【推荐1】We're so attached to plastic, but we're careless consumers. Waste plastic is entering our ecosystems and food chains with untold consequences. Cleaning up our polluted world of plastic may seem a noble, but thankless task. However, some people are seeing economic opportunity in the mission.

Plastic Bank, a social enterprise from Canada, is monetizing plastic recycling while empowering those most affected by the waste. It works to prevent waste plastic from entering oceans by encouraging people in developing countries to collect plastic from their communities in exchange for cash, food, clean water or school tuition for their children. After collection, plastic is weighed, sorted, chipped, melted into balls and sold on as“raw material”to be made into everything from bottles for cleaning products to clothing.

“I saw in large quantities; I saw an opportunity,”CEO David Katz told the audience at the Sustainable Brands Oceans conference in Porto, Portugal on November 14.“We reveal the value in this material,”he added.

Plastic Bank was founded in 2013 and launched on the ground operations in 2014 in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western, Hemisphere, where close to 60% of the population live under the poverty line. As result of poor waste disposal and recycling infrastructure (基础设施)，plastic waste enters rivers or is burned and poses the health threats to the local residents.

The company says i has over 2,000 collectors working in the country, with its full- time collectors on average 63% above the poverty line thanks to the income they make from the project. Through its app based payment system, many collectors now have bank accounts for the first time, and are able to ultimately escape ultra poverty.

“Nothing we're doing is against the laws of physics,”said Katz. “All the technology exists for us to solve and save the world. It's only creative thought.”

【推荐2】   

More and more birds are flying to settle at Qinghai Lake, one of the highest inland lakes in China, thanks to the protection efforts of local governments. Covering an area of over 4, 000 square kilometers, Qinghai Lake is also the country’s biggest salt-water lake. Located in Northwest China’s Qinghai Province, the lake is famous for the two islands at its northwest point—Cormorant Island and Egg Island. The two islands have plenty of floating grass and various schools of fish, offering rich food sources for birds. The islands have become a paradise for different kinds of groups of birds and have been called “Bird Islands”.

Each March and April, when ice and snow covering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau starts to melt, over 20 kinds of birds fly to the Bird Islands to lay eggs. During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and birds eggs can be found everywhere. Visitors can hear the singing of birds from miles away. These have become a world famous symbol of the lake.

To protect this paradise for birds and support calls for ecological protection, China set up the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone at the end of 1997. Meanwhile, the State has pointed out the Bird Islands and Spring Bay of the Qinghai Lake as central protection zones.

Inspection officials and management employees often patrol the lake, improving local residents’ knowledge of related laws and spreading knowledge about animal protection to visitors. They are making great efforts to call on people to love and protect the birds. At the same time, they have built special fences around the island area to prevent wolves, foxes and other carnivorous animals, as well as illegal hunters from breaking up the birds’ nest-building, egg-laying and breeding. As a result, more and more birds are coming to the islands for sheltering and breeding.

【推荐1】The Chinese art of paper cutting has a long history. The earliest paper cutting was found in China in the Northern Dynasties. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) has recognized the art, called Jianzhi, on its Intangible (非物质的) Cultural Heritage (遗产) list. Voyo Woo, who is a Chinese student studying in the US, hopes to introduce the traditional Chinese art to Americans in her spare time.

Ms. Woo loves paper cutting. And she works hard to celebrate the ancient art form. On a recent Saturday, Ms. Woo held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington. She demonstrated the art to the crowds for hours at the shopping center.

Ms. Woo began to study the art of Jianzhi as a 14-year-old girl in her hometown in southeastern China. She said all the students at school had to learn the art. However, she developed a special love for it, so her teacher gave her extra training after class. Later, she won second prize in a national painting and calligraphy competition.

After Ms. Woo came to the US, she became involved in an event to support and expand the understanding of Chinese paper cutting. She has been invited to demonstrate the art at a wide collection of events. She has also shown her skill at famous museums in Washington. Ms. Woo says paper cutting represents Chinese cultural values, history and stories of people’s lives. She uses the art as a tool to present Chinese culture to people who know little about it.

Ms. Woo placed examples of her art around her as she demonstrated paper cutting at the shopping center. Some shoppers, like Ann Russ, took part in a workshop. Ms. Russ was struck (打动) by the finely detailed nature of the work. “ I like to know about the Chinese art, specifically because it is very delicate (精致的). And I like the focus that it requires because it takes me out of everything. And we have to concentrate on something very closely. It is almost relaxing to put that much effort into it. ” Ms. Russ says.

【推荐2】My wife and I spent two weeks in London last year. We went there in the autumn. We think it is the best season to visit England. The weather is usually good and there aren’t too many tourists in October.

We stayed in a small hotel in the West End. It was convenient as we did most of our sightseeing on foot. Taxis were too expensive, we couldn’t understand the bus routes, and my wife didn’t like traveling under the ground. She said it made her feel sick.

We went to look at the places which all tourists visit. We saw Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery. We went shopping in Oxford Street and spent too much money. What we liked most, though, was going to the theatre. We didn’t have the chance to see such wonderful plays at home. A lot of people say English food is bad. We didn’t think so. It is true that most of the restaurants are French or Italian or Chinese, but we had some very good meals.

In fact, we enjoyed our holiday so much that we have already booked again for this year. We are going to take our umbrellas, though. I’m sure we’ll need them sometimes.

【推荐3】We moved away from my grandmother when I was eight years old. I missed her a lot. I was her favorite granddaughter and she was my favorite grandma.

Two years later my mother and father separated and soon divorced. I felt as if my world was falling apart. I lived with my mother for a time, next door to my grandma and grandpa in an apartment while my father was away during World War II.

Grandma never had much in the way of money or material things. But it was the little things she gave me that let me feel warm, like letting me dip my fingers in the sugar bowl, letting me sip the coffee from her cup or allowing me to sit on the table as I had meals.

Though she didn’t have much, she did something for my brother and me. I will always remember she saved her coins in a glass jar. I thought my grandma could have used these coins herself, but she saved them to give us when we came to visit her.

I don’t remember how much we collected on our visitor was the amount important. It was the idea that she remembered us, and cared about us when we were away from her.