A haze of smoke has made the skies over Bondi Beach look more like those in New Delhi. The death toll has risen. Bushfires have raged across Australia amid a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring to record levels more common in the Middle East. The scale of the country’s wildfire emergency has few precedents. But it has been exacerbated by a regrettable lack of leadership from the prime minister, Scott Morrison. Beyond Australia’s shores, his government stands as a reproach to any leaders tempted to follow its lamentable response to the deepening threat of climate change.
煙霧籠罩下，邦迪海灘(Bondi Beach)上空看上去更像新德里的天空。死亡人數在上升。林火在澳洲全國各地肆虐，一場熱浪使氣溫飆升至創紀錄水準；這樣的高溫本來在中東更爲常見。這次的林火緊急情況的規模在澳洲鮮有先例。但總理史考特•莫里森(Scott Morrison)令人遺憾的領導不力使情況更加嚴重。面對不斷加劇的氣候變化威脅，他領導的政府做出可悲的回應，在澳洲以外，他的政府必定會給任何試圖效仿這種做法的領導人帶來恥辱。