【推荐1】Flying someone one-way from London to New York produces nearly a ton of carbon dioxide or CO₂. That's a lot of this climate-warming greenhouse gas. But there are ways to cut the climate impact of flying, one of which is to ask planes to surf high-altitude winds every chance they get.

It's not something they've been allowed to do. But that may change—and soon.

Most jets crossing the Atlantic Ocean follow one of several fixed paths that are widely spaced because radar (雷达) had not been able to track aircraft everywhere above the Atlantic. But a new network of satellites could soon change that.

Wells was part of a team in England that calculated the fastest possible routes for passenger planes. According to them , travel time a plane takes when flying across the Atlantic varies with the winds that a plane meets. For instance, eastbound (向东的) flights can get a powerful push. Westbound routes miss that benefit. Faster flights burn less fuel. And less burning gives off fewer greenhouse gases.

The airline industry knows it has a high " carbon footprint." But it takes decades and many billions of dollars to design, test and fly new planes. Changing a flight path, in contrast, can cut costs and energy right away.

The new study doesn't show how well such wind surfing would work for all planes, in all skies and the world over. Bui it does suggest that making flight routes more flexible could cut both fuel use and CO₂ in some places.

However, if flight times vary depending on the wind, scheduling connecting flights and managing runways and gates would become more complicated. The researchers would have to work out the best flight paths that take such scheduling issues into consideration. They may also want to see if flying at different altitudes gives a wider choice of flexible routes at the times most people want to fly.

National Air Traffic Services (NATS) which provides air-traffic control for the United Kingdom said it would temporarily disband its flight-paths system and work to allow airlines to choose flexible routes that would best limit their fuel use.

【推荐3】Research led by ecologist Bart Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam shows that birds are affected by the mass use of fireworks on New Year’s Eve up to a distance of 10 km (6 miles) away.

With data from weather radars and bird counts an international team of researchers revealed how many birds take off immediately after the start of the fireworks, at what distance from fireworks this occurs and which species groups mainly react. “Birds take off as a result of an acute flight response due to sudden noise and light. We already knew that many water birds react strongly, but now we also see the effect on other birds throughout the Netherlands, ”says ecologist Bart Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam. In the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, the researchers therefore argue for large fireworks-free zones.

Last year, other researchers at IBED discovered that geese are so affected by fireworks that they spend an average of 10% longer looking for food than normal during at least the next 11 days. They apparently need that time to restore their energy to their former condition, after fleeing from the fireworks.

Because 62% of all birds in the Netherlands live within a radius of 2. 5 km of inhabited areas, the consequences of fireworks are high for all birds throughout the country. “Flying requires a lot of energy, so ideally birds should be disturbed as little as possible during the cold winter months. Measures to ensure this are especially important in open areas such as grasslands, where many larger birds spend the winter. The effects of fireworks on birds are less pronounced near forests and semi-open habitats. In addition, smaller birds such as tits and finches live there, which are less likely to fly away from disturbance.”

The authors argue for fireworks-free zones in areas where large birds live. Hoekstra: “These buffer zones could be smaller in areas where light and sound travel less far, such as near forests. Furthermore, fireworks should mainly be lit at central locations in built-up areas, as far away from birds as possible. It would be best for birds if we moved towards light shows without sound, such as drone shows or decorative fireworks without very loud bangs.”