【推荐1】Every year around the world, humans waste an estimated 1.3 billion tons of food.This happens even though many people go hungry. So some people have made it their life's work claiming food before it goes to waste and then giving it to people who are hungry.

One of those people is Brett Myers. In 2011, Myers started Nourish Now, a food recovery and food bank in the U.S. state of Maryland. This non-profit organization collects food and then gives it to the poor and organizations that support them.

“Nourish Now is a food recovery-based food bank that recovers food from restaurants, catering companies, grocery stores, hotels, farms and more. And then donates that food directly to families in need, kids in need at local schools.”

Each month, it recovers more than 20,000 kilograms of food and serves 700 needy families, schools and social organizations. Every day, staff and volunteers repackage the donations and distribute them to recipients.

A woman named Rhoda is one of the recipients. She describes the quality of the food delivered to her family by Nourish Now. “It consists of fresh food, fruits and vegetables. You will get bread. Sometimes you get dairy products such as yogurt or milk. And you will get some meat items also. And if you get lucky you might get cooked food, or prepared salads, and stuff like that.”

The supplies can feed a family for five days. Each recipient is able to receive food every 30 days. And the packages are made to fit the dietary needs of each family.

Besides families, the organization also donates small meals called snacks to several nearby schools and social organizations.

Nourish Now has grown considerably since it opened. Brenda is one of them. Part of her job as a volunteer is to make sure that none of the food goes to waste.

“In the morning, I make sure that all the things that came late yesterday, get put away so that we use that last, and we used the things that came the day before first, so that we’re always giving fresh food and we're not throwing out anything.”

【推荐2】How many girls in this world fall behind? The answer is hard—too many to count. This is why the phrase “Go Get It Girl” popped up in my head one day. This would be my project. Thus begins the journey of my Cold Award project, the largest and most important step of Girl Scouts (女童子军).

“Go Get It Girl” is a girl’s self-empowerment (自我授权) project centered on a website called gogetitgirl.org. It focuses on areas including education, health, and financial literacy. The education section includes information on applying to college and, maintaining good grades. The health section contains information on basic health and self-respect. Lastly, the financial literacy section has all the information a girl needs to manage her money properly.

As part of my project, I was able to work one-on-one with girls in elementary, middle, and high school. I gave a speech at a local high school’s College Night. I spoke to Hispanic girls and their parents about applying to college. In addition, I worked with an organization called Cool Girls, Inc. Cool Girls is an organization focused on the advancement of girls in all aspects of their development. I worked at the afterschool program, Cool Girls Club. The girls I worked with were primarily minorities, and Cool Girls truly helps them to rise above any current difficulties in their lives.

To provide inspiration for the girls who visit gogetitgirl.org, I interviewed successful women in my community, including a doctor and business owner.

The project has been a lot of work, arid it’s not over yet. It will never be over, hopefully, because I will always look for ways to help girls.

【推荐3】Put your car keys away and forget about your travel pass-it's time to do a bit of walking. National Walking Month is organized every May by Living Streets, an organization that campaigns for the rights and the needs of pedestrians, so the organization is previously known as the Pedestrians' Association. The association's aim is to make streets safe, attractive and enjoyable spaces for people to live, work, shop and play. By putting people (rather than vehicles) first, Living Streets wants to create streets and spaces where people feel happier, healthier and more sociable.

The annual campaign gives participants a great opportunity to experience the many virtues of walking. These include the physical health benefits of becoming fitter, he environmental advantages of not using vehicles: the delight of local discoveries-seeing more of your local areas on foot; the enjoyment of walking with other people, whether family, friends or work colleagues and finally the stress relief that comes from walking -walking can clear your head.

Walk to School Week, 18 to 22 May, is part of the month’s activities and its aim is to encourage parents to send children to school on foot, rather than take them in the car or let them use public transport. The movement was started in 1995 with only five participating schools and now two decades later, more than one million children take part.

Similarly, there is Walk to Work Week, 11to 15 May, where grown-ups are encouraged to walk. In the morning, getting off the bus a stop early or parking a few streets away is a good way to add more steps to the daily total. And during the working day, after having lunch at the desks or in the canteen, take a walk and get some fresh air. Walk home with your workmates and chat away about everything under the sun but work!

【推荐1】“One person’s trash (废物) is another person’s treasure.” That’s a common expression, but the next time you throw something away, think about a twist on the old saying. What if your trash could become your own treasure? Many creative and environmentally minded people have come up with a way to make that happen. It’s called upcycling. Our world would be a better place if everyone would begin upcycling.

Upcycling is the practice of taking an unwanted item and turning it into something useful. For example, how about that pair of jeans with a hole in one knee? It could become a new pillow for your bedroom.

