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I'm stumped on this sentence.

一度環境中に増えた二酸化炭素などの長寿命な温室効果ガスは、能動的に固定しない限り、約100年間（5年–200年[9]）にわたって地球全体の気候や海水に影響を及ぼし続けるため、今後20–30年以内の対策が温暖化による悪影響の大小を大きく左右することになる[10]

My best attempt at this so far is. (If anyone could improve on this, it would be a big help.)

Greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide with a long lifetime in the atmosphere, once released, will continue to have an effect on the climate and sea level over approximately 100 years until their emissions are limited. For this reason, the action taken on climate change in the next 20-30 years will have a big influence on the degree of their harmful consequences.

Edit:

I have updated the translation to accommodate the comments and answer below.

Greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide with a long lifetime in the atmosphere, once released, will continue to have an effect on the climate and the oceans over an approximately 100 year period unless actively fixated. For this reason, the action taken on climate change in the next 20-30 years will have a big influence on the degree of such harmful consequences.

Edit 2:

Sorry; this is a reading comprehension question, not a translation question. I wasn't looking for the right translation or for proofreading. 能動的に固定しない限りwas the main barrier to my understanding, since it involved very technical Japanese and my dictionary wasn't very helpful.

However, my question was answered.

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  • Especially whereabout do you worry about? I am not so sure about if 地球全体の気候や海水 corresponds the climate and sea level. – user25382 Oct 25 '17 at 10:34
  • A couple of parts. Am I interpreting the kagiri phrase correctly? 'until their emissions are limited'. The other part is why does it say 'over an approximate 100 year period'. Does that imply the gasses become inactive after that period? It doesn't square with my previous reading. – Robert Oct 25 '17 at 10:40
  • I said that because 'have an effect on the climate and the ocean' sounds strange to me. I assumed it was short for kaisuimen. – Robert Oct 25 '17 at 10:42
  • At first, you should add your comment to question so that other answerer could provide a precise answer. I think 海水 is not only sea level but CO2 affects the nature of seawater such as acidity, temperature, sea level and so on. – user25382 Oct 25 '17 at 10:51
  • I actually think "until their emissions are limited" corresponds 能動的に固定しない限り. I think all the human efforts could be considered to control CO2 emissions such as planting trees, recycling, not eating meats, riding bicycles for transportations and so on... – user25382 Oct 25 '17 at 11:32
2

能動的に固定しない限り is "unless actively fixated". In this context, 固定 ("to fixate") refers to actively removing CO2 from the air using something like this or this.

The excerpt says CO2 is "gas with a long lifetime", not "gas with an unlimited lifetime". Doesn't that mean the author thinks CO2 will eventually disappear? I think the cited article [9] explains where "100年" came from.

Lastly, although this is a minor problem, 温暖化による modifies 悪影響, not 対策.

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  • I suppose then the kagiri phrase would read, 'until such time as they are actively fixated'. I also looked up the lifetime of CO2. Yes, the 100 year figure apparently makes sense because it is dissolved in the ocean. Thanks. – Robert Oct 25 '17 at 11:22
  • No, 限り is "as long as", but here it is closer to "unless", not "until". More literally, 能動的に固定しない限り is "if (someone) does not actively fixate the gas". Also see Carbon Sequestration. – naruto Oct 25 '17 at 11:24
  • There is an article on 炭素固定. It looks like this is mostly natural (I scanned the English version). Perhaps the author was describing natural fixation and not artificial sequestration, which is 貯留 in my dictionary. – Robert Oct 25 '17 at 11:49
  • No, no, 炭素固定 (carbon fixation) is a different concept used by biochemists. The author is thinking about what's written in Carbon Sequestration. 能動的 implies someone takes the direct measure to remove carbon from the atmosphere. – naruto Oct 25 '17 at 12:12
  • Ah, I see. That makes sense. – Robert Oct 25 '17 at 12:45

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