【推荐3】In battling the timber poachers who enter the thick Sierra Madre forests near his home, Larry Garaes has found a new support: solar panels.

With solar chargers, the radios he and other forest rangers (护林人) rely on no longer run out of power on multi-day operations in the mountains.

“Communication between rangers is a lot better. Now, we can catch the poachers while they are in the act because we can coordinate (使协调) our moves quietly without turning to shout at the next ranger — unlike before,” Garaes said.

Access to clean energy is bringing a range of unexpected benefits around the world. On the longest mountain range in the Philippines, those benefits include better forest protection — and power for tribal people who once lacked it.

More than 2 million households — or about 10 percent of all households — in the Philippines lack electricity, according to a 2017 report by the country’s Department of Energy.About three quarters are in remote rural locations, in a country spread over thousands of islands, according to the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG), which is trying to get them connected.Because bringing the national grid (网格) power to many of those people is not cost effective, the state National Power Corporation has charged SPUG with setting up and running small power plants in these areas. So far 327 such plants have been established. Government plans to call for 100 percent electrification of the country by 2022.

“Government has to do its work to connect all those areas that are not yet connected to the grid,” said Edmundo Veloso Jr. “But all but one of the new generation plants use diesel fuel, he said — even though transport of fuel can be a big problem in remote areas. Diesel is the fastest and the only technology available at the moment for off-grid areas. Diesel is still the cheapest in terms of capital outlay (开支).”

【推荐1】Four New Inventions We Should Be Proud of

Recent media reports have highlighted the “four new great inventions” of modern China-high-speed railway, Alipay, shared bicycles and online shopping. The four new inventions are technological breakthroughs that will help China move toward overall prosperity.

High-speed railway

This invention plays an important role in China’s modern development. Featuring high speed, huge passenger carrying capacity, low pollution and high safety, it consumes limited energy and resources and has greatly improved the transportation efficiency of the country. China is not only developing a high-speed railway network within the country; it is also building high-speed railways overseas to improve infrastructure (基础设施) in other countries and regions.

Alipay

Alipay, the other new invention, has to a large extent solved the trust problem of online trade with modern technologies, by introducing real-name registration, digital certificates and dynamic (动态的) password based on smartphones.

Alipay is freeing people of the burden of carrying cash. All people need to have is a smartphone, which enables them to pay for almost everything. That saves business cost for the whole society and promotes sales. And Chinese consumers are proud of it.

Shared bicycles

The business of shared bicycles is also based on mobile network, third-party payment and big data technologies. Before shared bikes were introduced, urban residents had almost given up on bicycles. But shared bikes have made people realize the benefits of eco-friendly transportation.

Bike sharing has also helped ease traffic jams in cities, by encouraging more people to use bicycles, instead of cars, for short-distance travel.

Online shopping

Thanks to online shopping, people can now buy anything from anywhere in the world. Moreover, it has helped develop logistical (物流) technology to meet the needs of transporting large quantities of goods across long distances in a short time.

True, online shopping poses a challenge to physical stores, but it has also made them improve their services and cut their costs. And the result could be an overall improvement in business.

【推荐2】As we face climate change, a new digital tool helps expand carbon-free energy without damaging the wildlife habitats. In Maine, the Renewable Energy Siting Tool is a newly released map that allows the clean energy developers to identify the sites for solar and wind projects while avoiding those with sensitive wildlife habitats. Sarah Haggerty, the lead developer, notes that the tool came into being thanks to the data provided by Maine’s Depar-ment of Environmental Protection, state biologists, clean energy developers, as well as financial support from the bank.

Based on data on land-use, habitats, energy resources, etc., the tool uses a traffic-light model to identify sites suitable for development and sites to avoid. Fields like landfills are shown in green, wetland areas or rare species habitats are shown in red, while yellow shown areas indicate that closer examination of project impacts is necessary.

The tool was developed after Maine passed a law requiring that 80% of Maine’s electricity come from renewable resources by 2030. Haggerty says, “We are in urgent need of this tool to help us fight climate change in a way that reduces impact on our valuable natural resources.” Maine is the most forested state in the nation, and agriculture, natural resources, and nature tourism play important roles in its economy. Yet the state is among the top five in losing its farmland to development. It makes little sense to develop clean energy projects at the expense of farmland.

When developers announce a clean energy project, they often face disagreement from community members who are concerned about the loss of valuable farmland or the impact on wildlife. This can discourage investors and slow the transition to renewable energy. Luckily, this tool can help developers speed up the development of clean energy by quickly identifying suitable land. Clean energy development needn’t come at the expense of wildlife.

【推荐3】With a love and fascination for traditional culture, many young Chinese have begun to use their creativity to innovate (创新) using elements from China’s intangible cultural heritage.

Papercutting, the traditional Chinese art of paper design, has been adopted in many creative arts, including food and clothing. On the Chinese lifestyle-focused social media platform Xiaohongshu, a video of cookies featuring a paper-cut styled dragon pattern received over 2.6 million views and 130,000 likes. Liu Shan, a stay-at-home mother who loves Chinese papercutting, is the baker behind the cookies. Liu started designing her dragon pattern last November and spent five days making the cookies before the Spring Festival. She said she would complete all the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac (生肖) since they are so well-received.

Young craftswoman Chen Lingling created a cloak featuring Chinese paper-cut patterns. As an intangible cultural heritage enthusiast, Chen has made a variety of different clothing and headwear, with the aim of making cultural heritage part of young people’s daily lives. She chose auspicious patterns like phoenix and golden fish to deliver her Spring Festival greetings. People believe these patterns will bring good luck. Her video featuring the cloak has received around 750,000 views and earned her fans from both China and abroad, encouraging her to continue her interest in intangible cultural heritage.

