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Landmark Climate Case  March 21, 2025

 

What's up, sunshine? Happy Friday. The weekend is upon us. Spring has sprung.

 

March Madness tipped off. My goodness. Let's fuel our minds one more time before we kick this weekend off, right? I'm Coy Wire. Welcome to CNN 10, your 10 minutes of news.

 

And we begin today in Peru, where a landmark court case is testing the global limits of climate justice. The lawsuit brought by a Peruvian farmer against a German energy company may soon answer the question of whether a corporation can be legally held accountable for past emissions contributing to climate change.

 

accountable [əˋkaʊntəb!] adj. 应负责任的

 

At the center of the case are Peru's high altitude tropical glaciers, which are rapidly melting. Farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya lives in a town in the heart of the Peruvian Andes.

 

His home lies below a glacier-fed high altitude lake that's holding 35 times its normal water capacity because of melting glaciers.

 

glacier-fed: receives water from a melting glacier

 

That's putting 50,000 people in the town below at risk of avalanches, landslides, and violent flash floods.

 

landslide [ˋlænd͵slaɪd] n. 山崩；滑坡

 

Melting glaciers are also causing the seasons to change, making farming more difficult, and exposing rocks full of heavy metals that have turned local streams toxic.

 

With the backing of a local nonprofit, Lliuya is using German property law to target the German energy company RWE.

 

The company is one of Europe's largest emitters of greenhouse gases from coal-powered energy plants, which the suit says accounts for 0.5% of global carbon emissions.

 

The company has never operated in Peru and denies legal responsibility, arguing that climate change has many contributing factors, and that climate issues should be resolved by government policies instead of lawsuits.

 

Whatever the verdict, the case will set precedence for future climate change-related civil cases around the world.

 

verdict [ˋvɝdɪkt] n.【律】（陪审团的）裁决，裁定

 

Our Nick Valencia shows us what's at stake in Peru as the case is heard in a German court.

 

The World Bank says Peru is home to almost 70% of the world's tropical glaciers, glaciers that are in freezing high altitude mountain ranges, despite also being in the tropics. But climate change is causing those glaciers to melt.

 

In the high Andes of northern Peru, glacier meltwater has caused Lake Palcacocha's volume to swell more than 30 times in recent decades, according to various studies.

 

meltwater [ˋmɛlt͵wɔtɚ] n. 冰雪融化后之水

 

Down the hill from the lake is the town of Huaraz. Farmers like Saúl Luciano Lliuya worry about flooding in the town, which has more than 65,000 people.

 

Lliuya is also the center of a landmark global case that will determine if companies can be legally held accountable for past emissions contributing to climate change.

 

I am here to attend the court, Ham Court, because of the climate crisis in Huaraz. The mountains, the glaciers are melting, and that has caused risks, risks to life, and I am here to ask for climate justice.

 

Lliuya is suing the German energy firm RWE, which his lawyers say is responsible for 0.5% of global emissions. His lawyers are therefore demanding that RWEpay 0.5% of the cost of flood mitigation for the city.

 

mitigation [͵mɪtəˋgeʃən] n. 缓和；减轻

 

RWE, which has never operated in Peru, says that a single emitter cannot be held responsible for global warming.

 

In a statement, RWEsaid, quote, if such a claim were to exist under German law, it would also be possible to hold every motorist liable.

 

motorist [ˋmotərɪst] n. 开汽车的人

 

The decade-long case is based on a section of the German civil law code about property interference. It was dismissed by a lower court, but is now being appealed to a higher court in Hamm, Germany.

 

The hearing started Monday and will at first determine whether the melting glaciers are raising the lake's water levels and whether this will pose a flood risk to Lliuya's home in the next 30 years.

 

We didn't start out with a lot of hope, but now it's caused a lot of attention. And yes, it is a precedent.

 

precedent [ˋprɛsədənt] n. 先例，前例

 

We have high hopes for this next hearing.

 

Pop quiz, hot shot. What NASA program plans to land the first woman and next man on the moon in the year 2027?

 

Artemis, Apollo, Quest, or Juno?

 

Answer is the Artemis program. It will send astronauts back to explore more of the lunar surface while evaluating hazards astronauts will face in true deep space ahead of planned crewed missions to Mars.

 

Welcome back, welcome back. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are finally back home on Earth.

