Paris Rolls Out Blueprint to Fight Climate Change

Paris Rolls Out Blueprint¹ to Fight Climate Change

PARIS—

Many local governments in France are not waiting for a U.N. climate conference in December to set plans to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Paris, which is getting special attention since it is hosting the climate summit, is planning to transform itself into an eco-city in the months ahead.

It's another hot day in Paris. This summer has sent temperatures soaring across Western Europe, and this city has seen its hottest July day on record.

It is going to get even hotter in the coming years. Climate change will make weather shifts more extreme.

“The city of Paris is changing [its] climate. So are other big cities in the world. ... We can have snowstorms. We can have floods. We can have things we are not used to, so we are getting prepared to face them," said Deputy Paris Mayor Patrick Klugman.

Like a growing number of cities, the French capital has drafted a climate action plan. By 2050, it aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions² by 75 percent from 2004 levels. Klugman says fighting climate change starts locally.

“Cities are really the places of the problems and of the solutions. So far, we are the places of the problems - the emissions, the concentrations of all kinds of pollutions, air pollution, all kinds of destruction of the climate.  And now there is a common will to make cities the safe places to be for the environment. It is an emergency we are facing," he said.

Searching for solutions is turning Paris into a giant construction site. The city wants to create green neighborhoods, new modes of transportation and many more pedestrian areas. An architectural study of what the French capital could look like by 2050 shows a transformed city, with plants sprouting³ from every building.

Some of the changes are already underway.  A new tramway ringing Paris is nearly finished, and the metro⁴ is being extended.  Chunks of the city are closed to traffic on weekends.  There are plans to ban diesel⁵ fuel and to turn a major artery⁶ by the Seine River into a pedestrian parkway.

The city’s iconic electric car- and bike-sharing schemes have taken off. Electric motorbikes are next.

For Parisian Lamine Camara, bike-sharing is a way to get around the city quickly and easily, but he does not consider himself an environmentalist.

"If it can help fight climate change, then why not?  But I am not really interested in the subject. It is not my first concern," said Camara.

Climate expert Charlotte Izard works for the environmental group Climate Action Network in an eco-friendly building just across the city limit. She thinks the Paris plan is good, but moving too slowly. 

Experts say cities like San Francisco and Copenhagen are way ahead.

“We are waiting for action now. We do not have time to wait. They have to make it now. Do not wait for another mayor. They have to do it now because climate cannot wait ... and citizens cannot wait, too [either]," said Izard.

Many drivers think Paris is moving too fast. Car lanes are evaporating and a group called “40 Million Motorists” is fighting the city to keep them open.

Driver Fernando Figuera, who delivers metal closets, says getting around Paris is not easy.

"I have to be organized and start early in the morning to avoid heavy traffic and find parking places," he said. "Reducing the number of vehicles in the city is a good idea, but compromises need to be made so it does not hurt business."

So the rhetoric⁷, like the temperature, is heating up here. But polls shows many Parisians support the city’s climate plan, agreeing the time for action is now.  

1 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

2 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。

3 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

6 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。