According to the new report published by Xiaohongshu, users of the platform uploaded nearly one million posts with the topic “recreation” between February 9, the Chinese New Year’s Eve, and February 16. Analysts say these recreations demonstrate (表现) young people’s creativity and enthusiasm for life, and the innovations that use elements of intangible cultural heritage reflect their growing cultural confidence.

【推荐1】China-chic is a term that describes the trend of China-centric design. It demonstrates the rise of Chinese brands. Before we discuss whether or not the term is accurate, and reasons thereof, it is important to first figure out who are the main consumers of these Chinese brands.

Generation Z, the young consumers born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, have been raised on the Internet and social media. They are gradually moving toward maturity. They have naturally become the main force that drives China’s consumer market.

Most young people earn their own incomes. Even if they don’t, their parents and family members will support them financially. So their purchasing power is stronger than prior generations of youth.

Besides, today’s young people have had access to various domestic and foreign brands since they were born. For them, global brands such as KFC. McDonald’s, L’Oreal and Nike are just everyday consumer goods. Unlike the previous generations in China, they do not look up to global brands with admiration.

As members of Generation Z are taking the center stage in the consumer market, full of confidence, personalities and awareness of investing in themselves, they almost determine its present and the future. This factor plays a key role in the global economy. That is to say, whichever brand, domestic or global, that pays attention to Generation Z first and satisfies the group’s needs will get a head start.

It is the Chinese companies more than others that truly respect the uniqueness of Generation Z’s demands. A typical example is Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning. Although the domestic sportswear market is still dominated by global brands like Nike and Adidas, Li-Ning has succeeded in using “China-chic” as a way to show self-confidence of the Chinese young people. By wearing Li-Ning’s products, a consumer is telling others: “I’m different from you. I have my own personality traits.”

Inspired by Li-Ning, other Chinese brands including Anta and Feiyue also launched products to satisfy the demands of the new generation of consumers.

【推荐2】For want of a chip, the factory was lost. On May 18th Toyota became the latest carmaker forced to cut production in a global shortage of microchips, announcing it would stop work at two of its plants in Japan. Other car makers have also had to send workers home.

The pain is not limited to the car industry, for the shortage spans all sorts of chips, from the expensive, high-tech devices that power smartphones and data-centers to the simple sensors and micro-controllers that have become a vital commodity (商品). This chip drought is the result of the covid-19 pandemic interacting with an industry that is subject to cycles of boom and bust.

“The most important thing”, says Malcolm Penn, who runs a chip-industry consultancy, “is that shortages are a natural part of the industry.” Chipmaking is a good example of a “pork-cycle” business, named for the regular swings between under- and over-supply in pork markets. As with pigs, the supply of chips cannot quickly react to changes in demand. Capacity was tight even before the pandemic, says Mr Penn, pointing out that investment by chipmakers in factory equipment has been below its long-term average for many years.

The pandemic arrived at the worst possible time. After an early crash, demand in several fields boomed. Locked-down consumers bought laptops and other devices. Cloud-computing operators added servers to deal with the wave of home-workers. The car industry was particularly badly hit by a decision to cut orders early in the pandemic-demand for cars has since recovered. But the complexities of the production process mean it takes time to recover. “I can cancel my orders in an afternoon,” says Mr. Penn. “If I want to start them up again, that takes months--and that capacity is now busy serving other customers.”

But the pork cycle is turning once again. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest chipmaker, plans to spend $30bn on new capacity this year. Two other giants, have also decided on further investment. That will bring relief to the wider economy, but not immediately. The boss of IBM said he thought the shortages might last for two years. And, says Mr Penn, when the drought eventually ends, chipmakers may find they face a familiar problem on a bigger scale: a capacity investment in response to serious shortages today could well mean a sizeable surplus (过剩) tomorrow.

【推荐3】Has Iceland had its last whaling season?

Iceland’s last whaler has no plans to stop. But as global demand slows for whale meat, his business may be over anyway.

Iceland is a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) but goes against the 88-nation body’s ban on commercial whaling, in force since 1986. In 2006, the country began setting quotas(配额) for whale hunts in its waters. This year, after a four-year suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hvalur’s hunt restarted, from June through September. Iceland’s current quota of 161 fin whales(长须鲸) applies to the western region covered by the company’s license, which will be out of date at the end of 2023.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, which last assessed fin whales in 2018, lists them in danger, largely because of their decrease by commercial whaling during the 20th century. Fin whales are speedy swimmers, and with the appearance of steam-powered ships and explosive harpoons, they became easier to catch. Since the 1970s, however, hunting restrictions have allowed these whales to rebound. The most recent estimate, in 2007, of fin whale numbers in the Iceland region was about 30,000.

In February, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Iceland’s Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries, told local news outlets that “there is little to justify allowing whaling” because of the controversial nature of the industry and the low demand these days for whale meat.

The percentage of Icelanders who oppose fin whaling has more than doubled since 2013, while the percentage of supporters ‘has fallen more than 20 percent, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Only 2 percent of Icelanders say they eat whale meat regularly, and 84 percent had never tried it, a 2018 Gallup poll found.

“Continued whaling is a fool’s game, really, on the cost of the planet, biodiversity, the climate,” says Astrid Fuchs, policy manager at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a nonprofit dedicated to marine conservation and welfare.