Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis
The Guardian
Greta Thunberg has excoriated global leaders over their promises to address the climate emergency, dismissing them as “blah, blah, blah”.
She quoted statements by Boris Johnson: “This is not some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging”, and Narendra Modi: “Fighting climate change calls for innovation, cooperation and willpower” but said the science did not lie.
Carbon emissions are on track to rise by 16% by 2030, according to the UN, rather than fall by half, which is the cut needed to keep global heating under the internationally agreed limit of 1.5C.
“Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah,” she said in a speech to the Youth4Climate summit in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. “This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action. Our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.”
The Cop26 climate summit starts in Glasgow, UK, on 31 October and all the big-polluting countries must deliver tougher pledges to cut emissions to keep the goal of 1.5C within reach.
“Of course we need constructive dialogue,” said Thunberg, whose solo climate strike in 2018 sparked a movement of millions of young climate protesters. “But they’ve now had 30 years of blah, blah, blah and where has that led us? We can still turn this around – it is entirely possible. It will take immediate, drastic annual emission reductions. But not if things go on like today. Our leaders’ intentional lack of action is a betrayal toward all present and future generations.”
Research published on Monday showed that children born today would experience many times more extreme heatwaves and other climate disasters over their lifetimes than their grandparents, even if countries fulfil their current emissions pledges.
Officials from the UN, UK and US said Cop26 would not produce the breakthrough needed to fulfil the aspirations of the Paris agreement but the broader goal of the conference – that of “keeping 1.5C alive” – was still possible.
Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda, and hundreds of other young people from across the world are attending the Youth4Climate Summit. It is hosted by the Italian government.
The youth summit will consist of working groups of young people debating how to increase their participation in decision-making, their role in helping to transform energy use, nature conservation and climate adaptation, and how education can create a climate-conscious society. It builds on a youth climate summit held at the UN headquarters in New York in 2019.
Thunberg said: “They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us. Our emissions are still rising. The science doesn’t lie.
“We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”
Large numbers of youth climate protesters took to the streets on Friday in almost 100 countries across the world, including 100,000 in Berlin, where Thunberg spoke.
词汇部分：
1.excoriate
excoriate /ɪkˈskɔːrɪˌeɪt/ 表示“（公开）指责”，英文解释为“To excoriate a person or organization means to criticize them severely, usually in public.”举个🌰：
He proceeded to excoriate me in front of the nurses.
他继续在这些护士们面前指责我。
2. dismiss
1）表示“对…不予理会，摒弃，（从头脑中）去除”，英文解释为“to decide that something or someone is not important and not worth considering”举个🌰：
I think he'd dismissed me as an idiot within five minutes of meeting me.
我认为他和我见面5分钟后就把我归入了傻瓜之列。
2）表示“解雇；免职；开除”，英文解释为“to officially remove sb from their job”举个🌰：
She claims she was unfairly dismissed from her post.
她声称自己被无理免职。
3. Blah, blah, blah
表示“（觉得厌烦，不想重复别人的话时说的）诸如此类，等等废话”，英文解释为“used to mean ‘and other words that mean very little’”举个🌰：
The critics always say, "There’s no melody, the words are stupid, blah, blah, blah."
批评者们总是说它“不成曲调、歌词愚蠢，等等废话”。
4. bunny hugging
据维基百科（Wikipedia），bunny hug是20世纪早期一种舞蹈风格：The bunny hug was a dancing style performed by young people, in the early 20th century. It is thought to have originated in San Francisco, California in the Barbary Coast dance halls along with the Texas Tommy, turkey trot, and grizzly bear.
而在加拿大萨斯喀彻温省（Saskatchewan），“bunny hug”指的是“连帽衫”--前面有一个大口袋的连帽运动衫。（However, depending on which part of Canada you are in a 'bunny-hug' could mean a hoodie with a large pocket on the front of the garment which is popular with young people.）
实际上这个词是鲍里斯·约翰逊4月份在演讲中提到的，用来“讽刺”格蕾塔·通贝里等人的行为的。（The terms 'bunny-hugging' or 'bunny-hugger' are both regarded as derogatory phrases used to undermine environmental, climate change and animals rights activists.）
📍今年4月份，英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊在领导人气候峰会上的讲话原文：I'm not saying any of this is going…is going to be easy. There is obviously going to be a political challenge. I think it's very important to go back to the original words of President Biden, because it's vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive politically correct green act of ‘bunny hugging’ or however you want to put it. Nothing wrong with ‘bunny hugging,’ but you know what I’m driving at, friends and colleagues.
5.on track
表示“有望成功；在正轨上”，英文解释为“making progress and likely to succeed”举个🌰：
They're on track to make record profits.
他们有望获得创纪录的利润。
6.pledge
表示“誓言；诺言；保证”，英文解释为“When someone makes a pledge, they make a serious promise that they will do something.”举个🌰：
The meeting ended with a pledge to step up cooperation between the states of the region.
会议以加快该地区州之间合作的承诺结束。
7. drastic
表示“剧烈的，极端的”，英文解释为“A drastic change is a very great change.”举个🌰：
Foreign food aid has led to a drastic reduction in the numbers of people dying of starvation.
外国的食品援助使得因饥饿而死亡的人数大幅下降。
8. fulfill
表示“实现；达到；履行，执行”，英文解释为“to do something that is expected, hoped for, or promised, or to cause it to happen”举个🌰：
A school fails if it does not fulfil the needs/requirements of its pupils.
学校如果不能满足学生的需求/要求，那它就是失败的。
📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述中国电动车行业的文章中提到：If those ambitions are fulfilled the firm's EVs will have captured about 5% of the total Chinese car market. 如果这些雄心壮志得偿所愿，那么该公司的电动车将占据中国整个汽车市场5%左右的份额。
9.conservation
表示“（对动植物、自然地区、历史建筑等的）保护”，英文解释为“the protection of plants and animals, natural areas, and interesting and important structures and buildings, especially from the damaging effects of human activity”如：wildlife conservation 野生生物保护，a conservation area 保护区。
10.-conscious
表示“（用于名词或副词后）有…意识的，看重…的”，英文解释为“used after nouns and adverbs to mean 'knowing about and worried about a particular thing', or 'thinking that something is important'”如：fashion-conscious teenagers 注重时尚的青少年。
11. cherry-pick
表示“挑捡最好的；筛选；精选”，英文解释为“If someone cherry-picks people or things, they choose the best ones from a group of them, often in a way that other people consider unfair.”举个🌰：
The team is in debt while others are lining up to cherry-pick their best players.
该队负了债，而别的队正在排队挑捡他们最好的运动员
好句子:
1. Carbon emissions are on track to rise by 16% by 2030.
到2030年，碳排放量将上升16%。
2. Our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.
我们的希望和理想淹没在他们空洞的承诺中。
3. It will take immediate, drastic annual emission reductions.
这将需要立即、大幅度的年度减排。
4. fulfil their current emissions pledges 履行他们的减排承诺
Cop26 would not produce the breakthrough needed to fulfil the aspirations of the Paris agreement but the broader goal of the conference – that of “keeping 1.5C alive” – was still possible.
Cop26峰会不会产生实现巴黎协议愿望所需的突破，但会议更广泛的目标--即“保持1.5摄氏度”--仍然是可能的。
5. deliver tougher pledges to cut emissions to keep the goal of 1.5C within reach
必须做出更严厉的减排承诺，以保持1.5℃的目标可以实现。
