【推荐1】My wife isn’t a cat person. So when our daughter Flora started asking for a cat several years ago, my wife politely refused her requests and we didn’t give it a second thought. Flora, though, shares some of my wife’s persistence, so she continued to ask for a cat repeatedly for several years.

Then a couple of things happened that made us take a closer look at things. When we went to Flora’s parent-teacher conferences, the teacher first handed us an essay about how my daughter wanted a cat, and then an imaginary story about where she would like to go on vacation: Catville.

It was then that my wife and I came to the realization that our daughter wasn’t just messing around here. And it was time for us to break down. But before we brought our new cat home, my wife sternly warned us that she was not going to be the one to take care of or clean up after the cat. Flora was going to take full responsibility. Fine, my daughter said.

We welcomed our mini family member into the house right around Christmas. We named her Goldy. When we got her, she peed everywhere. But other than that, she was perfect. My tough-talking wife gradually fell in love with Goldy. And Goldy fell in love with her. Of course, it’s not just my wife who loves Goldy. We all do.

There are so many things about that cat that absolutely brighten our life, highlighted by how she nearly bursts with affection when we come home or wake up in the morning. From the moment Goldy came into our house, it seemed unreasonable that we didn’t have a cat before then. We should have settled down to the decision much earlier.

【推荐3】The Sidamo lark(西达莫歌百灵), discovered by scientists in 1968, is known only from a small area of southern Ethiopia. The bird is one of the most ancient types of larks known anywhere.

The Sidamo lark has brown feathers. Male and female Sidamo larks look alike. It calls with a series of quick and short sounds, typically heard as it flies high into the sky. The Sidamo lark has very special habitat requirements, having only been found in grassland with a few bushes. For thousands of years, both the wild animals and humans kept the grassland in good condition. This habitat is now being destroyed. Wild animals are too few to stop bushes growing, while growing agriculture is damaging the grassland. The Sidamo lark is thought to have a very small population now.

Sidamo lark could soon be the first bird in mainland Africa to die out since modern records began. Research has found that just a few hundred of the larks survive in Ethiopia. Unless action is taken to save it, the bird will disappear. It will be the first recorded bird dying out on the continent.

To save the bird from extinction, environmentalists have suggested the creation of small fields in which cattle could eat grass. This would stop damage to the grassland and protect the grass cover. Bushes should also be removed, while a limit should be placed on crops coming further into the bird’s habitat.

【推荐1】A recent survey carried out by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) found about half of clothes sold online by major fast fashion sellers are made completely from virgin polyester (纯聚酯纤维). The group studied over 10,000 clothes posted online during a two-week period in May by ASOS, Boohoo, Missguided, and PrettyLittleThing, and it made some worrying findings.

As many as 88% of the clothes on the above-mentioned websites cover virgin polyester mixed with other materials (材料). Very few have reused materials. In many cases, clothes covering both reused and virgin polyester had the word “reused” added to the product’s title, which is misleading.

The RSA study points out the production of virgin polyester causes big environmental damage. According to an MIT study, we can know that “a polyester shirt produces 5.5kg of CO2, 20% more than cotton (棉), and the same as CO2 produced by driving 13 miles in a passenger car. In 2015, polyester production was responsible for 700 million tonnes of CO2”. Clothes made cheaply from virgin polyester are not much different from the single-use plastic (塑料) packaging that is causing much environmental damage to the world.

Shoppers would do well to start viewing virgin polyester as similar to single-use plastic packaging. In order to encourage this, RSA hopes that shoppers will buy more natural fabrics, which are likely to age better, last longer, and not cause as much pollution once thrown away. The most useful strategy, of course, is to buy less. To be clear, RSA is not against all new polyester in clothing — it just needs to be used more responsibly.

【推荐3】One Earth Award

About this award

Sponsored by the One Earth Fund, the One Earth Award offers $1,000 scholarships for four students whose works address the pressing issue of human-caused climate change.

