【推荐1】From sunny yellows to pretty pinks, this summer’s trending colours are rooted in hope and optimism. But just how powerful can a colourful wardrobe be for influencing our emotions?

THE FIRST SIP of coffee in the morning. Your favourite song playing on your journey home from work. A glass of Aperol Spritz on your holiday. These things all have something in common—they release dopamine(多巴胺).

Dopamine acts as a messenger between the neurons in the brain and strongly affects our mood. When we have high levels of dopamine going back and forth between neurons, we feel great. On the other hand, low levels of dopamine have been linked to reduced motivation, decreased enthusiasm and depression.

Luckily, there are many ways we can boost our dopamine levels, and one of these — “dopamine dressing”— suggests that the clothes hold the power to boost our mood.

Personally, I’m fully on board. Earlier this year, I attended the wedding of one of my oldest friends in a floral-print midi dress by Rixo. After a year of working from home, often foregoing getting dressed in favour of staying in my pyjamas, it was my first taste of dressing up in a while. And honestly, I haven’t felt so great in a long time, so much so that I kept the dress on all day, long after the reception ended.

The concept of dopamine dressing-actively choosing clothes that bring us joy—is nothing new. A 2012 study found that when participants wore clothes of symbolic meaning to them, their perceived confidence increased. The fashion world surely seems to think so with many designers harnessing the mood-boosting power of colour. Sunshine yellows brightened up the runways of a number of brands, with luscious lemon dresses at Versace and hints of yellow among accessories at Fendi. And, head-to-toe red ensembles(全套服装) were a common theme at Balenciaga and Givenchy.

So is it possible to dress ourselves happy? I think so. But, instead of prescribing to centuries-old colour theories, dopamine dressing in 2021 should be about wearing what makes us feel good. So, whatever garment it is, go out and find the colours that spark joy for you!

【推荐3】Frustration (挫败感) usually occurs when you feel stuck or trapped, or unable to move forward in some way. It could be caused by a coworker blocking your favorite project, a boss who is too disorganized to get to your meeting on time, or simply holding on the phone for a long time.     1    , because they can easily lead to more negative emotions, such as anger. Here are some suggestions on dealing with frustration.

Stop and evaluate —     2    . If you find that feelings of frustration are coming around inside your mind, ask yourself why you feel frustrated. Write it down in a notebook and be specific. Then think of one positive thing about your current situation. For instance, if your boss is late for your meeting, then you have more time to prepare.     3    .

Find something positive about the situation — Thinking about a positive aspect of your situation often makes you look at things in a different way. This small change in your thinking can improve your mood.     4    , they’re probably not doing it on purpose to annoy you. And if it’s a thing that’s bothering you — well, it’s certainly not personal! Don’t get mad; just move on.

    5     — Stop hanging out with people who make fun of your issues if you want to find the solution of how to deal with frustration. It will only push you further deep into your problem. Be in the company of people who listen to your problems and stand by you. They will be able to help you figure out the cause and the solution of the problem. You will feel better when you have someone to listen to you and help you with the difficult times.

【推荐1】Aviation is a big polluter. Cutting the sector’s impact on global warming is high on the agenda. Although many governments are regulating emissions from cars and trucks, air transportation is technologically rooted in old patterns.

Facing the reality that the sector will keep emitting a lot, ICAO has established an international carbon-trading plan—Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, or CORSIA. This encourages wide use of offsets (抵消) : aviation companies can buy emissions credits or invest in sectors that store carbon, such as forestry, to allow them to carry on as normal. CORSIA aims to keep CO2 emissions at 2019 levels through such purchases for emissions over that year’s baseline. ICAO predicts that increasing demand might reach 1. 7 billion tons by 2035, potentially making aviation the largest offset market in the world.

Yet offsetting faces a fundamental challenge: the size of the offset requires estimating flows of warming pollution that would have occurred if the carbon-removal project hadn’t existed, and comparing them against flows with the project in place. The former — a baseline that is unobservable — is a hotbed for shady accounting.

The vast majority of offsets today and in the expected future come from forest-protection and regrowth projects. The track record of reliable accounting in these industries is poor, because they lack convincing baselines. Even with oversight, forest projects are often troubled by wild assumptions, for example that trees would disappear completely from these areas in the absence of those projects, even when there are other forest protections in place. Such assumptions drive up baselines and flood the market with huge volumes of offsets. They make it easier for accountants to claim a net reduction in emissions even though the atmosphere sees little or no benefit. These problems are essentially unfixable. Evidence is mounting that offsetting as a strategy for reaching net zero is a dead end.

In our view, this approach could prove dangerously narrow. Removing aviation’s impact on global warming means upending the industry. The longer that reality is overlooked, the harder it will be to find effective solutions.