国家地理:融化的北极正使一场新的冷战升温(3)

Around the time of my visit, though, the Canadian government had been reappraising the rangers. Rumblings about an international scramble to stake new claims in the warming Arctic and on its vast trove of untapped resources had prompted politicians in Ottawa to promise the rangers better gear and funds to recruit more volunteers. Meanwhile U.S. military officials also were interested in the program, with an eye toward creating something similar in Alaska.

在我拜访期间，加拿大政府已开始重新评估巡逻民兵。有消息和传言指出，各国将对逐渐暖化的北极地区和其庞大尚未开发的资源提出新的所有权主张，因此首府渥太华的政治人物承诺给巡逻民兵更好的装备，以及用来招募更多志愿兵的资金。同时美国军方官员也对这项计划感兴趣，打算在阿拉斯加创立类似的计划。

Atqittuq welcomed the attention. He was raised in the Arctic and was now raising his own son there, so he understood the different ways the far-off government could go from friendly to fickle to forgetful. But this time it wasn't hard to guess what was on politicians' minds: After years spent ignoring the fact that the Arctic is warming faster than any other place on the planet, Canada was finally coming around.

艾奇图克乐见这些关注。他成长于北极地区，现在也在这里养育自己的儿子，因此他了解远在他方的政府可能从支持到反反复复，到最后忘了一干二净的态度转变。但这一次不难猜到政客们在想什么：在多年来忽视北极地区比世界其他地方暖化都快的事实后，加拿大终于要正视这个问题。

"We Inuit have been talking about this climate change stuff for a long time," Atqittuq told me before we headed out onto the tundra. "Now the government's catching up, and they want us to keep a lookout. Well, OK. We're proud Canadians." Then he grinned. "Just wish we were Canadian enough to get good phone service, eh?"

“我们因纽特人谈气候变迁很久了，”艾奇图克在我们动身前往冻原前跟我说。“现在政府跟上来了，他们要我们保卫这里。好吧，没问题。我们是爱国的加拿大人。”他接着笑着说：“只是希望我们能像一般加拿大人一样拥有好的电信服务，好吗？”