教育儲蓄的更好用途

文/埃瑪·帕蒂 譯/李小蕾

A year ago, my husband and I were sitting on a beach in Lake Tahoe1位于美國加利福尼亞和內華達邊界。watching our one-year-old son play in the water, talking about the money we were putting aside2put aside把……留待以后使用。for his future, something we had started doing while I was still pregnant.

2Finances played a big role in both my and my husband’s college decisions—I did my first two years at community college to save money, and my husband’s college fund got spent on keeping the family business afloat3keep afloat使……不致負債。.The idea that we would be removing those limitations for our own kid felt, well,amazing.

一年前，丈夫和我坐在塔霍湖的沙灘上，一邊看著我們一歲的兒子戲水，一邊討論著正在為他未來存的那筆錢，存錢這事從我懷孕的時候就開始了。

2財務問題曾對我和丈夫的大學規劃影響很大——為了省錢，我大學的前兩年是在社區學院上的，而我丈夫的大學儲蓄被用來接濟家族生意了。一想到我們自己的孩子不用再被未來的大學費用束縛手腳，我們感覺棒極了。

3As our son splashed in the waves and dug his little hands in the sand, my husband and I threw out ideas of where he might do with that money.

3我們的兒子在浪花里撲騰著，還把小手插進沙子里，丈夫和我則開始你一言我一語地謀劃他該如何花掉這筆錢。

4“有了這筆錢，也許他畢業的時候就能無債一身輕了。”丈夫若有所思地說，“如果得到了全額獎學金，他還可以把這筆錢作為置業的首付款。”

5“Maybe he’ll invent an app and use the money to fund a business,” I added.“Or climb Everest or sail around the world.”

6A couple weeks after we drove back to our home to Portland, wildfires tore through Oregon and California in a record-breaking fire season.In the past year, we’ve seen massive droughts, devastating ice storms, fragile power grids,reduced air quality, and increasingly severe weather events around the globe.

7Then, last month, the IPCC released a report saying that at this point, a hotter future is unavoidable.Even in the best case scenario, these scientists predict killer heatwaves, a shortage of water, a lack of food, and hundreds of millions of people suffering and dying.According to the IPCC report, in 2040,when my son will be college-aged, he will likely be more concerned with air quality and escaping the heat than with his GPA5GPA = grade point average平均學分績點。or spring break travel plans.By the time he has kids of his own, reliable access to food and water may be more impressive than a diploma.

8That night, I asked my husband a question: What if we stopped putting money in our son’s college fund and started using that money to protect him from climate change?

5“他也可以去開發一個應用程序，把錢拿來創業，”我補了一句，“也可以用這筆錢去登珠穆朗瑪峰或乘船環游世界。”

6我們開車回到位于波特蘭的家，兩三周后就碰到了一場前所未有的火災，野火一路肆虐，席卷了俄勒岡和加利福尼亞。在過去的一年里，全球遭遇了大面積的旱災和破壞力驚人的冰暴，此外，電力系統脆弱，空氣質量下降，日益嚴重的天氣事件頻現。

專家的報告固然精彩，但是，焊接裝備企業的演講也絲毫不遜色。深圳市麥格米特焊接技術有限公司銷售總監何志軍、賓采爾（廣州）焊接技術有限公司銷售總監魏武、上海發那科機器人有限公司研發中心副主任孔萌分別做了“智能焊接技術的發展”、“高效智能焊接技術分享與應用”、“發那科智能制造解決方案”的報告，更是展示了企業最新的智能制造解決案例和能力，滿足了大家對智能制造知識的需求。

7上個月，聯合國政府間氣候變化專門委員會（IPCC）發布了一則報告，稱從目前的情況來看，未來氣候變暖已不可避免。科學家們認為，即使按照最樂觀的狀況預測，未來也避免不了熱浪致命、水源匱乏、食物短缺的困境，會有數億人在生死線上掙扎受苦。根據IPCC的這則報告，到了2040年，也就是我兒子上大學的時候，令他更關切的也許不是平均學分績點或春假旅游計劃，而是空氣質量以及如何避開高溫。等他有了自己的孩子，可靠的食物來源和水源可能比一張文憑更引人注目。

8那天晚上，我問了丈夫一個問題：“為了保護兒子免受氣候變化的影響，咱們是不是該把正在為兒子準備的大學儲蓄用到這方面了？”

9But how do you protect a young child against climate change? What will he need in 2040, 2060, 2080? That part is trickier.Some climate experts say that if we don’t curb emissions quickly, by 2060, when my son is 40, he will likely be dealing with heat waves that could last up to a month, rolling6rolling不斷的；經常的。blackouts making it hard to rely on air conditioning, and a lack of access to fresh water.

