视频传送门：Let's launch a satellite to track a threatening greenhouse gas
阅读指南：本文为TED演讲稿学习笔记，其中 黑体字 为短语或我不熟悉的单词，在下方进行解释批注，斜体字 为优秀好句（比较复杂的从句家族等）。

We've got a big problem on our hands with global warming. A lot of you, a lot of people have been watching the floods, the droughts, the storms, the fires. When I leave this stage today, I don't want you to have hope. I want you to have certainty, real certainty that we can make a dent in this problem and live to see it. I want to give you a vision of what that would look like. This is the first time we've shared this publicly. You're the first audience to hear it.

• on one's hand: 拥有；面临；待处理
  If we don't act quickly, we'll have a huge liability issue on our hands.
  如果不及时处理，我们将会承担巨大责任
• sit on one's hand: 两手一摊；不管不问
  We are not going to sit on our hands and doing nothing.
  我们不会两手一摊，什么都不做
• dent: 凹陷，凹痕；伤害，损害；减少，削减；
  make a dent in: 在某物上造成伤痕；减少，削减，减弱
  We can make a dent in this problem. 我们可以有效解决这一问题
  The repairs made a dent in our hands. 这次修理用去了我们很多钱

We are going to launch a rocket. And on that rocket will be a satellite. And that satellite will collect data about pollution that is warming the planet. We will put that data in the hands of people who can make simple fixes that will change the course of global warming in our lifetime.

• in the hands of: 由...掌握，在...掌握中
  What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person.这样一个人拥有多么永恒的力量啊
  The bill is now in the hands of the US House of Representatives.目前该法案已经交给众议院决定。
• the course of: ...的过程，进程
  In the course of the last decades of the nineteenth century. 在19世纪的最后几十年中

That's a lot to take in, maybe I should back up. First, let me introduce myself, I'm Fred, I've been an environmentalist since I was a kid, when I watched the fish and the frogs in my neighborhood pond die from a chemical spill. That bothered me Later, a professor inspired me to think about environmentalism differently. How the best solutions come from answering people's aspirations for prosperity, things like being safe and healthy and thriving in this world. So I joined the Environmental Defense Fund to build those kind of solutions. And I've worked my whole career for a moment like this -- the moment, when we can stop fighting headwinds and start to have the wind at our backs. Because of the power of information, information from technology that is coming down in price and going up in precision.

• take in: 接受，包含，理解，吸收，观赏
  I was wondering if you might want to take in a movie with me this evening. 不知道你今晚愿不愿意和我一起去看电影
• back up: 后退；支援，援助；备份
  That's a lot to take in, maybe I should back up. 这些包含了太多信息，也许我应该从头开始
• prosperity: 兴盛，成功，幸运，繁荣
  Adversity leads to prosperity. 逆境是通向成功之路；穷则思变
  Prosperity and depression. 繁荣与萧条
  Wishing you prosperity. 恭喜发财
• thrive: 茁壮成长，蓬勃发展，繁荣
  thrive on: 依靠..繁荣发展，茁壮成长；以...为荣
  He thrives on hard work. 他以苦干为荣。
  Babies thrives on mother's milk. 婴儿依靠母乳健康成长
• the moment, when we can stop fighting headwinds and start to have the wind at our backs: 我们停止顶风作战，开始乘风向前的时刻
• come down: 坍塌；降落（雨、雪）；着陆（飞机）；下降，降低（价格、温度、比率）；决定；下垂，向下，延伸
  The committee came down in support of his application. 委员会决定支持他的申请
  Gas is coming down in price. 煤气价格在下跌

You see, there's something about climate change that we didn't grasp just a decade ago. The world was so focused on carbon dioxide that we overlooked another important gas. We didn't appreciate methane. Methane pollution causes one quarter of the global warming that we're experiencing right now. Pound for pound, its immediate impact is far greater than carbon dioxide. Eighty four times greater over a 20-year period. One of the largest sources of methane pollution is the oil and gas industry. But that's not obvious, because methane is invisible.

