VOA标准英语2009年-Our World – 12 December 2009

16 December 2009

Cyber connections for youth in Copenhagen.  That, how farmers view the climate change issue, and how doctors may soon be transmitting diagnostic medical images over their smartphones!      

   

Hi! I'm Rosanne Skirble sitting in for Art Chimes. Welcome to VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."

MUSIC: "Our World" theme

Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen at the Half-Way Mark

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change got underway this week in Copenhagen.  Negotiators from 192 countries are in the Danish capital to forge an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. That agreement, signed in 1997, set targets for industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Alden Meyer is director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.  In a news briefing from Copenhagen Friday, he told reporters that when high level ministers and heads of state arrive for the final round of meetings next week, they'll have several unresolved issues to address:  

MEYER: "Probably most likely the long-term financing issue of support for developing country action on reducing deforestation, deploying clean technology and adaptation to the impacts of climate change that the most vulnerable countries are already experiencing."

Central to a new treaty are pledges by industrialized countries to set binding emissions targets and financial commitments to help developing countries, especially those expected to be hardest hit by warming temperatures.  Jonathan Lash is president of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank based in Washington, DC.  He says the meeting has gotten off to a good start, noting that it isn't only the wealthy nations that have put new emissions targets on the table.

LASH: "We've seen one country after another step forward to make commitments that no one would have expected a year ago: China, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa and so forth."

SKIRBLE: What about the other contentious issue, especially among poorer developing countries, this guarantee of funds from the wealthy countries to ensure that the developing countries can build capacity as their economies grow and help to adapt to climate change. What is the status there?

LASH: "There's broad consensus that there has to be money available to help those countries.  It's an explicit commitment in the Framework Convention, the treaty that the United States, among others, has ratified.  We ratified it way back in 1992.  That issue will move forward, and there will be some short term money in place to get a fast start on that."

SKIRBLE: Many countries are looking to the United States for leadership.  What has the United States done to show [leadership] in Copenhagen this week?

LASH: "I think that the most important steps the U.S. has taken has been in the announcement of the provisional target of a 17 percent reduction by 2020 and much deeper reductions after that, and the announcement that President Obama will go to the meetings at the end when the final agreement is being forged.  Those are very strong signals about how serious the U.S. is about developing an agreement.  The U.S. negotiating team has been very aggressive in Copenhagen trying to find solutions to problems ranging from technology to avoiding deforestation and also in addressing some of the big issues that you and I were just discussing."

SKIRBLE: Is that provisional target meaningful in the absence of legislation by the U.S. Congress?

LASH: "Well, the U.S. has been clear that we don't want to make the mistake that we made in Kyoto [Climate Change Treaty] where the U.S. made a commitment to reductions and then was unable to deliver on that because they didn't have political consensus at home.  So there will not be a final binding agreement until and unless there is U.S. legislation.  And I think that U.S. legislators and the president have been clear about that.  But it is still possible to negotiate solutions to the remaining problems of shaping an agreement with the recognition that both because of the need for U.S. action and because some issues remain outstanding it is not going to be completed until sometime afterwards, in six to twelve months."

SKIRBLE: How would you describe a successful outcome in Copenhagen?

LASH: "I think that there are three things that are essential.   The first is that there be an agreement that helps us get to a binding accord sometime in 2010.  Second: that the agreement resolve some of these key questions about what form the commitments will take and how countries will move forward together. And third: there has to be some funding on the table for the poorest countries."

SKIRBLE: So a political declaration that will ultimately lead to a legally binding agreement.

   

LASH: "Yes, that's right. I'm still hopeful that they will agree to an interim meeting, perhaps next June to complete these negotiations, but it is certainly possible that they will allow themselves a full year and aim to complete them by the Mexico City meeting in December 2010."

   

SKIRBLE: Do you have any other comments that you'd like to make as you head for Copenhagen?

   

LASH: "I go with a tremendous sense that this is an historic moment.  The generation before us didn't have the information to know that there was a climate problem that they had to deal with.  The generation after us isn't going to have a chance to take action that would avert catastrophic warming.  It really is the opportunity and the obligation of this generation to face these questions and we have the technology to do it.  So this is one of those crucial moments in which we see whether world leaders have the will to move forward."

