The future of Green politics is under constant discussion after the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, but a much heavier clash – in meaning, symbolism and portent(预兆，征兆) – happened earlier this summer, in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk. The council declared a climate emergency in 2021, along with hundreds of others, and while it was under Conservative control. It is now controlled by independents, and a Reform UK councillor, Austen Moore, moved to scrap the declaration(动议废除该声明).
霍本与圣潘克拉斯补选之后，绿色政治的未来一直被反复讨论；但今年初夏，在金斯林-西诺福克，发生了一场在意义、象征和预兆上都沉重得多的交锋。该议会曾于2021年与数百个地方议会一道宣布气候紧急状态，当时它还由保守党掌控。如今它由独立议员控制，改革英国党议员奥斯汀·摩尔动议废除这一声明。
It was the end of June, and the meeting had to be called off(取消), because of the extreme heat in the King’s Lynn council chamber. A lot of people paused to grimly(阴沉地，严峻地) remark on that irony, but not Moore, who simply rescheduled the motion for the following week, where it was voted down (by 33 to seven). A local scientist and member of Extinction Rebellion liveblogged that debate, adding helpful maps, such as how much of the county was already below the annual flood level – most of it, including King’s Lynn itself.(一位当地科学家兼“反抗灭绝”成员对那场辩论做了实时博客，还配上实用地图，比如该郡有多少土地已低于年度洪水水位——大部分都低于，包括金斯林本身。) If this all sounds like a cheerful take home(要点，结论), numerous other Reform-led councils have had the same debate and Reform has prevailed(获胜，占上风). Their arguments can be terrifyingly illiterate(无知的，缺乏基本常识的). In Kent, councillor Linden Kemkaran asserted that climate change is fine because the world was warmer in Roman times, and as “carbon dioxide … is a trace gas essential for life on Earth”, to try to cut carbon emissions would itself be dangerous.(在肯特，议员林登·肯卡兰断言气候变化没问题，因为罗马时代世界更暖和；而且既然“二氧化碳……是地球上生命不可或缺的微量气体”，试图削减碳排放本身就是危险的。)
那是六月底，会议因金斯林议事厅内极端高温而被迫取消。许多人停下来，阴沉地议论这其中的讽刺，但摩尔没有——他干脆把动议改到下周，结果被以33票对7票否决。一位当地科学家、也是“反抗灭绝”成员，对那场辩论做了实时博客，还配上实用的地图，比如该郡已有多少土地低于年度洪水水位——大部分都低于，包括金斯林本身。如果这一切听起来像是个令人愉快的结论，那要知道，许多其他由改革党领导的议会也进行过同样的辩论，而改革党都赢了。他们的论点可以无知到令人恐惧。在肯特，议员林登·肯卡兰断言气候变化没问题，因为罗马时代世界更暖和，而且既然“二氧化碳……是地球上生命不可或缺的微量气体”，试图削减碳排放本身就是危险的。
If you’re waiting for reality to knock some sense into(让……清醒过来，使明白事理) politics, you will wait too long. There is no heatwave, no flood, no El Niño, no omnicrisis(全方位危机，多重危机叠加), that will divert(使转向，使偏离) rightwing populism from its crusade(运动，圣战) against action on climate.
如果你在等现实给政治敲敲脑袋、让它清醒过来，那你会等太久。没有任何热浪、洪水、厄尔尼诺或全方位危机，能让右翼民粹主义从它反对气候行动的“圣战”上转向。