The world celebrates Earth Day every year on April 22. But one school in Potomac, Maryland tries to honour Earth Day every day. Very young children are learning about the environment and taking action to show their love for the Earth.

A child’s world is the world of playing. They love being outside in the open air, playing hide-and-seek, sliding and swinging on playground equipment. But children at St. James Children’s School also add to that fun by picking up rubbish in the school yard. Inside, they learn to save water and electricity. They also recycle and reuse the waste. And every spring they get the soil ready to plant flowers and vegetables in the school garden.

The children at St. James range from six weeks to six years old. The environmental study begins at age two. Rebecca Boker teaches the children the importance of taking care of the Earth. Boker says every day at St. James is Earth Day. She mentioned some books, which contain materials that ask children to do something to help the environment and protect the Earth.

At St. James, children observe the growth of plants from seeds to sprouts (新芽) in cups kept in the classroom. Then they watch the plants continue to grow after placing them in the garden.The students also observe the life cycle of insects. After that, they know it is their job to respect the Earth just like they want others to respect their home.

But do these young children really get the message that their teachers try to communicate? Ms. Boker says yes. A few days later, the kids at St. James will go out to the school garden for the yearly clean-up. But for them, Earth Day will continue for the schooldays ahead as well.

We are what we eat. From high-calorie meals to low-fat lunches, much of our health depends on what we eat. We all know about the benefits of eating properly for our physical health, but food—and cooking it—is proving to be good for our mental well-being as well.

Some people are now advocating the therapy value of cooking food. It’s not just about the end result but the experience we go through. Dr Mark Salter told BBC: “Baking and cooking are good therapies that help develop planning skills, short-term memory and social skills-all of which suffer in mental illness.”

TV chef and author Nadiya Hussain agrees that cooking is great for helping our mind. She loves to bake and became the champion of the TV show, The Great British Bake Off . “Baking has always been about therapy. It’s never really been about the cake”, she said. And she thinks that baking is an important tool for our socialization and mental health.

Certainly, creating delicious food has helped take our mind off things and given us something to do. People have said that preparing dough to make bread, for example, has given them a sense of calm and control. Research has shown that doing creative tasks, like cooking, makes us feel happier. Nicole Farmer, who studies how food impacts our biology, behaviour and mental health, told BBC online that “cooking represents the shared human experience of food, and nurturing people through food, so I think that’s where it brings us an opportunity for immediate positive emotions.”

Of course, cooking can be a very sociable activity and sharing the end result, a rewarding experience. Hopefully, as we start to mix with friends and family again, we can enjoy the benefits once more and put us all in the right frame of mind.

Anyone watching the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China has seen lots of snow-man-made snow. Since the area gets little natural snow, this is the first time the Winter Olympics is taking place on almost 100% artificial(人造的)snow.

2022 Winter Olympics was held in Beijing, China, and in two areas northwest of Beijing, Yangqing and Zhangjiakou. The areas get cold in the winter, but they don’t get a lot of snow.

That’s because they’re not far from the Gobi Desert, and are generally very dry. That meant some serious changes were needed to hold the Winter Olympics there. China took water from a reservoir(水库)which helps supply Beijing’s drinking water. To carry the water to the mountains for making snow, the country ran miles and miles of pipes.

An Italian company called TechnoAlpin created the snow. TechnoAlpin created artificial snow at several earlier Winter Olympics. For the snow in 2022 Winter Olympics, TechnoAlpin laid over 40 miles of pipe and brought in hundreds of snow-making machines. Even with all of those machines, making the snow for 2022 Winter Games took seven weeks.

Still, the machines that make artificial snow are quite advanced and they can make several different kinds of snow depending on what’s needed for each sport. For example, the snow they make for downhill skiing is different from the snow made for cross-country skiing.

In recent years, it has become more and more common to use artificial snow at winter sports events. Some artificial snow was used in the Winter Olympics in 2010 and 2014 because of warm weather. In the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, roughly 90% of the snow was man-made.

As the world warms because of climate change, problems like this are expected to become far more common. Michael Mayr, who leads TechnoAlpin in Asia, says, “You could not have winter sports now without man-made snow.”