A few days ahead of the event, more than 300,000 people joined a peaceful march in Manhattan to call attention to the issue of climate change.

會前幾天，超過三十萬人聚集於曼哈頓，發起和平遊行，呼籲大眾關注氣候議題

Secretary Of State John Kerry recently argued that the

美國國務卿凱瑞主張

problem of climate change should be addressed with the same immediacy as Ebola or ISIS.

氣候變遷是迫在眉睫的議題，媲美伊波拉病毒和伊斯蘭國

So, putting politics aside, how serious is this issue?

撇開政治不談，此議題到底多重要？

Well, there's an incredible amount of statistical evidence that illustrates the severity of climate change.

透過大量的統計數據我們可以了解氣候變遷有多嚴重

But instead of getting mired down in talk about ice caps and polar bear populations,

暫時不談北極冰冠融化和北極熊數量銳減

let's just discuss what the UN Climate Summit is really about: air pollution.

我們把焦點放在此次聯合國氣候峰會的目的—解決空污問題

The UN is meeting in hopes of signing a deal that could cut down on carbon emissions worldwide.

此次會議目的在於協商減少全球碳排放量

Just to be clear, we are talking about cars and our dependence on oil, but we're also talking about things like coal power.

注意，是汽車的排放量以及我們對石油的依賴程度，討論也涵括燃煤發電

Climate change is a pressing issue now because there are nations, chief among them China,

解決氣候議題刻不容緩，以中國為首的許多國家

that are actively pumping carbon into the environment on an enormous scale.

仍大量排放二氧化碳干擾環境

According to the Global Carbon Project, China alone accounts for 28% of the world's total carbon emissions.

根據全球碳計畫組織的統計，光是中國就佔了全球碳排放的 28%

And they increased their emissions last year by 4.2%,

去年中國的碳排放量更增加了 4.2%

which helped increase global emissions worldwide, by 2.3%.

導致全球排放量上升 2.3%

In other words, year over year - the situation is getting worse, not better.

換句話說，情況一年比一年更糟，絲毫沒有改善

The ultimate goal of this meeting is to establish a plan to reduce these emissions.

此次峰會的終極目的即是擬定計劃減少碳排

And one way to do that - is switching away from coal and fossil fuels, to cleaner forms of energy;

要達到目的，可以摒棄煤和石油，轉而使用乾淨能源來發電

a switch that some economists and ecologists now argue could also help developing countries, like China, save money in the long run.

部分經濟學家和生態學家主張，此轉變反而有助於中國等開發中國家，長期下來節省開支

They also argue that it would benefit not just the environment,

此外，使用乾淨能源不但有益於環境

but also the health of the people in those nations.

也對國民健康大有益處

The argument against committing to cleaner energy is that it requires an enormous initial

然而，反對者表示，使用乾淨能源初期需要大量投資

investment and could potentially slow down economic progress.

可能拖累經濟成長

The problem is that the very nations that need economic progress most, are also the nations that emit the most carbon.

目前最大的問題是，那些碳排放量最高的國家正是亟欲發展經濟的國家

It's a catch-22, and a large part of why an agreement still hasn't been reached.

這真是進退兩難的局面；外界也都好奇為何協商仍未達成

To find out more about what’s going on in China, check out our video on the conflict

想知道更多關於中國的消息，請看本系列其他影片

between China and the Tibetan Independence movement. Or watch our other video on How Powerful China really is.

以了解藏獨，或了解中國實力有多強大

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