EW LONDON, Conn. — President Obama used a commencement address on Wednesday at the Coast Guard Academy to cast his push for urgent action to combat climate change as a national security imperative¹, saying that the warming of the planet poses an “immediate² risk” to the United States.

康涅狄格州新伦敦——周三，奥巴马总统利用在海岸警卫队学院(Coast Guard Academy)毕业典礼发表讲话的机会，要求采取紧急行动对抗气候变化，称这是国家安全方面的当务之急，奥巴马表示，全球变暖对美国构成“直接风险”。

The speech was part of an effort by Mr. Obama to make a multipronged case for his ambitious climate-change agenda, which he has identified as a top priority for the remainder of his time in office and as a central element of his legacy³. Instead of promoting his plan strictly⁴ in environmental terms, he has pitched it as beneficial for the economy, necessary to protect public health and vital to the nation’s security.

奥巴马正在多管齐下，推动颇具雄心的气候变化议程，此次演讲只是举措之一。奥巴马将该议程视为剩余执政时间的首要任务，同时也是其政治遗产的主要元素。他没有严格地从环境角度推广自己的计划，而是宣称保护环境有利于经济发展，是保护公众健康所必需的举措，对国家安全至关重要。

“I am here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” Mr. Obama told about 4,200 people on an athletic⁵ field overlooking the water here, including about 200 graduates in crisp white dress uniforms. “And so we need to act, and we need to act now.”

“我今天要在这里说明，气候变化对全球安全构成严重威胁，给我们的国家安全带来直接风险，不要搞错，这会对军队保卫国家的方式造成影响，”奥巴马在能够俯瞰水面的体育场对大约4200名观众说。“因此，我们需要采取行动，现在就需要行动起来。”观众包括大约200名身穿崭新白色制服的毕业生。

Mr. Obama repeated arguments he cites often to promote his climate change effort, including a litany of grim facts and figures about rising temperatures, swelling⁶ seas and vanishing sea ice, dismissing skeptics of the phenomenon⁷ or those who refuse to act on it as guilty of “negligence⁸” and “dereliction of duty.”

奥巴马重申了他推广气候变化计划时常提到的理由，其中包括一连串与气温升高、海平面上升、海冰消失有关的的严峻事实和数据，认为那些对此类现象持怀疑态度的人，以及拒绝为此采取行动的人“疏忽大意”，“玩忽职守”。

“I know there are still some folks back in Washington who refuse to admit that climate change is real, and on a day like today, it’s hard to get too worried about it,” Mr. Obama said on a sunny day cooled by a chilly⁹ sea breeze. “The science is indisputable,” he said. “The planet is getting warmer.”

在这个阳光明媚、海风习习的清凉日子，奥巴马表示，“华盛顿还有一些人拒绝承认气候变化是真实存在的。我知道在这种天气的日子里，人们很难担心这个问题”。不过，“科学是毋庸置疑的，”他说。“地球正在变暖。”

But on Wednesday, he coupled those well-worn arguments with a national security-themed call to action to Coast Guard graduates just minutes before they received their commissions. The president argued that climate change has set off dangerous domino effects around the world, prompting a severe drought in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram, and drought, crop failures and high food prices that “helped fuel the early unrest in Syria” before it descended¹⁰ into civil war.

但在周三，除了这些老生常谈的观点之外，他还以国家安全为由，在海岸警卫队学院的毕业生收到任职令之前几分钟呼吁他们采取行动。总统辩称，气候变化在世界各地引发了危险的多米诺骨牌效应，导致尼日利亚出现严重旱情，而恐怖组织博科哈拉姆(Boko Haram)则利用了这一点。干旱、作物减产及高昂的食物价格“在一定程度上引发了叙利亚早期的动荡”，动荡后来升级为内战。

He told the graduates that their generation would have to invent, build and pioneer the energy-efficient technologies that would be needed to reverse the damaging effects of climate change. He said the Pentagon regarded the planet’s warming as a “threat multiplier.”

