Let’s talk about climate change. People are calling it the crisis of our time, and it is.
让我们谈谈气候变化。人们说它是我们这个时代的危机，事实也确实如此。
We started breaking CO2 records in 1950, and we haven’t stopped since. Why? Well, scientists say there’s a 95% chance that human activity is the cause.
There’s also a lot more of us. The global population has tripled in the past 70 years.
另外还有越来越多的人口。过去70年全球人口增长了两倍。
And we’re consuming more products from animals that release another pollutant called Methane.
而且我们正在消费更多来自动物的产品，这些产品会释放出另一种叫做甲烷的污染物。
So all those gases are released into the air, and when sunlight gets into the earth’s atmosphere, some of the heat gets trapped, and the planet gets warmer. That’s why they call it the “Greenhouse Effect”.
But the concern is not that the earth is getting warmer. It’s that it’s happening far too quickly.
但需要担心的不是地球正在变暖。更重要的是它发展的太快了。
The UN says that right now, our world is about 1 degree hotter than pre-industrial times. That’s around the year 1800. Which is okay. In fact, the UN says if we warm by 1.5 degrees before the end of the century, we should be fine. The UN says even 2 degrees would 'probably' be alright.
But again, the problem is speed. Because right now, we are on track to hit 1.5 degrees in only ten years. And If we don't slow that warming down, it could mean catastrophe within my lifetime, and maybe yours too.
And we’re already getting a taste. Sea levels are rising about 3 millimetres a year because seawater expands as temperatures get warmer. Melting ice sheets and glaciers also add trillions of tons of freshwater into our oceans.
People around the world are already losing their homes. And if things carry on, millions more of us will have to pack up too. Entire coastal cities could be underwater within 80 years, like Miami in the US or Osaka in Japan. Entire island nations in the pacific could completely disappear.
Now, there is a plan to slow all this down. Back in 2016, world leaders signed the so-called “Paris Agreement”. And the big pledge is to cap temperatures rising by 1.5 degrees or a maximum of 2, before the year 2100. So countries set their own targets on how much CO2 they emit.
But experts say what’s needed now is an even bigger push to change everything about the way we run our world.
但是专家说，现在需要的是更大的动力来改变我们运行世界的方式。
So where does that leave us? Well there’s only so much bike-riding and light-bulb replacing you and I can do everyday. But the truth is that it’s those everyday things that are going to change anyway.