10After much discussion, we agreed that saving money for his college education when we are facing a climate emergency just doesn’t make sense.Instead,we are planning on using the money to invest in a carbon-free lifestyle now by buying electric cars, installing solar panels, and starting a backyard vegetable garden.We eventually plan to buy a piece of land that will have its own water source in an area that is less likely to be impacted by wildfires.9但是你怎么保護一個小孩子免受氣候變化的影響呢？誰知道他在未來的2040年、2060年、2080年需要什么呢？這才是更加頭疼的問題。有些氣候專家指出，如果我們不迅速控制排放，到了2060年，也就是我兒子40歲的時候，他有可能要面對長達一個月的熱浪，而且輪番限電的措施讓人沒法指望靠空調降溫，淡水也將變得匱乏。

10經過了一番深入的討論，我們都認為在這樣的極端氣候下，繼續為兒子積攢大學儲蓄是沒有意義的。我們計劃著把這筆錢投入到低碳生活方式上，比如購買電動汽車、安裝太陽能電池板、在后院開辟一塊蔬菜地。最終，我們打算用這筆錢在不太可能受野火影響的地區買一片自帶水源的土地。

11You don’t need a plot of land or tens of thousands of dollars to start safeguarding your child’s future against climate change.You can stop eating animal products or start growing some of your own food in a planter box.You can move away from the coastlines or plant large trees to help shade your home in the decades to come.Preparation can extend far beyond the financial as well.Instead of teaching your kids that getting A’s means they’ll be best equipped for the future, teach them that life can still be enjoyable without air travel,green lawns, and steaks on the grill.

11其實，著手保護你的孩子免受氣候變化的影響不一定需要一片土地或是數萬美元。你可以停止食用動物制品，也可以在種植箱里種一些自用的食材。你可以搬離海岸線，也可以種植高大的樹木，讓它們在未來的幾十年為你家遮蔭。準備工作遠遠不止財務方面。不要再教育孩子們考試得A是應對未來的最好保證，你應該讓他們明白，即使沒有了航空旅行、綠色草坪和烤架上的牛排，生活依然可以美好。

12Another mom accused me of “stealing” my child’s future by planning to spend this money now instead of saving it for higher education.But my husband and I are living proof that you don’t need a six-figure college fund to do well in life.If my son wants to go to college,he’ll figure out a way.Or he’ll be like nearly 80 percent of older millennials and take on student loan debt.

13We’ve also been surprised to find just as many friends who agree with what we’re doing or who are doing something similar: learning to grow their own food, creating off-the-grid7off-the-grid不和（電、水等）公共設施接通，自備電力和水源的。communities, or just being more intentional about trying to protect their children from the worst effects of climate change.

12有一個媽媽指責我“偷走”了孩子的未來，因為我打算現在就花了這筆錢，而不是存起來供孩子接受高等教育。但是，丈夫和我本人的經歷就是活生生的證明：沒有六位數的大學基金也照樣可以把日子過得不錯。如果我兒子想上大學，他會想出辦法的。他也可以像過去將近80%的千禧一代那樣，申請助學貸款。

13我們驚喜地發現，有很多朋友同意我們的做法，還有很多朋友正在做著類似的事情：學著種植自家的食材、創辦離網社區，或是更注重保護孩子免受氣候變化帶來的惡劣影響。

14As a climate journalist, I recently interviewed a woman who had saved for years to buy her disabled son a mobile home so he would have a place to live after she passed.Then, in the span of an hour, a climate-induced fire destroyed it.Now they both are homeless.During the deadly heat wave here in Portland, mothers in a local Facebook group begged for money to buy air conditioners for their children or asked advice about how to care for overheated infants.

14身為一個報道氣候議題的記者，我最近采訪了一位女性。為了讓殘疾的兒子在她百年之后能有落腳的地方，她用多年的積蓄給兒子買了一個移動房屋。然而，僅僅一個小時的工夫，一場由天氣引發的火災就把房屋給燒毀了。現在母子倆都無家可歸了。波特蘭被致命熱浪席卷的那段時間，當地一個臉書群里的媽媽們為了給孩子們買空調，不得不在群里乞討，還有媽媽咨詢怎么照顧中暑的嬰兒。

15Even as the world feels like it’s unraveling around us, so many millennial parents—myself included—have clung to this idea that our kids will somehow be able to avoid the impacts of climate change or enjoy the lifestyles we’ve been able to enjoy.We argue over private vs.public school and read scientific studies on screen time8screen time上網時間。while the ice caps melt, temperatures rise higher and higher, and more than a million species face extinction.Friends of ours just bought a vacation house on the Oregon coast and talk about how they want to take their grandkids there one day, even though rising sea levels are predicted to make their home unlivable before their grandkids are old enough to walk.

15即便我們周遭的世界似乎正在分崩離析，這么多已為人父母的千禧一代（包括我自己）仍然固執地堅信我們的孩子總能設法避開氣候變化的影響，像曾經的我們那樣去享受生活。我們依然爭論著孩子該上私立學校還是公立學校，閱讀著關于控制上網時間的科普文章，而此時此刻，冰帽融化了，氣溫越來越高，一百多萬物種正瀕臨滅絕。我們的朋友剛剛在俄勒岡海岸購買了度假別墅，談論著他們多么希望在未來的某天帶孫輩去那里度假。其實根據預測，到了那時，上升的海平面將使得他們的房子沒法再住人，而彼時他們的孫輩甚至還沒學會走路。

16Even in the best case scenarios, if we were to radically curb emissions today, climate change is still going to have a devastating impact on our children’s future.If we cling too tightly to the future we wish our children could have,we miss the opportunity to prepare for the one they’ll actually face.■

16即使在最樂觀的情況下，即使我們從今天開始從根本上控制排放，氣候變化仍將給我們孩子們的未來帶來災難性的影響。如果我們總是執著于希望孩子們能夠擁有的美好未來，就將錯失幫助他們應對那個真實未來的機會。 □