Are national governments prepared to offer more than hot air on climate change in Copenhagen this December?

    十二月份即將在哥本哈根舉行全球氣候大會，各國政府除了發表一些空洞的承諾外，他們還能提出實質性措施么？

    Linked Challenges: Climate Change and Energy Use

    "The energy we use can sustain our planet, or destroy it." So said U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday while addressing the United Nations, talking about the twin challenges of climate change and energy consumption.

    His counterpart from China, Hu Jintao, offered a similar perspective, touting his country's headlong rush to cleaner energy sources, particularly hydropower and nuclear power. He also promised an unspecified cut in carbon intensity-a measure of greenhouse gases emitted per widget produced.

    And former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan offered the following advice to an audience at Columbia University during Climate Week: "Set an example yourselves, if you can bicycle, if you can walk. If you don't have to drive don't do it."

    But are bicycles or even carbon intensity cuts enough? No.

    Ongoing science reveals that climate change is worse than we feared. "On all kind of parameters they looked into they could just say things have grown worse since the IPCC report came out." That's Danish minister Connie Hedegaard, leader of the diplomatic push for a global treaty at Copenhagen this December.

    World leaders are running out of time to come up with a solid solution before that meeting. But addressing the energy challenge, which would go a long way toward addressing the climate change, is ultimately about global moral and economic standing. As President Obama said back in April, "The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy."

    Unfortunately, as the president observed yesterday, "The magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our actions."

    挑戰交織在一起：氣候變暖和能源使用

    談到氣候變暖和能源消耗的雙重挑戰，美國總統奧巴馬昨天在聯合國的發言中說："我們所使用的能源要么使地球繼續存在下去，要么毀滅地球。"

    中國國家主席胡錦濤也表達了同樣的看法，他極力宣揚中國積極開發清潔能源的措施，尤其是水電和核能。胡錦濤主席也承諾減少碳排放強度--這是每生產一種產品所排放的溫室氣體的衡量方法，但是他沒有給出減排的具體數字。

    在"環境周"中，聯合國前秘書長科菲·安南（Kofi Annan）在哥倫比亞大學（Columbia University）的演講中提出了如下的建議："如果你能騎自行車，你能步行，那么你就做出榜樣來。如果你能不開車的話，就不要開車了。"

    但是不開汽車而該騎自行車，或者即使是減少碳排放強度就足夠阻止全球氣候變暖嗎？答案是"不".

    正在進行的科學研究表明，氣候變化比我們擔心的還要糟糕。為了促使各國今年12月在哥本哈根氣候大會上達成全球協議，丹麥部長Connie Hedegaard被任命為該事物的領導人，他說："自從IPCC（譯注：IPCC即 "Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change"的縮寫，"政府間氣候變化專門委員會"）的報告發布以來，通過對所有各種參數的解讀，他們完全可以說，氣候變暖的情況越來越糟。"

    要在哥本哈根氣候大會之前達成一個切實可行的解決方案，世界上各國領導人的時間已經所剩無幾。不過解決能源挑戰問題最終關系到各國在全球的道德和經濟地位問題，而通過解決能源問題來解決氣候變化問題，還有很長的路要走。正如奧巴馬總統在4月份所說： "在創造新能源方面領先的國家將成為在21世紀全球經濟中領先的國家。"

    不幸的是，恰如奧巴馬總統昨天所言："我們的挑戰非常巨大，而我們所采取的行動卻遠遠不夠。"

    Vocabulary:

    Hot air:空話；大話

    Copenhagen:（丹麥首都）哥本哈根

    Sustain:持續

    Consumption:消耗

    Counterpart:職位（或作用）相當的人；對應的事物

    Perspective:觀點；思考方法

    Tout:標榜；吹噓

    Headlong:輕率地

    Widget:（不知名的）小器物，小玩意兒

    Parameter:參數

    Diplomatic:外交的

    Treaty:合約；條約

    Ultimate:最終的

    Moral:道德的

    Magnitude:程度