cours anglais renforcé

lesson
Tuesday the 26th of January
Ter Anglais Renforcé

Task: the environment/President Obama's speech at the Copenhaguen summit

Word of the day : procrastinate = delay

CORRECTION OF THE TEXT : MY CNN HEROES

A VISUAL : President Sarkozy : " we could have saved the planet."

GLOBAL WARMING: A RECAP

PRESIDENT OBAMA ' S SPEECH :Complete the text :

PRESIDENT OBAMA ADDRESSING AT THE COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE
18 TH OF DECEMBER 2009

1.Good morning. It's an honour for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you - like me - were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, 5.climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. That much we know.

So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge - the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and hangs in the balance.

10.I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today, not to talk but to act.

As the world's largest economy and as the world's second largest emitter, America bears our responsibility to address climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That is why we have renewed our leadership within international climate change negotiations, and 15.worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. And that is why we have taken bold action at home - by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work , increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.

These mitigation actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet our 20.global responsibilities. We are convinced that changing the way we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic future - that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industry, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. And we are convinced that changing the way we use energy is essential to America's national security, because it helps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help us deal with some of the dangers 25.posed by climate change.

So America is going to continue on this course of action to mitigate our emissions and to move towards a clean energy economy no matter what happens in Copenhagen. We think it is good for us as well as good for the world . But we will all be stronger and safer and more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord 30.in which we agree to take certain steps, and to hold each other accountable for our commitments.

After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, after innumerable side-meetings and endless hours of discussion, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear.

First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their 35.emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so. Almost all the major economies have put forward legitimate targets, significant targets, ambitious targets. I'm confident that America will fulfil the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.




40.Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.

45.Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilise $100 billion in financing by 2020, if - and only if - it is part of the broader accord that I have just described.

50.Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula - one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord - one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.

We are running short of time and the question is whether we will move forward together, or 55.split apart, whether we prefer posturing to action. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached and no obligations as to transparency. They think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or that the world's fastest-60.growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. These international discussions have essentially taken place for almost 2 decades and we have little to show for it other than an increase of the climate change phenomenon. But here is the bottom line: we can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue 65.to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a part of an historic endeavour - one that makes life better for our children and our grandchildren.

Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after 70.month, year after year - all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.

There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say. Now, I believe that it's time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose. We are 75.ready to get this done today. But there has to be some movements on both sides to recognise that it is better for us to act than to talk.

We must choose action over inaction; the future over the past - with courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people, and to the future of our planet. Thank you.


PAIR WORK
Two by two answer the questions on each paragraph .

Homework :
test on global warming ( and this time no escape)