Living on an island might sound wonderful. But what it you left for a trip and found you could never return? What if your home, and even the land it stood on, was gone forever? For people living in the Pacific Islands, this is really possible.
Why? Climate (气候)change. Climate change is causing the sea to rise. That's bad news for the Pacific Islands. Young people on the islands are even starting to wonder: Will they be the last generation(一代人)?
Not if the islanders have anything to do about it. These people are deeply connected to their homelands. The Pacific Islands are made up of 1l different countries: the Marshall Islands, Fuji, Samoa, and others. But now, those countries are working together. They're joining forces to fight climate change.
Why is climate change such a hugethreatto this part of the world? Islands are low elevations(海拔). So they are among the first places influenced by rising sea les. That's why countries of the Pacific Islands are working together to do their part.
But these are small countries. When it comes to climate change, can they make a big difference? They can, because most of the things that people on islands buy are brought by ships. This is very harmful to the environment. After all, ships put out almost3penatof the world's carbon emissions (碳排放), That makes climate change worse.
Pacific Islanders realize the problem. So, in 2019, six countries got together: Fuji, the Marshall islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, They came up with a plan. They agreed to cut carbon emissions from shipping by 40nercent by 2030. And by 2050, they expect zero-carbon shipping.
How will they pull this off? They plan to use some really to use some really cool carbon-free technologies. They'll make use of solar and wind energy.
Sea levels are rising, but hopes aren't sinking in the Pacific Islands.
