【推荐2】One New Year’s Day, ecologist Rob Wolton came up with an unusual resolution—to spend the next 12 months studying a hedge(树篱) 40 metres from his house in the middle of Devon. He wanted to make a list of every plant, animal and fungus(真菌)that used it. After a year of observations he had found 2, 000 species—far more than he imagined. Wolton says he enjoyed it hugely and his findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that hedges should not be overlooked.

“There is increasing recognition that much of the wildlife finds shelter in the hedges. But they’re much more than just wildlife passages—they are really important as habitats in their own right,” he says. The European commission’s Joint Research Centre recently argued that as the climate crisis worsens, hedges are expected to play more roles as they move in response to environmental change. Their deep roots help sequester carbon(固碳), and they also reduce the likelihood of flooding downstream, suck nutrients and pollutants out of water, and prevent soil loss. Alongside these functions, there is a cultural benefit to hedges too—I think lots of us who live in England think of the hedge landscape as being quite typical, says Wolton.

After the Second World War many hedges were removed to create more productive land. Only about one in three hedges in England are in good condition, according to the most recent research done in 2017.

The main issues are hedges being cut too severely and too frequently, which leads to loss of wildlife and gaps. A squirrel, for example, will turnaround if there is a gap of five metres. New hedges are being planted with single species, instead of many, which decrease the wildlife they can support.

It’s hard to say if interest in hedges will translate into action on a national scale，and much depends on what landscape features Environmental Land Management scheme.

【推荐3】In recent years, cotton bags have risen to popularity as an eco-friendly alternative to single-use bags. Many supermarkets have made the change.     1    

As a study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark shows, a cotton bag needs to be used 20,000 times to offset (抵消) its overall impact of production on the environment.     2     According to this measure, for Venetia Berry, an artist in London who found she had at least 25 cotton bags, she would have to live for more than 1,000 years to offset her current bags.

According to the Circular Laboratory, it requires between 10,000 and 20,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of cotton. And only 15 percent of the 30 million tons of cotton produced every year actually makes its way to textile (纺织品) warehouses. Even when a cotton bag does make it to a treatment plant, most logos printed on them are not recyclable.     3     .

That’s not to say cotton is worse than plastic. They both have disadvantages.     4     And plastic bags use fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases, never biodegrade (生物降解) and block the oceans.

Buffy Reid, of the British knitwear label & Daughter, stopped production of her cotton bags in April 2021.     5     For example, British designer Ally Capellino replaced cotton with hemp (麻纤维). In fact, the simplest solution may be the most obvious: Not every product needs a bag.