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

    十二月份即将在哥本哈根举行全球气候大会，各国政府除了发表一些空洞的承诺外，他们还能提出实质性措施么？

    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."

    挑战交织在一起：气候变暖和能源使用

    谈到气候变暖和能源消耗的双重挑战，美国总统奥巴马昨天在联合国的发言中说："我们所使用的能源要么使地球继续存在下去，要么毁灭地球。"

    中国国家主席胡锦涛也表达了同样的看法，他极力宣扬中国积极开发清洁能源的措施，尤其是水电和核能。胡锦涛主席也承诺减少碳排放强度--这是每生产一种产品所排放的温室气体的衡量方法，但是他没有给出减排的具体数字。

    在"环境周"中，联合国前秘书长科菲·安南（Kofi Annan）在哥伦比亚大学（Columbia University）的演讲中提出了如下的建议："如果你能骑自行车，你能步行，那么你就做出榜样来。如果你能不开车的话，就不要开车了。"

    但是不开汽车而该骑自行车，或者即使是减少碳排放强度就足够阻止全球气候变暖吗？答案是"不".

    正在进行的科学研究表明，气候变化比我们担心的还要糟糕。为了促使各国今年12月在哥本哈根气候大会上达成全球协议，丹麦部长Connie Hedegaard被任命为该事物的领导人，他说："自从IPCC（译注：IPCC即 "Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change"的缩写，"政府间气候变化专门委员会"）的报告发布以来，通过对所有各种参数的解读，他们完全可以说，气候变暖的情况越来越糟。"

    要在哥本哈根气候大会之前达成一个切实可行的解决方案，世界上各国领导人的时间已经所剩无几。不过解决能源挑战问题最终关系到各国在全球的道德和经济地位问题，而通过解决能源问题来解决气候变化问题，还有很长的路要走。正如奥巴马总统在4月份所说： "在创造新能源方面领先的国家将成为在21世纪全球经济中领先的国家。"

    不幸的是，恰如奥巴马总统昨天所言："我们的挑战非常巨大，而我们所采取的行动却远远不够。"

    Vocabulary:

    Hot air:空话；大话

    Copenhagen:（丹麦首都）哥本哈根

    Sustain:持续

    Consumption:消耗

    Counterpart:职位（或作用）相当的人；对应的事物

    Perspective:观点；思考方法

    Tout:标榜；吹嘘

    Headlong:轻率地

    Widget:（不知名的）小器物，小玩意儿

    Parameter:参数

    Diplomatic:外交的

    Treaty:合约；条约

    Ultimate:最终的

    Moral:道德的

    Magnitude:程度