奥巴马推出美国第一个国家气候行动计划

 　　WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled the country's first national climate action plan on Tuesday afternoon, pledging to limit carbon emissions¹ from American power plants.

　　Delivering a speech at Georgetown University, Obama said that the planet is changing in ways that will impact all of humankind, and that the 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15 years.

　　"Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction," Obama said. "As a president, as a father, and as an American, I'm here to say: We need to act."

　　The president noted² that power plants, which currently represent one-third of all U.S. carbon emissions, "can still dump unlimited³ amounts of carbon pollution into the air for free."

　　"That's not right ... and it needs to stop," he added. "I'm directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants. "

　　Obama described a low carbon clean energy economy as being an engine of growth for decades to come. "There's no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth," said Obama, "Using less dirty energy, transitioning to cleaner sources of energy, wasting less energy ... is where we need to go."

　　Obama said he's directing the Department of the Interior to greenlight enough private renewable energy capacity on public lands to power more than 6 million homes by 2020. He asked the federal government to consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within the next seven years.

　　He also set a goal to reduce carbon pollution by at least 3 billion metric tons cumulatively⁴ by 2030, more than half of the annual carbon pollution from the U.S. energy sector⁵.

　　Some environmental groups praised Obama's new climate plan as a positive signal to the world.

　　"Tackling carbon pollution from power plants is the greatest opportunity and should be at the core of any serious approach to reduce U.S. emissions," Andrew Steer⁶, president of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement. "A comprehensive climate strategy will provide businesses with greater certainty and drive investments and innovation that can charge the U.S. economy. This announcement will have ripple⁷ effects that will increase the urgency of action around the globe."

　　Others, however, warned that it's "not enough" to prevent catastrophic warming and extreme weather dangers predicted by scientists.

　　"We're happy to see the president finally addressing climate change but the plain truth is that what he's proposing isn't big enough, and doesn't move fast enough, to match the terrifying magnitude of the climate crisis," said Bill Snape, senior counsel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "This plan is a small step in the right direction but certainly begs for something bigger and bolder."

　　Obama has pledged that the United States would cut emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from the 2005 levels, and according to data released by the country's Environmental Protection Agency in April, emissions fell 6.9 percent from 2005 to 2011.

　　But for most countries, the year of 1990, rather than 2005, is the base year. Compared with that of 1990, U.S. emissions were up about 8 percent, the EPA data showed.

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 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

4 cumulatively   

adv.累积地，渐增地

参考例句：

• Mind has become self-reproducing through man's capacity to transmit experience and its products cumulatively. 通过传递生活经验和积累创造的产品，人类的智慧在不断地进行着自我丰富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At first, the drug does no harm, but cumulatively its effects are bad. 这药开始对人没有害处，但连续服用后果就坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

7 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。