美国国家公共电台 NPR U.N. Climate Summit Sets Stage For New National Emissions Promises

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

As we've been hearing this morning, world leaders are meeting in New York today. They are holding a special United Nations climate change summit. 2020 is the deadline for countries to make bigger, bolder promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions¹. But many of the world's biggest economies are struggling to keep up with their previous promises. NPR's Rebecca Hersher has this carbon report card.

REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE²: Let's start with a couple basic climate science facts that world leaders are staring down today. Fact No. 1 - the average temperature on our planet has already increased about 1 degree Celsius³ since pre-industrial times. Kelly Levin studies global emissions at the World Resources Institute think tank.

KELLY LEVIN: You've seen the Arctic hitting record highs and a scorching⁴ summer in Europe and the United States, leaving hundreds dead, and July was the warmest month on record ever, globally. And this is just with 1 degree Celsius of warming.

HERSHER: Storms are getting more frequent and severe, sea levels are rising, and heat waves and droughts are getting longer, which brings us to fact No. 2 - if the Earth gets 1 1/2 degrees Celsius hotter, all of those things get significantly worse. Many animals will go extinct. Many people will be forced to move, which is why leaders from nearly 200 nations are meeting in New York because - fact No. 3 - right now the world is on track for about 3 degrees of warming by the end of the century. So yeah, it's not good. Angel Hsu is a researcher at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. I spoke⁵ to her via Skype.

ANGEL HSU: Unfortunately, national governments are really falling behind when it comes to delivering the ambition and the emissions cuts that we really need to avoid dangerous climate change.

HERSHER: National governments including the U.S., the second largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world behind China. The U.S. has promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2025. The good news - overall carbon emissions have gone down in the last decade, mostly because companies stopped burning so much coal. But under the Trump⁶ administration, that trend has slowed.

HSU: What ended up happening in 2018 was a spike⁷ in emissions from the United States, and that also occurred in China as well. So that's what's really worrisome.

HERSHER: But Hsu says there's a kind of silver lining⁸. The Chinese government has been investing a lot in renewable energy, like solar and hydropower and electric public transit⁹, and appears to be planning more. And because it's not a democracy, the leaders who make climate promises can't be voted out of office.

HSU: And I think what's really encouraging about China is, when the leadership is committed to something, they can really follow through.

HERSHER: India has also signaled it might be getting ready to promise big emissions cuts, and it's on track to achieve its current emissions promises. Levin says many countries recognize there's a lot to gain from burning less coal, less gas, cutting down fewer trees.

LEVIN: Clean water and clean air and more efficient food production - there are such tremendous benefits that can be borne by climate action.

HERSHER: Which brings us back to the United States. The federal government is currently trying to roll back policies that would control greenhouse gas emissions - things like limits on emissions from power plants and oil fields and cars. Meanwhile, hundreds of state and local governments are doing the opposite - passing local regulations, making local emissions promises - all of which puts the U.S. delegation¹⁰ at today's meeting in an awkward position and raises the question, if the U.S. is no longer leading international climate action, who will?

Rebecca Hersher, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THIS WILL DESTROY YOU'S "THE WORLD IS OUR ____")

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

4 scorching   

adj. 灼热的

参考例句：

• a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
• a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

8 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

9 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

10 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。