 

The two astronauts spent more than nine months in space after what was supposed to be a week-long mission went awry.

 

go awry 出毛病

awry [əˋraɪ] adj. 离开预期方向（的）；出错（的）

 

They splashed down off the coast of Florida this week, ending their extended stay on the International Space Station.

 

With them were two other Crew Nine mission members, NASA's Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov of Russia's Roscosmos Space Agency.

 

Our Leigh Waldma is here to tell us about their first moments back on Earth and shows us a special group that appeared to welcome them home.

 

Lots of cheers here at the Johnson Space Center when we saw that successful splashdown of the SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts from the International Space Station back to Earth.

 

Just off the coast of Florida, the long-awaited return of astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore after more than nine months in space, 286 days.

 

Their mission was originally supposed to last only eight days, but that was extended after issues with the Boeing Starliner was deemed it unsafe to carry those astronauts back to space here.

 

deem [dim] v. 认为，以为；视作

 

Now we saw after that splashdown a pod of dolphins swimming near the capsule as the SpaceX crew who had met that capsule off of the coast of Florida and that body of water there. They got those astronauts successfully loaded onto a ship and now they're undergoing medical evaluations.

 

But as we saw those astronauts for the first time, it was all smiles and waves. Once it's deemed that they are medically safe to fly from that ship to the Ellington Field, they'll be reunited with their families before coming here to the Johnson Space Center to undergo further evaluations and further debriefs.

 

debrief [dɪˋbrif] n. 详细询问，盘问（执行任务的情况）

 

It's all part of a normal routine for astronauts that have spent time in space and are now returning back here to Earth.

 

It is a long journey for Suni and Butch, much longer than anticipated, but finally coming to a successful end here. In Houston, I'm Leigh Waldron.

 

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, the unicorn-like sports star known as Shohei Ohtani.

 

It was Otani time in Japan. The Los Angeles Dodgers star got a hero's welcome during a rare chance to play in his home country this week. Thousands of fans were there at the Tokyo Dome for the MLB season opener.

 

Ohtani burst onto the scene and quickly became one of the most unique players we've ever seen. He can hit and pitch with the best of them, like a modern-day Babe Ruth.

 

All the hometown fans may have given some good mojo because Ohtani's Dodgers swept the Cubs in the two-game series.

 

mojo [ˈmodʒo] n. 魔力；魔咒；好运；护身符

 

Our Hanako Montgomery was there amongst the fans.

 

It's like the Beatles first came to Japan like back in 65 or something. It's like the same fever.

 

Baseball has been big in Japan for over a century, but thanks to Shohei Ohtani's stardom and his huge, huge fan base, he's truly elevated the profile of the sport here in the country.

 

stardom [ˋstɑrdəm] n. 明星地位

profile [ˋprofaɪl] n. 外观；形象

 

People are coming out in droves to enjoy tonight, enjoy Shohei Ohtani back on Japanese soil, because of course this is a very rare opportunity for fans who don't get to see him play in Major League Baseball.

 

drove [drov] n. 一群

 

Who are you rooting for today? Oh, Ohtani.

 

root [rut] v.【口】（为参赛者）打气；喝采[（+for）]

 

Yeah, whoever Shohei's playing for, so the Dodgers. I'm a Yankees fan.

 

Ohtani's very handsome, isn't he? But he got married. That was unfortunate.

 

Oh my, I'd be delighted if Ohtani ever sees me.

 

I'm excited for us, but I'm excited for the Japanese people.

 

National treasure, yeah. I like that.

 

All right, for more Ohtani live March Madness updates and more, you can head to cnn.com slash sports. Arigatou gozaimasu, everyone.

 

Before we go, shout out to Harris-Hillman School in Nashville, Tennessee, and One Dragon. We're showing some extra love to Miss Egger, nominated by the Nashville Predators as a Future Goals Most Valuable Teacher finalist.

 

The program celebrates exceptional teachers nominated by NHL teams who use the game of hockey to teach and inspire.

 

Well done and good luck, Miss Egger. Cue that Friday Music Not there. Get your minds right, everyone.

 

Remember that our thoughts have a major influence on the type of day we'll have. Those days determine how our weeks will go. Those weeks become the months that become the years that make up our lives.

 

So think good thoughts. Make it a great day. You are more powerful than you know.

 

I'm Coy. I'll see you next week right here on CNN 10.