他对这些毕业生表示，他们这一代将需要创造、加强并倡导节能技术，节能技术对于扭转气候变化带来的破坏性影响是必不可少的。他表示，五角大楼将全球变暖视作“威胁扩增器”。

“We all know what needs to happen — it’s no secret: The world finally has to start reducing its carbon emissions¹¹ now,” the president said. “This is a place where we need you.”

“我们都知道需要去做什么——这不是秘密：全世界最终还是必须从现在开始减少碳排放，”奥巴马说。“这就是我们需要你们的地方。”

In March, Mr. Obama introduced a blueprint¹² for cutting greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade in the United States by up to 28 percent from its level in 2005 levels. The plan, which hinges on new Environmental Protection Agency rules intended to drastically reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from cars and coal-fired power plants, will be the White House’s formal submission¹³ to the United Nations ahead of a summit meeting on climate change in Paris in December.

今年3月，奥巴马提出了一项计划，即以2005年的排放水平为准，在未来十年将美国的温室气体排放量最多减少28%。白宫将在今年12月巴黎举办气候变化峰会之前，将该计划正式提交给联合国。该计划以美国国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)的新规定为基础，这些规定旨在大幅减少汽车及燃煤发电站的二氧化碳排放量，而二氧化碳是导致全球变暖的罪魁祸首。

Mr. Obama faces strong opposition¹⁴ on climate change efforts from many Republicans and coal industry officials, who say the proposal is a vast executive overreach and would devastate¹⁵ the economy. Facing such resistance, the president is working to build support in other ways, including his focus on national defense¹⁶.

奥巴马在应对气候变化方面面临来自很多共和党人及煤炭行业高管的强烈反对，他们声称该提议属于巨大的过分行政干预，将会破坏经济发展。面对这些阻力，奥巴马努力通过各种方式寻求支持，比如强调国防工作。

“Denying it or refusing to deal with it endangers our national security. It undermines the readiness of our forces,” Mr. Obama said. “Politicians who say they care about military readiness ought to care about this as well.”

“否认或拒绝应对这个问题的态度给国家安全造成危害。这会削弱部队的战备能力，”奥巴马说。“那些声称关心军队战备能力的政治人士也应该关注这个问题。”

In a report issued on Wednesday, the White House said climate change would act as “an accelerant of instability around the world,” prompting water scarcity¹⁷ and food shortages that could escalate¹⁸ tensions and lead to overpopulation. It also said that rising temperatures would “change the nature of U.S. military missions,” increasing the demand for resources in the Arctic and coastal¹⁹ regions that would be affected²⁰ by higher sea levels, and result in humanitarian²¹ crises that are larger and more frequent.

在周三发布的报告中，白宫表示，气候变化会成为“世界各地不稳定局面的催化剂”，引发水荒和食物短缺，这会加剧冲突，导致人口过剩。白宫还表示，气温升高会“改变美国军队任务的性质”，加大北极和受海平面上升影响的沿海地区对资源的需求，引发更大规模、更加频繁的人道主义危机。

The president said the conditions could create a global surge of “climate change refugees — and I guarantee the Coast Guard will have to respond.”

奥巴马表示，这种情况会导致全球“气候变化难民数量激增——而且我确定，海岸警卫队将需要进行应对”。

Closer to home, Mr. Obama said the effects of climate change were threatening critical infrastructure²² across the United States, including military posts and training grounds.

从国内来看，奥巴马称气候变化带来的影响对美国各地的关键基础设施造成威胁，其中包括军事哨所和训练场地。

“Climate change, especially rising seas, is a threat to our homeland security — our economic infrastructure, and the safety and health of the American people,” Mr. Obama said.

奥巴马称，“气候变化，特别是海平面上升，对我们的国土安全——经济基础设施，以及美国人民的安全和健康造成了威胁。”