You would never guess it from the US election. But for the third year running the world is on course to exceed a record temperature in 2016 — having suffered the hottest July in history last month. People are right to worry their children may not have it as good as they did. Yet the changing planet plays little role in their foreboding. By any barometer, US politics has hit extreme weather in 2016, yet global warming ranks near the bottom on the list of voter concerns. Illegal immigration, on the other hand, is near the top, even though net inflows came to a halt five years ago. Is democracy on course to duck the biggest challenge of our age?
你永遠不會從美國選舉中猜到這一點——全球在2016年連續第三年有望超過歷史最高溫度，今年7月是全球歷史上最熱的一個7月。人們擔心他們的孩子可能不會像他們自己那樣幸運——這一預感是正確的。然而這個正在變化的星球與他們產生這樣的預感關系不大。按任何標準來看，2016年的美國政治都遭遇了“極端天氣”，然而，全球變暖問題在選民的關心事項榜單上幾乎墊底，而非法移民問題則接近位列榜首——即便移民凈流入5年前就已停止增長了。按照現在的趨勢，民主政治是否將要回避當今時代面臨的最大挑戰？