【推荐1】Recently, Virgin Atlantic flew a large passenger jet from London to New York using a new kind of aviation (航空) fuel completely.

Airplane travel creates nearly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. That makes cutting pollution from flying an important part of the fight against the climate crisis. The reform and upgrading of aviation fuel has become an unavoidable trend. Airlines and plane makers are working hard to figure out ways to make their flights pollute less.

The recent flight was supposed to draw attention to these efforts. For the test flight, the plane only held people from the companies involved, and some reporters. Consequently, it crossed the Atlantic Ocean with its engines powered by 100% “Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)”. Virgin Atlantic says that using SAF cut the flight’s pollution by 70%.

SAF still pollutes when it’s burned, just like regular jet fuel. The difference is in how the fuels are made. SAF is made from plants (and related animal products) that once absorbed carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air. When SAF burns, it just releases this same CO₂ again. That’s different from jet fuel, which is made from oil pumped from underground, releasing CO₂ that was deeply buried. SAF costs five times as much as regular jet fuel. That helps explain why only one-tenth of 1% of the fuel airlines currently use SAF. Virgin Atlantic is hoping its flight will encourage more companies to produce SAF and that this will bring the price down.

Experts say it’s easy to make small amounts of SAF out of plant waste. But to make as much SAF as the airlines really need would require farmers to grow plants for fuel instead of for eating. This could also lead to more forests being cut down for farmland. Besides, there’re relatively few SAF production plants or companies transporting it globally. So some groups argue reducing the number of flights taken is the only way to cut aviation’s environmental impact.

【推荐2】Although we're surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don't think about bricks too often. For thousands of years,the humble clay-fired brick hasn't changed.

They're made from natural materials,but there are problems with bricks at every step of their production. Bricks are made from clay-a type of soil found all over the world.Clay mining harms plant growth.In conventional brick production,the clay is shaped and baked in kilns(窑）heated by fossil fuels,which contributes to climate change.Once made,bricks must be transported to construction sites,generating more carbon emissions.With so many bricks produced globally,their impact adds up.

Gabriela Medero,a professor at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University,decided to find solutions to that.With her university's support,Medero set up Kenoteq in 2009.The company's signature product is the K-Briq.Made from more than 90% construction waste,Medero says the K-Briq- which does not need to be fired in a kiln-produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks.With the company testing new machinery to start manufacturing,Medero hopes her bricks will help to build a more sustainable world.

The K-Briq will be comparably priced to old bricks.Additionally,as a new product,the K-Briq has been subjected to strict assessment and authoritative certification.Reusing old bricks is an expensive process and there is no standardized way to check the strength,safety or durability(耐久性）of recycled bricks.Medero says that K-Briqs could solve both these problems.She claims that K-Briqs are stronger and more durable than fired clay bricks.

Over the next 18 months,Medero plans to get K-Briq machinery on-site at recycling plants.＂This will reduce transport-related emissions because trucks can collect K-Briqs when they drop off construction waste,"says Medero.

【推荐3】Rainbow-coloured rubbish is the colourful waste created by a Swedish city with a unique recycling system. Like many cities in Sweden, Eskilstuna has an impressive recycling record. It met the EU's 2020 target of recycling 50% of waste many years ago.

Almost everyone who lives here follows a strict recycling policy at home. People are expected to sort their household waste into seven separate categories, including food, textiles, cartons and metal. But what really makes the system stand out is the bright colour code.

The reason for this becomes clear at the city's recycling plant. The bags arrive all jumbled up（被混在一 起）because they're collected altogether, once a fortnight from outside people's houses.

But thanks to those bright colours, scanners can select the bags and separate them efficiently. The food waste in green bags is processed on site into slurry to make biogas, which powers the city's buses. One of the benefits of this method of recycling is that there is less cross-contamination, so more of the recycled waste can actually be used to make new things.

Like the rest of Sweden, Eskilstuna is committed to sending zero waste from its citizens to landfill. Waste that cannot be recycled is incinerated（焚化）at a local plant to generate electricity. This reduces reliance on fossil fuels, but does create greenhouse gases.

As countries around the world try to improve their recycling rates, some may think of Eskilstuna as an example to follow, as long as they think they can persuade their citizens to get busy sorting at home.

【推荐2】About 60,000 Pacific Islanders worked as indentured labourers (签订契约的劳工）on Queensland’s sugar cane（甘蔗）fields between 1863 and 1903.They were mainly males, aged 9 to 30, transported to Australia by ship.Some came freely, wanting the new life promised to them, some were tricked, and some were kidnapped（绑架）.

The practice of kidnapping people for labour was called “blackbirding”.“Blackbird” was a term used instead of slave, because slavery was actually illegal.Britain had passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and as a British colony (殖民地）,Queensland had to follow the Act It is said that a third of Pacific Islanders who worked as indentured labourers were either kidnapped or tricked into coming to Australia.Indentured labour was really just another name for slavery.

Indentured labourers had to work for a required period of time,usually three years,to pay back their passage to Australia and then they could earn money as free labourers.It was hard, dirty work in the Queensland countryside.Most indentured labourers were badly treated, many returning to their homelands as soon as their indentured period was finished.A small number married into local communities and stayed.Free labourers were also badly treated on the cane fields, working for low pay and living in very poor conditions.

