CNN news 11/30 (631 words)

Climate change: Why you should pay attention to the COP21 summit in Paris

By Ben Brumfield, CNN

Updated 1152 GMT (1952 HKT) November 30, 2015

cnn.com

(CNN)In Paris, world leaders are fretting over 2 degrees Celsius.

Sound like a trivial pursuit?

No. It's huge. That rise in average global temperatures would put us in a world never before known in recorded history.

The potential consequences? Think of a dystopic desert out of "Mad Max."

That 4-year extreme drought parching California? Try a 20-year megadrought drying out about eight states, desperate fights for drinking water and forest fires eight times the size of current ones.

Mad about hunters killing rhinos and lions? How will you feel watching animals and plants go extinct like falling dominoes? Crops failing; waves of refugees driven out of coastal cities by rising seas, begging for shelter and food?

Right now, we're at about 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.53 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average temperature on Earth before massive carbon emissions began. We should hit 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by about midcentury.

巴黎氣候高峰會上，各國領袖為了攝氏2度苦惱極了。追求這個好像很無聊？

不，這件事情超級大條的！全球均溫上升將把我們送進一個沒有人知道的世界裡。

那潛在的後果是？想想電影瘋狂麥斯裡面那片血腥沙漠吧！糧食援絕，一波波難民潮從沿岸的海浪送上來，只求庇護跟食物？

現在地球溫度自大量排放碳以來，上升了攝氏0.85度(華氏1.53度)，到21世紀中期，溫度應該會達到攝氏2度(華氏3.6度)。

fret (v.) 苦惱

trivial (adj.) 無聊的，瑣碎的

dystopic (adj.) not a good place(from Greek)

parch (v.) 使...乾枯

megadrought (n.) 長期乾旱的一種現象

dominoes (n.) 骨牌

Deal

So, back to Paris, where nearly 150 world leaders are working fight global warming at the COP21 -- it stands for Conference of Parties, and this is its 21st annual meeting.

There has been a deal -- or treaty -- in the works to try to corral nearly 200 countries into getting a handle on the carbon emissions, which most all scientists agree is driving global warming.

It's a very bare-bones agreement hammered out last year in Lima, Peru, at the COP20. Back then, delegates came up with a basic principle -- that the burden to cut emissions would be different for developed and developing countries.

Rich countries would help poor countries meet their goals and also help out with calamities caused by global warming -- like refugee crises triggered by coastal flooding.

The details of the treaty to be hopefully signed this year in Paris were left pretty open.

話說回來，高峰會COP21（Conference of Parties，第21次年度會議）上150位世界領袖正共同對抗地球暖化議題。

而會上有個協定，試圖把近200個國家一起納入控制碳排放，這個讓絕大多數科學家都同意的地球暖化元兇。

去年在秘魯利馬COP20簽訂的協定很基本簡單，當時代表們討論出一個原則：已開發及開發中國家的減碳量不會相同。

富裕的國家應當幫助較窮困的國家達到預定減碳量，也應對地球暖化造成的災難，像是沿岸因洪水肆虐等，對相關難民提供幫助。

協定的細節則在今年的巴黎訂定。

corral (v.) 包圍

bare-bones (adj.) 基本的，簡單的

delegate (n.) 代表

calamity (n.) 災難

Hope

The leaders of the two biggest players in the deal met Monday in Paris. China and the United States are also the biggest emitters of greenhouse gasses.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for a one-on-one.

Afterward, Obama said the two were on the same page about lowering carbon emissions. "Nowhere has our coordination been more necessary or more fruitful than the topic that we're here to discuss during the Paris conference, and that is how the world can come together to arrest the pace of climate change."

There has been a recent hopeful sign, after China announced a plan to deal with emissions -- a cap-and-trade model.

For the first time in China, there'd be a cost to companies for emitting carbon into the environment. With a cap on carbon emissions for individual companies, firms would trade or buy permits from each other to emit additional pollution.

星期一，美國及中國這兩個國家元首在巴黎碰面，不僅是碳排放量最大的國家，美國及中國同時也是溫室氣體排放大國。

歐巴馬跟習近平一對一坐下對談。

之後歐巴馬提出兩邊共同降低碳排放量的結論，「我們時時刻刻的協調比巴黎高峰會上的討論更有成效，這個作法將可讓世界一起阻止氣候變遷。」

而中國也簽署了一份用總量交易模式控制碳排放量的合約，將更有效果。

透過首次簽署這樣的合約，中國企業將增加減碳相關的環境成本，總量交易控制將使企業與對方交易取得特許權以利消除額外污染。

fruitful (adj.) 富有成效的

Despair

But there has been despair as well.

Though it's a start, critics don't think China can accurately measure its output of carbon dioxide and other gasses and fear enforcement could easily get muddled.

Then there's the United States.

Early in his presidency, Obama attempted to enact a cap-and-trade system, but was unable to overcome bipartisan opposition, partly fueled by fears that such a law could hamper economic competitiveness with emerging economies like China's.

但是有希望，也有絕望。

雖然是好的開始，但批評聲浪不看好中國能確實執行碳跟其他氣體排放量污染控管，而且害怕越管越糟。

說到美國，歐巴馬也早在他的總統任期採行過總量交易控制模式，但沒能成功解決兩黨的反對，擔心執行減碳措施將阻礙經濟上對中國這樣的新興經濟體的競爭力。

muddled (adj.) 混亂的

bipartisan (n.) 兩黨

Failure

And then there's a major historic fail.

It shows how hard it can be to get the world to work together on climate change.

Remember the Kyoto Protocol? It was adopted at the COP3 in 1997.

It was the best-known milestone to come out of a previous COP -- a nonbinding agreement by 192 states to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 5% below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

The United States did not ratify it and dropped out of it completely in 2001.

Canada dumped it, too, in 2011.

And China, India and other developing countries were exempt from it.

更何況，歷史上還遭遇過重大失敗。

這表示讓全球團結一起對抗氣候變遷有多麼困難。

記得東京協議嗎？1997年COP3採納的協議。

這個協議是繼COP後最廣為人知的里程碑，由192個國家共同簽署不具約束力的協議，在2008年到2012之間成功減低溫室氣體至1990年的95%程度。

美國2001年就退出了，因為他並沒有簽署。

2011年，加拿大也不玩了。

中國跟印度還有其他開發中國家當時則是被剔除在協議之外。

protocol (n.) 草案

nonbonding (adj.) 不具拘束力的

ratify (v.) 批准

exempt (adj.) 被免除的