Jonathan Lash is president of the World Resources Institute.  He says his role as a participant in the climate conference is to keep the pressure on negotiators to reach an agreement that is effective and workable.  In week two of the summit, over 100 heads of state, including U.S. President Barack Obama, will join the talks to make commitments toward a final climate deal.

Many U.S. Farmers Opposed to Climate Change Legislation

A new Neilsen poll shows that public concern in the United States about climate change has fallen sharply in the last two years.  Other surveys show that Americans support investment in alternative-energy systems because it would help drive a clean-energy economy, provide jobs and reduce reliance on foreign oil.  As the United States considers legislation to curb global warming emissions, the nation's largest farmers' organization opposes any strong actions to counter climate change, in Copenhagen or the U.S. Congress.

VOA's Steve Baragona finds out why.

BARAGONA: On a recent sunny afternoon in the southern U-S state of North Carolina, Gwen Pitt is supervising the cotton harvest. For such a soft fabric, it's a surprisingly noisy operation.

As a large machine mashes the cotton into a solid brick a bit smaller than a train car, Pitt says her crop is destined for one of the world's most popular fashion items.

PITT: "We have found out that most of our cotton here in eastern North Carolina goes to make jeans."

BARAGONA: The cotton in your favorite pair of jeans took a lot of fuel to grow and harvest, Pitt says. The picking machine alone guzzles down nearly 400 liters of fuel per day. And while they're harvesting cotton in this field, they're planting wheat in fields nearby.

PITT: "Tractors are always running. So we're always burning fuel."

BARAGONA: Pitt and many other U.S. farmers are concerned that fuel may become more expensive under climate change proposals that the U.S. Congress and negotiators in Copenhagen are considering. Those measures seek to lower emissions of greenhouse gases by raising the cost of gasoline, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels. And since natural gas is a major ingredient in fertilizer, the cost of this essential farm supply could go up, too.

The nation's largest farmers' organization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, is lobbying Congress to reject a pending climate change bill. President Bob Stallman says the extra costs will make it harder for farmers to stay in business.

STALLMAN: "Our margins are really thin, in terms of our bottom line, and any additional costs have to be absorbed by the farmer because we can't pass on those costs to consumers directly."   

BARAGONA: And costs aside, you'll find a lot of basic skepticism at the Farm Bureau and among farmers like Gwen Pitt that human pollution is responsible for climate change. 

PITT: "My feeling on the climate change is, I don't know that what we do as Americans or as people is what's causing most of what's happening. I think nature has its own course."

BARAGONA: But other farmers disagree. Roger Johnson is president of the National Farmers Union, a smaller farmers' organization that supports action on climate change. Johnson says the science is convincing. And he doesn't think a climate change bill would hurt farmers nearly as much as climate change will - through droughts, floods, and other extreme weather.

JOHNSON: "All these different events are going to harm production. We know that. You want to talk about a cost increase? You put the whole crop in and you harvest nothing? I mean, I've seen that. I've been through that on my farm. The experts say you will see that with much increased frequency over time."

BARAGONA: And Johnson contends that the legislation Congress is considering would impose miniscule costs on farmers. He points to analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that calculates the bill would reduce farmers' incomes by about 1 percent in the short term, and about 7 percent over the coming decades.

JOHNSON: "I farmed most of my life. And I can point to any number of weeks when I saw more than a 7 percent swing in my costs ... For anyone who says a 1 percent increase or a 7 percent increase 25 years from now is going to be the end of agriculture, I mean, it just defies the real world."

BARAGONA: The USDA analysis also concludes that the climate bill now before Congress gives farmers opportunities to more than offset their financial losses, although not all farmers may be able to take advantage of them.

Johnson says farmers can handle the costs of capping greenhouse gases, especially because the costs of doing nothing could be far worse.