Why should I create art or writing about climate change?

Some consequences of climate change include: sea-level rise, increase in air pollution, hurricane, droughts, extreme weather, and rising temperatures, among others. Your work can advance our thoughts about climate change and our understanding of solutions. It can also improve awareness of actions that we can take, in order to reduce the harm that human action has on our environment.

How do I apply?

Enter your work to any category in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. When selecting the category of your work, choose the One Earth Award. You will be required to include a personal statement on your work.

What should I write for the personal statement?

Your personal statement should be 50 words or more and answer the following questions:

What specific aspect of climate change does your work address?

What is your personal connection to this aspect of climate change, and why do you think talking about climate change is important?

Getting started on your work

These resources can help you learn about climate change and create your own art and writing about it.

Consider how poets talk about climate change with the Poetry Foundation.

Explore visual art activities and writing activities from the Teacher’s Climate Guide.

Try writing exercises developed by English Teachers Concerned about Climate Crisis.

【推荐1】Chimpanzees (黑猩猩）enjoy watching movies together, scientists have discovered, in research that suggests social bonding through shared experience has deep evolutionary roots.

It is widely known that humans can bond over group activities such as watching a movie or playing board games. But it has been unclear whether the underlying psychology behind this effect is present in other species.

In the research, chimpanzees were placed in pairs and shown a short video. The researchers then measured how long it took them to approach their partners, how close they got and how long they remained in proximity (靠近）－two measures of social bonding.

Chimpanzees who had viewed the video with either another of their own species or a human approached their partner faster or spent longer in proximity to them, compared with those who had watched the video on their own, the scientists found.

The finding indicates that social bonding created by shared experience may have deeper evolutionary roots than previously thought.

“Animals can stand together and watch a waterfall, but they don't seem to seek out those kinds of experiences," said Wolf, an author on the study. “So for a long time we thought they weren't capable of processing that way or they weren't feeling any psychological consequences from doing so.

“It's exciting that at least some parts of the psychology that we need to connect through shared experiences may actually have a slightly older evolutionary history than previously suspected.”

The animals were tracked for only three minutes after they had watched the film, so it is not clear whether shared experiences strengthen social bonds in the long term. The research used animals in captivity (圈养），and scientists said it was not known whether the same effects would be observed in the wild.

【推荐2】Cherie Burns is author of Diving for Starfish — The Jeweler, The Actress, The Heiress and One of the World’s Most Alluring Pieces of Jewelry, a stylish detective story with a piece of glittering French vintage jewelry at its heart was published by St. Martin’s Press on February 27, 2018. Her previous book, Searching for Beauty — The Life of Millicent Rogers was the first comprehensive biography of Standard Oil heiress and fashion icon Millicent Rogers. It is now also available from St Martin’s Griffin softcover under the slightly amended title, Searching for Beauty — The Life of Millicent Rogers, the American Heiress Who Taught the World About Style.

The author’s previous book, The Great Hurricane: 1938, was published by Grove/Atlantic (2005) in soft and hardcover. Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post wrote: “Her own very good book is sure to help keep the terrible storm in its proper place in New England’s memory...”, and Liz Smith wrote in her column in The Daily News that the book was “A must if you care about brilliant reporting...” “Before there was the Perfect Storm, there was the Great Hurricane of 1938. Cherie Bums’ new book is not only a riveting and wonderfully written account of one of the worst storms of the century, it is a marvelous portrait of an era and a region. A must for all New Englanders and lovers of the sea,” said National Book Award winner Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Sea of Glory.

Burns’ first book, Stepmotherhood — How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated, Left Out or Wicked (Times Books) has been reprinted by HarperCollins and Three Rivers and has sold over 40,000 copies in the U. S., England and Germany. It has remained in print for 20 years. Ms. Burns’ work has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, People, Glamour, New York, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. She currently lives in Taos, New Mexico. See more about the author and the above titles at www.cherieburns.com.