Then the Australian Government’s White Australia Policy forced Pacific Islanders to leave Australia.Even people who were born in Australia to Pacific Islander parents were driven out of the country due to their colour.If they didn’t leave voluntarily, they were rounded up and driven away forcibly between 1906 and 1908.This practice destroyed many families.Some of the people had lived in Australia most, if not all, of their lives.Only a few who had married Australians were allowed to stay.A few managed to hide and avoid being driven away.

【推荐3】The act of social distancing has become an effective protective measure against the novel coronavirus and a part of everyday life across the world. Many countries have launched different social distancing measures. Some are strict while others are creative. Let’s take a look at three special quarantine (隔离) measures around the world.

Panama

With more than 3,000 confirmed cases by April 12, Panama has announced strict quarantine measures. One of them is to separate people by gender to go out.

Starting in April, males in the country are required to leave home on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday while females can go out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. No one is allowed to go out on Sundays. To further prevent the spread of COVID-19, citizens are able to leave their homes for only two hours at a time. But according to the Guardian, the restriction measures do not apply to civil servants or her important staff who are battling against the novel coronavirus on the frontline.

Colombia

ID numbers are unique identification tools for individuals, but they may also be used to decide when people can go out in Colombia during the novel coronavirus epidemic. According to the BBC, people in some Colombian towns are allowed to be outside based on the last digit (数字) of their national ID number. For example, in northwest-central Colombia, Barrancabermeja, people with an ID number ending in zero, four or seven are allowed to leave the house on Monday, while those with an ID number ending in one, five or eight can go outside on Tuesday.

France

Though outdoor exercise is a good way to keep healthy, it can sometimes cause too many people to gather in one place. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Paris has forbidden all outdoor exercise between 10 am and 7 pm. Outside of this time span, people are allowed to exercise individually as long as it’s for less than an hour and within one kilometer of their home. If people break the rule, they will face fines of between €135 ( about 1,040 yuan) and €375.

【推荐1】When Mark Dunajtschik escaped from the prison camp near the end of WWII, he was forced to leave his homeland of Yugoslavia. Five years after the war ended, he became a toolmaker. The trade he mastered then may have decided on his career, but it was the life lessons he learned that finally shaped the character of the man he’d someday become.

Almost without housing in post-war Germany, Dunajtschik’s only choice at that time was living in a shelter for the mentally and physically disabled. Seeing the daily challenges his housemates faced, he realized how just lucky he was. “Because I was given the opportunity to live in that home, which was founded by an industrialist in the 1880s, no that I am in a position where I can also do something, naturally I want to do it. ” he told the New Zealand Herald.

At the age of 85, as one of the most successful industrialists in New Zealand, Dunajtschik is ready to give back.

Already known for his charitable works — having financed the country’s Life Flight Trust helicopter rescue service — Dunajtschik is devoted to construction of a new children’s hospital in Wellington. In 2017, he spent $50 million dollars of his own money toward building it. But Dunajtschik had no desire to simply throw money at the new hospital. He took a hands-on approach to all his projects.

Over the summer, construction passed a major milestone. As Dunajtschik and Spotswood looked on, the industrial support cranes were cleared from the site, signaling the outside was complete. “Those people that are born with a healthy body and mind can look after themselves and those unfortunate to be born with, or suffering ill health, need our help,” said Dunajtschik.

【推荐2】For the past decade, Noutsady has been working with the Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) and grown into an experienced and reliable staff member of its Laos' branch company.

Noutsady, born in 1986 in central Laos' hilly Hin Heup District, went to the capital Vientiane alone at the age of 21 to look for a job and go on with her study. In 2009, with sound knowledge of accounting and favorable English communication skills, she stood out from many applicants and became an employee of POWERCHINA's Lao Cement Industry Co., Lid. Noutsady showed her talent and ability soon in the accounting position, completing nearly 200 payments for more than 50 downstream carriers every month, timely and accurately.

Working and spending time together has brought Noutsady and her Chinese colleagues closer. "I feel great with POWERCHINA, and I will try to achieve the same like POWERCHINA to 'keep promises and make promises valuable' and start a new life here," Noutsady told reporters.

When talking about the cement products of the company, Noutsady is full of pride. "We are one of the earliest cement producers in Laos," she said. "From the many hydropower plants around the country to the broad 450th Anniversary Avenue in the capital and the splendid Lao National Convention Center, even many house buildings in my hometown, our cement is used."

In the last decade, the Lao lady has not only seen the development of the cement company, but also set up her own small family. Now, Noutsady lives with her daughter in a comfortable apartment provided by the company. At the end of 2019, she was honored as an outstanding foreign employee of POWERCHINA. "Another new decade has begun and I will value it even more, loving my daughter, loving my life and loving my POWERCHINA," said Noutsady.

【推荐3】There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid he would spend the rest of this life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him. “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”

He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, “Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered.”

Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God’s love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

The letter said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell until they literally fall to pieces!”

No matter what circumstances lite may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.