Polar Explorer Takes Clean Energy Campaign to Copenhagen

Some 35,000 negotiators, government officials, business leaders, journalists and activists have registered for the climate talks in Copenhagen.  Among them is polar explorer Robert Swan, whose life story carries an environmental message that he hopes can help save the planet.

   

Even as a child, Robert Swan knew he wanted to be an explorer when he grew up.  By 1989, at age 33, he'd achieved that goal, becoming the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles.  Swan says his early mentors instilled in him a simple environmental ethic that has guided him through life:

SWAN: "That was that at the end of our expeditions, we would always leave wherever we went, clean and tidy, take away our garbage, take away everything, just leave our footsteps."

Swan did that and more. As he gained experience on his first expeditions, he developed a talent for raising money and hiring accomplished guides who could teach him.  But trekking into the wilderness, even for seasoned explorers, can be risky business. Swan remembers a pact he made one very cold day en route to the South Pole.  

SWAN: "And, we were going through a very tough time. And I went out of the tent, and I said to Antarctica, 'Look, don't kill us. And if you don't kill us I'll do my best to protect you.' And I think that if you say you are going to do something, you should do it."

Swan has kept the promise, his eyes opened to environmental problems made worse by a warming climate.

SWAN: "When I'd walked to two poles, I'd walked under two holes in the ozone layer, one at the South Pole, one at the North Pole.  My eyes had changed color.  Our faces had been burnt off. We walked across ice caps that were melting, even 20 years ago at the North Pole. We'd seen garage and rubbish at both poles. But the really important thing we saw by 1992 was that people were not really engaged at all on this issue."   

Swan set out to change that.  Invited to speak to world leaders at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 he outlined a plan. First, he had 1,500 tons of debris removed from a Russian field station in Antarctica.  Then he trucked a sailboat through South Africa, coordinating that journey with the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

SWAN: "We went to see kids who had never seen the sea. They had never seen a boat.  But it was all to do with inspiring kids to care about the environment, care about themselves and looking after themselves, and it was amazing to arrive to the Second World Summit and to visit those world leaders again. It was a great day. It was fantastic."

At the Johannesburg summit, Swan pledged to focus his efforts on protecting Antarctica from mineral or oil exploitation when treaty obligations are renewed in 2041.

SWAN: "Quite simply, what we've got to do is to make sure that in the year 2041 that we are not stupid enough as a world to go to Antarctica, which is not owned by anybody, and exploit it for fossil fuels."

To promote that mission Swan has just published an autobiography in which he writes passionately about the importance of a clean energy agenda.  He's also founded an organization called 2041. Among its many initiatives 2041 offers an annual leadership training voyage for students, entrepreneurs and teachers to Antarctica.  In 2008 it launched a five-year global tour of a specially-designed sailboat with the date 2041 emblazoned on its side.

SWAN: "If we can sail around the world on a sail boat that has a solar panel sail, bio-diesels that we test in the engine. We have only solar and wind to charge our batteries.  We're trying to show that this whole idea of renewable energy is something that works."

Robert Swan says he is bringing to Copenhagen that same spirit that led him to the North and South Poles 20 years ago. He says he is proud of what he's achieved, but believes his job has just begun.

SWAN: "I'm on year 18 of 2041.  We've got 32 years to go and I won't back up easily."

Swan is optimistic that humans can take the necessary collective steps to address climate change and put the brakes on global warming.  On the 2041 website he writes: For the future's sake we can get this right. And we must.

Global Forum Gives Young People a Voice at Climate Talks

Ben Wessel is a 19-year old college student from Middlebury College in Vermont.  He's among 1500 young people attending the Climate Conference in Copenhagen.  He's encouraged to see so many of his peers from all over the world.

WESSEL: "From the most far-flung communities in the South Pacific, in far eastern Siberia, in the most tiny village from the highest peak in Peru who are all here who are worried about whether their future is being negotiated away."

 

Those who aren't in Copenhagen can join the meeting on Two-degrees-c-dot-com, a website whose name captures the urgency of its mission. 

Scientists say a two-degree Celsius rise in average worldwide temperatures could unleash catastrophic environmental consequences such as global sea level rise and extreme weather events. 

