft around the world.
然而現在這個由各不相同的角色構成的卡司，又增加了另一種迥然不同的大規模洩密者，更隱密，銀彈也更足：他們是各國的情報部門。這些情報部門駭得大量文件資料，再利用代理人發布出去。俄羅斯情報部門2016年驚人成功地駭入美國民主黨這件事，顯示這種作法肯定會在未來成為通行全球的間諜活動工具。

In 2014, North Korea, angry about a movie, hacked Sony and aired thousands of internal emails. Since then, Russia has used the hack-leak method in countries across Europe. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar, Persian Gulf rivals, have accused each other of tit-for-tat hacks, leaks and online sabotage. Other spy services are suspected in additional disclosures, but spies are skilled at hiding their tracks.
2014年，對某部電影怒不可遏的北韓，駭入索尼公司，並公布了數千封內部電子郵件。此後，俄羅斯在歐洲各國也採用了這種駭入─洩露方法。波斯灣的對立國家，阿拉伯聯合大公國和卡達互控對方肆行以牙還牙的駭客攻擊、洩密和網路破壞。其他情報單位也被懷疑是另一些洩密事件的主謀，只是這些間諜擅長隱藏他們的蹤跡。

“It’s clear that nation states are looking at these mass leaks and seeing how successful they are,” said Matt Tait, a cyber expert at the University of Texas who previously worked at Government Communications Headquarters, the British equivalent of the National Security Agency.
德州大學網路專家馬特．泰特說：「顯然，各國正在審視這些大規模洩密行動，且目睹它們是多麼成功。」泰特之前在英國等同於美國國家安全局的政府通信總部工作。

What does this mean for journalism? The old rules say that if news organizations obtain material they deem both authentic and newsworthy, they should run it. But those conventions may set reporters up for spy agencies to manipulate what and when they publish, with an added danger: An archive of genuine material may be seeded with slick forgeries.
這對新聞界而言意味著什麼？按照老規矩，新聞組織一旦取得他們認為具有真實性和新聞價值的材料，就認為應該公諸於世。但是這些慣例可能導致記者遭到間諜機構操縱他們所發布的內容以及時間，而且還有一項風險：真材實料的檔案可能暗藏巧妙的造假。

This quandary is raised with emotional force by my colleague Amy Chozick in her new book about covering Hillary Clinton. She recounts reading a New York Times story about the Russian hack of the Democrats that said The Times and other outlets, by publishing stories based on the hacked material, became “a de facto instrument of Russian intelligence.” She felt terrible, she reports, because she thought she was guilty as charged.
我的同事艾咪．丘齊克在她談採訪希拉蕊．柯林頓的新書中，情緒激動地說明了這項窘境。她描述看過紐約時報與俄羅斯駭入民主黨相關的一篇報導，文章指出，紐時和其他媒體根據被駭資料做報導時，「實際上也成了俄羅斯情報單位的工具」。她報導說，她感覺糟透了，因為她自覺犯了這樣的錯。

Others hurried to reassure Chozick that she and hundreds of other reporters who covered the leaked emails were simply doing their jobs. “The primary question a journalist must ask himself is whether or not the information is true and relevant,” wrote Jack Shafer, the media critic for Politico, “and certainly not whether it might make Moscow happy.”
其他人急忙安慰丘齊克，她和數百位採訪外洩電子郵件新聞的記者，只是盡職而已。 Politico媒體評論家傑克．薛佛寫道：「記者必須問自己的首要問題是，這些資料是否屬實以及是否相關，絕不會是這樣做會不會讓莫斯科高與。」

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/sunday-review/when-spies-hack-journalism.html

2018-06-03 聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 王麗娟