哈佛大学校长在清华大学演讲稿.doc

哈佛大学校长在清华大学演讲稿（中英全文）--大学与气候变化带来的挑战 2015年3月20日 07:05 新浪博客 Party Secretary Chen Xu, Assistant President Shi Yigong,distinguished faculty, students and friends. Itis a privilege to be back at Tsinghua, with an opportunity toexchange ideas on the most pressing challenges of ourtime. One challenge that will shape this centurymore than any other is our changing climate, and the effort tosecure a sustainable and habitable world—as rising sea levelsthreaten coastlines, increasing drought alters ecosystems andglobal carbon emissions continue to rise. There is a proverb that the best time to plant a tree is 20years ago—and the second best time is now. When Ifirst visited Tsinghua seven years ago, I planted a tree withPresident Gu in the Friendship Garden. Today, Iam glad to return to this beautiful campus, founded on the site ofone of Beijing’s historic gardens. I am glad theTsinghua-Harvard tree stands as a symbol of the many relationshipsacross our two universities, which continue to grow andthrive. More than ever, it is a testament to thepossibilities that, by working together, we offer theworld. That is why I want to spend a few minutestoday talking about the special role universities like ours play inaddressing climate change. Last November here in Beijing, President Xi and President Obamamade a joint announcement on climate change, pledging to limit thegreenhouse gas emissions of China and the United States over thenext two decades. It is a landmark accord,setting ambitious goals for the world’s two largest carbon emittingcountries and establishing a marker that Presidents Xi and Obamahope will inspire other countries to do the same. We could not have predicted such a shared commitment seven, or evenone year ago, between these two leaders—both, in fact, ouralumni—one a Tsinghua graduate in chemical engineering and thehumanities and the other a graduate of Harvard LawSchool. And yet our two institutions had alreadysown its seeds decades ago—by edu