英语训练：美开始调查温室气体排放
WASHINGTON - The government will start keeping track of all the“greenhouse” gases that farmers and foresters voluntarily reduce to help combat
global warming. Officials in the Energy and Agriculture departments issued
guidelines Wednesday for counting those efforts. They said the action indicates
how seriously the Bush administration views the problem of gases that trap heat
in the atmosphere like a greenhouse.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said farm and forest landowners now have
“a unique opportunity to be part of the solution to greenhouse gas emissions”
such as carbon dioxide， methane， nitrous oxides， refrigerants and other
compounds. The Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service also
have prepared an online method for farmers and ranchers to estimate soil carbon
sequestration — the natural process by which carbon dioxide in the air is turned
into carbon stored in soil and plants.
David Hawkins， director of Natural Resources Defense Council's climate
center， called the reporting registry a “charade that is intended to allow the
government and the participants to portray that they are doing something about
global warming， when they are not.”
In another case， Hawkins said， one coal-fired power plant in Maryland
claims reductions for selling some of its carbon dioxide to the food and
beverage industry， even though the carbon dioxide is eventually released anyway
once a drink is opened and consumed.
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