【推荐1】There are so many rabbits across Australia that it may be surprising to learn that they are a non-native species. A few rabbits arrived with British settlers in 1788, but it was not until 1859, when a British-born farmer named Thomas Austin brought 24 European rabbits to his land for hunting, that they began to live there. They are an excellent example of an invasive (侵入的) species, a non-native species that does harm to its new environment.

Rabbits have lived well in many different environments within Australia, such as grasslands, coastal areas, farmland, and even in towns or cities. Their activities have destroyed crops and plants. They compete directly with other wildlife for food and shelter, including taking over burrows (地洞) of other animals. They have led to dangerously reduced populations of many plant and animal species.

Efforts to control the rabbit population have had mixed success. The first main effort was the Rabbit-Proof Fence. In 1901, the government started building a knee in the state of Western Australia to protect farmland from rabbits. By the time it was finished in 1907, the Rabbit-Proof Fence ran some 2,000 miles from north to south. The Acting Chief Inspector of Rabbits, Alexander Crawford, headed a team whose job was to go around keeping the fence in working order. But over time, the fence proved to be no match for the rabbits.

Other main efforts have included programs to destroy rabbit burrows or use viruses that sicken and kill rabbits. Again, these efforts have been less than successful. The big problem to any efforts to control the rabbit population is simply that their population grows so quickly. One female can have 30 young in a year.

If Thomas Austin had known the damage that the rabbits would cause across the country, he might have had second thoughts about bringing rabbits to Australia.

【推荐2】Why Do Mockingbirds Copy?

Mockingbirds live in North and South America. They are good copycats. They imitate other birds. But they can also imitate other animals. They can even make sounds like a piano or car alarm. Mockingbirds learn to sing many songs. Some learn more than 200 different songs. They can often trick people! But mockingbirds can't trick other birds. If they can't trick other birds, why do they copy sounds? They do it to attract and avoid other birds!

Males are loud singers, and they sing many songs. They always sing when they want to meet females. A male bird can sing most of the day and night. The singing attracts females. But it also keeps away other males. The longer a mockingbird lives, the more songs it knows. To show this characteristic, the male mockingbird sings all the songs it knows. A female mockingbird is attracted to a male who has lived a long time.

Mockingbirds usually sing short songs. They sing each sound several times. Then they move to the next sound. Female mockingbirds sing softly and less often than males. They usually sing at their nests in the winter to keep away other birds. When another bird comes near, the mockingbird makes a loud noise to frighten it. It's amazing that the mockingbird can copy so many songs of other birds. Some songs are not easy to learn.   The mockingbird must listen well to imitate the sounds. But a mockingbird also has good eyes and a good memory. When a person comes near its nest, the mockingbird remembers that person. It knows that person's face after many years!

【推荐1】Farming is destroying the planet. But there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide (CO₂) into food.

“This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods. The company is building the first commercial-scale factory, near Helsinki in Finland, which will be able to make food directly from CO₂.

At the factory, renewable electricity will be used to break down water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be added to large containers, where the bacteria grow, along with CO₂ and ammonia(NH₃) to provide carbon and nitrogen separately. Some of the CO₂ will be taken directly from the air at a visitors’ centre at the factory, Vainikka says, and the rest will come from industrial sources. The end result will be a yellow powder called Solein that is made of bacterial cells and is up to 70 per cent protein. It can be used as an ingredient in all kinds of foods, from meat alternatives to grains and snacks. “We are aiming at replacing animal-sourced proteins, which we think have the highest environmental impact,” says Vainikka.

Solein was approved as a food ingredient in Singapore in October 2022, and Solar Foods is awaiting approval in the UK, the European Union and the US.

Compared with plant crops, Solein will use 100 times less water per kilogram of protein produced, 20 times less land—including the land used for energy production—and produce a fifth as much CO₂, according to Solar Foods. Compared with beef, a kilogram of protein can be produced using 600 times less water and 200 times less land, again counting the land used for energy production, while producing 200 times less CO₂, says the company.

There are other benefits, too: factories could be situated anywhere in the world and production won’t be affected by weather extremes. “With Solar Foods and other companies scaling up(扩大) their systems, this is truly stepping in a new age of agriculture,” says Dorian Leger at Connectomix Bio in Germany.

【推荐2】Today, interest in sustainable weddings is on the rise. And some of our decisions do not seem as unusual as they once might have. Here are some tips to help you plan a wedding that centers on using your garden and the things you grow in it.

Having a wedding outdoors means you don’t have to cope with energy costs or other concerns about a venue(场地).     1     The only thing out of your hand is the weather!

For many people, creating a romantic environment means having flowers. Even if you don’t have a wedding ceremony outdoors surrounded by living plants, you may wish to bring nature into your chosen wedding venue.     2     You have complete freedom to grow flowers you like in it.

    3    . Not only flowers but also food for the wedding can be grown. If not, a garden lover might prepare drinks or add homegrown elements to dishes to give the event a really personal touch.

The added extras can be prepared by using things from your garden before the big day, ranging from sweets, cookies to soaps, baskets, or other thoughtful homemade presents.     4    

You might consider making personal and handmade invitations with natural inks, paints and even paper from plant fibers.     5     They won’t be thrown out after being read, but will serve some other functions. For example, pieces of wood cut from trees in your garden can serve as invitations as well as coasters (杯垫)after wedding.

【推荐3】For Vishwanath Mallabadi from Bangalore, India, there is no such thing as a useless object or “waste”. Give him anything—abandoned metal or plastic items, old devices, dysfunctional printed circuit boards — and he’ll create art out of it.

Vishwanath’s passion is particularly relevant in the current age, where India generates more e-waste than it can recycle. From 2019 to 2020, the country generated a total of more than 1 million tonnes of e waste. Of this, only 22.7 percent was collected, taken apart and recycled. The eco-artist has upcycled and transformed nearly 200 kg of e-waste into usable products and proposes eco-art as a means to deal with waste management.

Vishwanath’s father, D M Shambhu, was a famous sculptor and painter, but he wanted his son to choose medicine and become a doctor. However, Vishwanath, who was interested in upcycling second-hand objects right from childhood, decided to pursue a BFA in Applied Art. He later went on to work in a company as a high-level administrator and retired two years ago. “In my free time and during the weekends. I used to conduct experiments in e-waste and try to develop something unique,” he recalled.

So far, the eco-artist has created more than 500 objects. These include a six-foot tall sculpture made from upcycled computer keyboard keys, and a painting inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, using upcycled resistors (电阻器) on wood. Among his other artworks are a 42×38 inch figure statue created from upcycled keyboard keys on a sun board finished with plastics, a deer made of colorful used wires, plants and flowers from computer parts, and eco jewellery from upcycled digital wrist watch parts.

“The work involves selecting the e-waste objects—the texture, shape, and colour etc, and visualising and conceptualising the final product. It might take weeks and months for sculptures. However, sustainable initiatives and upcycled art are nowadays in demand in multinational companies opting for a sustainable culture,” he said.