封面故事COVER STORY

Can China rise to challeges of higher temperatures?

氣候變化已經(jīng)不再是新聞，可它仍在悄然改變著中國

HUMAN HISTORY IS ESSENTIALLY A TUG-Of-WAR WITH NATURE. WE DEfINE PROGRESS BY HOW fAR WE’VE COME fROM OUR ANCESTORS WHO COWERED BEfORE NATURE’S EVERY WHIM. PERHAPS MORE THAN ANY OTHER NATION ON EARTH, MODERN CHINA IS fOUNDED ON THE SCIENTIfIC PROMISE TO HARNESS NATURE’S POTENTIAL AND REIN IN ITS DESTRUCTIVE TENDENCIES SO AS TO SAfEGUARD THE LIVELIHOODS Of THE WORLD’S LARGEST POPULATION. BUT THE PENDULUM MUST SWING BACK SOMETIME, AND CLIMATE CHANGE IS BECOMING A BIGGER PROBLEM THAN CAN BE SOLVED BY MERE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYMAKING AND DISASTER-PREVENTION ENGINEERING. AS SEA LEVELS RISE AND GLACIERS RETREAT, AS CLIMATE STUDIES PRODUCE DIRE WARNINGS AND CLIMATE AGREEMENTS GET SIGNED WORLDWIDE, THE COUNTRY IS CHANGING THE WAY IT SEES ITS IMPACT ON THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, AS WELL AS PLANS fOR THE fUTURE Of THIS DELICATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EARTH.