• pound for pound: 同理
  Penny wise and pound foolish 小事聪明大事糊涂

Let's take a look at this natural gas facility outside of Los Angeles. Can you see the Methane? Neither can I. How about now? We shot this using an infrared camera, at the same spot, exposing one of the worst methane leaks in the history of the United States. That's a very different picture. It turns out that natural gas is displacing out dependance on coal, which emits far more carbon dioxide. But natural gas is mostly methane. So, as it's produced and processed and transported to homes and businesses across America, it escapes from wells and pipes and other equipment. It gets up into the sky and contributes to the disasters that we're now experiencing. It gets up into the sky and contributes to the disasters that we're now experiencing. That does not have to happen.

• infrared: adj./n.红外线的/红外线
  infrared cameras: 红外线照相机
  Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.
  红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。

But nobody had paid much attention to it until we launched a nationwide study to understand the problem. We used drones, planes, helicopters, even Google Street View cars. It turns out there's far more of this methane pollution than what the government is reporting. It also turns out that when we find where the gas is being vented and leaked, most of those sources can be fixed easily and inexpensively, saving the gas that would have otherwise been wasted. And finally, we learn that when you put information like that into people's hands, they act. Leading companies replacing valves and tightened loose-fitting pipes. Colorado became the first state in the nation to limit methane pollution; California followed suit, and the public joined in. Tweets started flying -- #cutmethane. And everybody's paying more attention now.

• drone:雄蜂，嗡嗡声，无人机（非正式）
• vent: 孔，口;发泄
  give vent to sth: （任意地）表达某事
  He gave vent to his feelings in an impassioned speech. 他慷慨陈词书法感情。
  vent sth on sb: 发泄（情感）
  He vented his anger on his long-suffering wife. 他拿一贯受气的妻子出气。
• valve: n.阀，活门，真空管

We're doing this because we can't wait for Washington, especially not now. In fact, we have to tale what we've done so far and go higher, to the sky. The United Stated represents about 10 percent of this pollution. To find the rest, we have to go global. Remember that rocket I mentioned? It will launch a compact satellite, called MethaneSAT, to do what no one has been able to do until now: measure methane pollution from oil and gas facilities worldwide, with exacting precision. Its data stream will allow us to map that pollution, so that everyone can see it. Then It's all about turning data into action, just as we did in the United States.

We've seen that when we present companies with data, many of them will cut the pollution. Citizens will be empowered to take action; governments will tighten the regulations. And because all of out data will be free and public, there will be transparency -- we'll all be to see how much progress is being made and where. Which brings me to our goal: to cut this methane pollution by 45 percent by 2025.

That will have the same neat-term impact as shutting down 1,300 coal-fired power plants. That's one third of all the coal-fired power plants in the world. Nothing else can have this sort of near-term impact at such a low cost. The fact that a single satellite can help us put the brakes on global warming is truly remarkable. This is our chance to create change in our lifetimes, and we can do it now.

• near-term: 短期、近期
• plant：工厂，车间；植物；设备；栽种，种植
  plant sth in sth : 给某人灌输（某思想等）
  Who planted that idea in your head? 谁给你灌输的这种思想？
  His strange remarks planted doubts in our minds about his sanity.
  他那些怪话使我们心中生疑，不止他精神是否正常。

Thanks to the generous giving of the Audacious Project, we are on a path toward liftoff. But my time is running short, and I promised you a vision of what a critical piece of the solution would look like. Can you see it? Can you see how this satellite leverages the best of science and data and technology? Can you see we're entering a whole new era of innovation that is supercharging progress? Can you see that it's in our hands?

• liftoff: 发射，起飞时间，搬走
• leverage: n. 杠杆作用，杠杆的力量 vt.促使...改变
  A lifestyle that was leveraged by business responsibilities.
  被商业责任大大影响的生活方式。
  We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.
  我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
  He has some leverage over the politician.
  他对这位政界人士有些影响。
• innovation: n.革新、创新、新方法
• supercharging: n.增压

We've set an aggressive goal of three years till liftoff, and when that satellite is ready, we'll have a launch party. A literal launch party. So imagine a blue-sky day, crowds of people, television cameras, kids staring up toward the sky at a thing that will change their future. What an amazing day that will be. What a big opportunity we have. I can't wait. Thank you.

• literal: 逐字的，无夸张的，文字的（此文中意为‘名副其实的’）
  literal error：印刷错误
  in the literal sense: 按字面的意义上说
  literal translation：直译
  in a literal manner：照原文，精确地
  The literal is the opposite of the figurative. 字面意义是和比喻意义相对的。