Upcycling is not the same as recycling. Upcycling is actually much better for the environment. Recycling takes an item made of glass, paper, metal, or plastic, breaks it down to its base material, and then uses that material to make another product. This requires a great deal of energy. On the other hand, when you choose to upcycle, the only energy you use is your own. And upcycling not only reduces the amount of trash that goes into our landfills, but it also protects natural resources, such as oil and gas. Recycling is good for the environment, but upcycling is even better.

As responsible citizens, we should all be concerned with protecting our environment and our resources. Upcycling is a fun and creative way to help. The next time you go to throw something into the trash can, stop and think about what it could become. Chances are, there’s a brand-new item in your hand just waiting to be upcycled.

【推荐1】Jeff was diagnosed in 2010 with multiple myeloma (多发性骨髓瘤)．It is a disease that is usually noticed when grandpa falls and breaks his hip. The average patient is in his early 70s. But Jeff was only 50 when diagnosed. “I wondered why me, as a young guy?” Jeff says. But his relative youth and good health has put him in a position to fight the disease in his way.

In next January Jeff and his wife Ramona will join a team climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. It’s an adventure he’s dreamed about since the 4th grade.

Jeff will be one of four in the group who are myeloma patients not willing to be threatened by cancer. He and Ramona have raised nearly $ 18, 000 toward their combined goal of $ 20, 000.

Still, he’s confident that his earlier marathon training has prepared him to climb the highest free-standing mountain in the world. “I just have to deal with it and understand my limitations.” he says.

What Jeff sees is a clear future. “Having cancer narrows the focus about what we want to do and who we want to do it with.” he says. He and Ramona now ask themselves, “How do we go out and live the most fulfilling lives? Who are the most important people in our lives? What brings us joy?”

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is their next adventure, but Jeff knows it won’t be just a personal accomplishment. “I do these things for all the people who can't.” he says.

Jeff is certain that his passion for hiking and adventure will take him to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and that his story will inspire those with multiple myeloma to keep sight of who they are beyond their diagnosis.

“It’s obvious to me,” he says, “that this is part of my fate.”

【推荐2】Cedar, a third-generation beekeeper from the countryside of New South Wales, Australia, says that he was inspired to try and design a simply hive （蜂箱）after his brother was stung （蛰）during one of their honey-gathering tasks.

The young guy knew that there must be a clever way to gather honey without having to wear protective suits, open the hive, and disturb the little bees. After several years. Cedar and his father Stuart finally perfected their invention—the Flow Hive, which can save beekeepers hours of work simply by channeling all of its honey into a tap that can be turned on and off at will.

Four years after their initial success, the Flow Hive has had a big influence on honeybee populations around the world. The father and his son say that they have successfully shipped over 51,000 hives to 150 different countries. Since they introduced the hive in 2015, the number of beekeeper in the US alone has increased by over 10%.

Their success is particularly significant since honeybee populations have been steadily decreasing as a result of habitat loss. That's why now Stuart and Cedar Anderson are donating their hive earnings to international honeybee advocacy groups.

“We’re proud to have donated 100% of profits from the sale of our Flow Pollinator （传粉昆虫）House to nine local pollinator projects in Australia and the US that are at work protecting wild habitats all around the world," said the Anderson in a statement. "Pollinators need large areas of habitat to grow healthily—the more we can do to conserve native habitats, the more opportunities these tiny environmental champions will have to do their important work."

【推荐3】Michele Gentile, an Italian bookseller, is offering free books to children in exchange for plastic bottles to recycle.

Michele owns Ex Libris Cafe in Polla，a small town in southern Italy. He said he thought of the recycling program, because he wanted to inspire children in the small town to read and pay attention to the environment.

''My goal is to spread the passion and love for books among those people in Italy who do not usually read while at the time helping the environment," Gentile explained.

The idea for the initiative (倡议) came after Gentile collaborated with a nearby middle school on an aluminum recycling project. Working together, the schoolchildren and Gentile collected enough cans to purchase books for an entire classroom. His new program too off from there and has already spread into northern Italy: Gentile's hopes his work will continue to make headlines and become a worldwide initiative.

The free books come from customers in Gentile's shop who have donated money to purchase a ''suspended" book. The idea comes from a World War II practice in which customers would buy two Coffees: one for themselves and another for the next person in line. Gentile has been using the extra books as part of his recycling initiative,

While Gentile's program is a great way to recycle and get kids to read, it also brings awareness to the growing problem of plastic waste. Single-use plastics make up around 26 percent of all the plastics in the world, only 14 percent of which are recycled. Plastics that end up in landfills take around 500 years to decompose (分解),is a major concern for environmentalists.

Cutting down on plastic waste is important if we want to better the environment for future generations, and recycling programs like Gentile's book giveaway are a great way to meet that goal.