The website aims to encourage strategic solutions to the climate crisis.  At the United Nations Climate Summit, the website links to an online climate forum called Mass Dialogues 2009.  2degreesc.com founder David Nobel says it is generating a lot of internet traffic. 

NOBEL: "My guess is we've had very strong interest expressed from people and groups in I would think upwards to 60 countries now."

Here's how it works: First, log on to 2degreesc.com and check out the schedule. Then a half hour before the live session, click on the Mass Dialogues 2009 icon at the bottom of the page and follow the instructions.  You can watch, enter a chat room or, if you've got a webcam and microphone, take part in the conversation.

NOBEL: "It's that simple! At times we will turn cameras over to our online participants around the world where the camera and the video that everybody will see will actually be on somebody whether it's a community in the U.S. or maybe somewhere in Cambodia or in South Africa or wherever else."

Nobel says negotiators and activists will join the online community in real time. 

NOBEL: "In the course of the dialogues themselves they'll be hearing from people who are actively involved in policy, in political activism.  They will be hearing from people who have done absolutely incredible projects to raise awareness to take action in their schools.  So they will get lots of ideas."

Eighty-five percent of the world's population is 18 years or younger. While relatively few of them will be in Copenhagen, the Mass Dialogues 2009 demonstrates that young people have an interest, and a role to play in the climate change issue.

NOBEL: "And through the dialogues we are hoping to share a sense to young people all over the world that young people actually belong and are essential in taking action on climate change. And so this becomes simply a window into the world of possibility for young people to be really actively involved."

Nobel says that besides giving international web visitors front row seats in Copenhagen, the 2degrees.com website will also be posting records of the live dialogues shortly after each session, and keep them available for continued study and discussion after the climate talks have ended.

Smart Phone Find a New Use in Medical Diagnostics

Mobile phones have revolutionized communications in many countries - making it possible for people in distant and rural places to connect.  Now so called 'smart' mobile phones may be on the verge of revolutionizing medicine, too.  Rose Hoban reports.

HOBAN: In many countries, community health workers in rural areas have begun using smart phones to communicate with doctors at clinics and hospitals far away.  But this communication goes beyond just talking.  The newest 'smart' phones have the ability to transmit data and images, as well.

"One doctor from Johns Hopkins University wanted to see how well one kind of smart phone – Apple's iPhone – could transmit X-ray data.  Radiologist Asim Choudhri was hoping doctors could use the popular touch-screen phone to help diagnose one of the world's most common problems – appendicitis."

CHOUDHRI: "We thought that there are a lot of times where a physician having access to medical imaging data as soon as possible could benefit patients. But, then we wanted to see, well, if it's possible to get people the medical imaging data right away... is it going to be accurate for them to look at it, can they get valid medical information out of it looking at it on a smart phone."

HOBAN: Choudhri says in many places, X-rays and other scans are now recorded digitally, rather than to film, as they once were. So he took digital radiological scans, called CAT scans, of patients who had appendicitis and some who did not.  He asked five different radiologists to look at the scans using their iPhones.

CHOUDHRI: "And we compared the accuracy of these radiologists looking at it on the iPhone with the accuracy using conventional means, which is a large, expensive computer workstation in the hospital. And we showed that the evaluation of the images on the iPhone pretty much matched the accuracy and the diagnostic ability when performed on a dedicated computer workstation."

HOBAN: The radiologists made an incorrect assessment less than one percent of the time using their smart phones. Choudhri says that's the same rate of error as doctors make in the hospital.

CHOUDHRI: "A part of me strongly was wondering whether it would be this accurate... and we were actually all surprised by the degree of accuracy."

HOBAN: Choudhri says doctors have already tested this idea in many countries, but he adds that it's still important to rigorously study whether smart phones enable doctors to accurately diagnose patients.  He says he'll continue to research on other creative ways to use this new technology.

Choudhri presented his findings at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

MUSIC: "Our World" theme

That's our show for this week.

We'd like to hear from you. You can email us at ourworld@voanews.com. Or write us at –