Earth Hour started in Australia with millions of homes and businesses turning their lights off for one hour. Now it has grown to become one of the world’s biggest climate change initiatives. People are all joining together in a global effort to show that it’s possible to take action on global warming.Earth Hour has brought about some new changes to our lives. The iconic Bird’s Nest National Stadium and the nearby Water Cube National Aquatics Center, usually illuminated by floodlights, went dark at 8:30 p.m., while dozens of hotels, office buildings, shopping malls and restaurants also switched some lights off. People join activities such as candle-lit dinners and star-gazing parties as a response to the call for going dark. However, some critics have dismissed the event as simply a gimmick that will not make any difference.From my point of view, Earth Hour is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to take responsibility and to get involved in working towards a sustainable future. Earth Hour is a message of hope and a message of action. Everyone can make a difference.
As is symbolically illustrated in the picture, a lovely baby is sleeping comfortably on the beautiful earth with a little bird singing over him. In the drawing, a huge green umbrella shelters the baby and the earth from the threatening outside world. The caption indicates that we should advocate low carbon economy and cherish the earth.
The painter aims at reminding us the relationship between low carbon economy and environmental protection. In the first place, low carbon economy is crucial to sustainable economic development. Economic expansion causes irreparable damage to our environment. A fragile ecological environment, insufficient environmental capacity and shortage of resources are becoming critical problems hindering the world’s development. If we want to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection should be integrated into our economic endeavors. Low carbon economy will have a direct impact on the overall situation of the world’s modernization drive and its long-term development. In the second place, environmental protection is in line with traditional Chinese culture. One of the core principles of traditional Chinese culture is to maintain harmony between man and nature. Many philosophies from Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have emphasized the significance of a balanced environment. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Forefathers plant trees so future generations can enjoy the shade.” Protecting our environment and preserving a healthy environment for future generations goes hand in hand with Chinese culture.
Generally speaking, low carbon economy is indispensable for sustainable development. Haunted by various environmental problems, we should put the low carbon economy at the core of our economic development plans and solve wide-ranging environmental problems before they evolve into environmental crisis.
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如图象征性所示，一个可爱的婴儿正舒适地睡在美丽的地球上，一只小鸟在他身旁歌唱。在图画中，一只巨大的绿伞保护婴儿和地球不受可怕的外部世界的侵害。文字说明显示：倡导低碳、呵护地球。
画家旨在提醒我们低碳经济与环境保护之间的关系。首先，低碳经济对经济的可持续发展至关重要。经济的发展给我们的环境带来无法弥补的损失。脆弱的生态环境、环境容量不足和资源短缺现在成为阻碍世界发展的至关重要的因素。如果我们想持续发展，那么保护环境就必须与经济发展所做出的努力紧密结合。低碳经济将对世界的现代化进程和长期发展目标产生直接影响。其次，保护环境应该与传统的中国文化保持一致。中国传统文化的一个核心原则是维护人类和大自然的和谐统一。儒家、道家和佛家思想中的很多哲理都强调一个和谐的环境的重要性。中国有句古话：“前人栽树，后人乘凉“。因此，保护我们现在的环境、为后代维护健康的环境与传统的中国文化是一脉相承的。
总之，低碳经济对可持续发展来说是必不可少的。各种各样的环境问题困扰着世界，因此我们应该把低碳经济放在经济发展计划的核心位置，在各种各样的环境问题演变为环境危机之前解决他们。
Man and His Environment
Throughout history man has changed his physical environment in order to improve his way of life. With the tools of technology he has altered many physical features of the earth. He has transformed woodlands and prairies into farms and made lakes and reserviors out of rivers for irrigation purposes or hydroelectric power. Man has also modified the face of the earth by draining marshes and cutting through mountains to build roads and railways.
However, man's changes to the physical environment have not always had beneficial results. Today, pollution of the air and water is an increasing danger to the health of the planet. Each day thousands of tons of gases come out of the exhausts of motor vehicles. Smoke from factories pollutes the air of industrialized areas and the surrounding areas of the countryside. The pollution of water is equally harmful. The whole ecological balance of the sea is being changed and industrial wastes have already made many rivers lifeless. Now environmental protection is more pressing than ever before. As we know, massive destruction of environment has brought about negative effects and even poses a great threat to man's existence. Indifference to these problems will mean committing suicide. Therefore, effective measures should be taken and laws passed to conserve environment. Otherwise,man is certain to suffer from the serious consequences caused by this lack of care for his living surroundings.
人和环境
人类有史以来不断改变自然环境，以改善自己的生活方式。人类借助技术工具改变了地球的许多自然特征。他将林地和草原改造成为农田，使江河变成湖泊和水库，用于灌溉或用于水力发电。人类还通过给沼泽地排水、凿石劈山、修建公路和铁路等方式，改变了地球的面貌。
然而，人类改变自然环境并不总是带来有益的结果。今天，空气和水的污染给地球的健康造成越来越严重的危害。每天机动车辆的排气管排出成千上万吨废气。工厂释放的烟雾污染了工业区和周围乡村的空气。水污染同样有害，海洋的整个生态平衡正在受到破坏，工业废水已使许多河流的生物死亡。
现在，环境保护比以往任何时候都更为紧迫。我们知道，对环境的大规模破坏已经带来负面影响，甚至严重威胁到人类的生存。对这些问题漠不关心将意味着自我毁灭。因此，应采取有效措施并通过法律来保护环境。不然的话，人类势必遭受因其不关心生存环境而引起的严重后果之苦。
On the Relationship between Environment and Economy
The two pictures above are both about the relationship between the environment and the economic development. In the first picture, GDP is on the rise while the environment is drastically polluted. In the second picture, economic efficiency progresses with environmental protection. It’s easy to get the conclusion that development according to the second picture is more reasonable than that in the first one.
In the early development of socialism, our country didn’t pay much attention to the issue of environmental protection and savored the bitterness. Now, the government has taken many measures and is implementing the strategy of “sustainable development”. One aspect of the strategy is to develop the economy and take measures to protect the environment at the same time. In this way, we can develop our country in a sustainable manner and our offspring can have enough resources to develop society. If we don’t put much emphasis on the environment issue and excavate the natural resources blindly, our country will become a barren land sooner or later.
In a word, sustainable development is a reasonable strategy which should be implemented for a long time. The nature is providing us with plentiful resources generously, but it may punish us severely if we don’t care her.
在环境与经济之间的关系
上面的两幅图是环境和经济发展之间的关系。在第一张照片中，国内生产总值持续上升，而环境的污染是大大的。在第二张照片中，经济效率的发展与环境的保护。这是很容易得到的结论是，发展到第二张照片是比第一个更合理的。
在社会主义发展的初期，我们的国家没有重视环保的问题，并品尝了苦涩。现在，已经采取了很多措施，正在实施的“可持续发展”的战略。该战略的一个方面是，发展经济和保护环境的同时采取措施。这样一来，我们可以以可持续的方式发展我们的国家和我们的后代能够有足够的资源来发展社会。如果我们不把对环境问题的重视和挖掘的自然资源盲目，我们的国家将成为一个贫瘠的土地迟早的事。
总之，可持续发展是一个合理的策略，应实行很长一段时间。的本质是为我们提供丰富的资源慷慨，但它可能会严重惩罚我们，如果我们不关心她的。
