【推荐2】Do you ever worry that you might waste food? During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people around the world were going hungry, but people came up with unique ways to try and help. One of these was to put fridges filled with food outside for people who needed it. The movement was very popular in the US, but there have also been community fridges all around the world as well.

Back in 2016, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Pauline, a restaurant owner in Kochi, India, had the bright idea to put a fridge in the street to stop unused food from going to waste and to help the needy. The idea came to her late one night when she saw a lady searching in a rubbish can for food. Watching the woman, she had a sad thought.

“The woman had been sleeping and was woken up by her hunger, so she had to go in search of food instead of sleeping,” said Pauline. She felt really sad that night because the restaurant had made lots of food that could have been given to her.

Over in the UK, the idea of communal (公共的) fridges was used in Sommerset to fight against food waste and hunger issues, encouraging people to donate and also take unwanted food. UK supermarkets and eateries like Marks & Spencer and Greggs have regularly helped the poor and hungry.

Now there is a large movement in the UK to provide communal fridges. One charity, Hubbub, now operates the Community Fridge Network. The network supports groups running communal fridges across the UK, which now number over 300 fridges. Hubbub has partnered with Co-op to provide 500 fridges so far.

“A fridge is so often much more than a fridge,” said Hubbub’s official website. “The fridges connect people together, address social isolation (隔绝) and provide people with the opportunity to access healthy food, try something new and save money.”

【推荐3】SpoGomi, a combination of “sport” and “gomi” (Japanese for rubbish), is a popular competition in which teams of 3~5 people try to pick up the most trash of the highest quality in a set period of time.

Japan recently announced that it would host the first SpoGomi World Cup in November of 2023, with teams from all over the world searching the streets of Tokyo for trash to pick up. Each team of three players will have 60 minutes to gather the most trash from a designated (指定的) area while trying to sort it correctly into color-coded bags for each type. When the time is up, the trash will be weighed and checked for proper sorting, and the team with the most trash wins. In case of a tie, the winner is determined by the quality of the trash, with points awarded by type.

The SpoGomi World Cup sounds like a great way to encourage people to keep public spaces clean, but in terms of the competitive aspect, there is little incredulity as to which team will win. After all, the Japanese are famous worldwide for cleaning up after themselves everywhere they go.

Participants all wear heavy-duty cleaning gloves that allow them to pick up virtually any type of trash, as well as tongs to pick up trash from a standing position. At the start of the competition, they all yell “Picking up trash is a sport!” before running into their designated areas. At the end of the given time, all participants return to the starting line to have their trash weighed and checked.

Winning teams usually receive a certificate or an award from the organizers, and maybe a small prize from sponsors. But SpoGomi isn’t really about rewards. Participants just enjoy the competitive nature of the sport, working as a group, spending valuable time outdoors and keeping their cities clean.

【推荐1】On April 18—the International Day for Monuments and Sites, China Daily’s digital employee Yuanxi and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes’ official virtual cartoon figure Jiayao together introduced an interactive digital platform that hosts a virtual copy of the Mogao Grottoes’ Library Cave(藏经洞) to the world.

The platform was developed jointly by the Dunhuang Academy and the Chinese tech firm Tencent. It uses gaming technologies to show the historical scenes of the Library Cave in the digital world.

The Library Cave in Mogao Grottoes was discovered in 1900, with more than 60,000 cultural relics dating from the 4th century to the 11th century unearthed. It was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.

On the platform, visitors can role-play and “time travel” to ancient dynasties and talk with eight historical figures. The public can enter the platform through the Digital Dunhuang website and its WeChat mini program.

In the digital age, the model of “culture+technology” has been introduced to promote the development of Chinese culture. The digitalization rate of China’s precious cultural relics is now over 70 percent, according to the 2022 China Digital Collection Industry Research Report released by iResearch.

Institutions such as the Palace Museum have also started online digital services of their own. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology allows the public to view the interior of the buildings through the Palace Museum’s WeChat mini program.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also encouraged the development and transformation of cultural intellectual property(知识产权) by digital means. China Central Television has created a series of digital collections with different Dunhuang themes, such as the Dunhuang divine deer(神鹿) Youyou. It was created based on the image of the nine-colored deer from Dunhuang murals(壁画). The public can see the divine deer on CCTV’s own digital platform.

Digital collections cater to the consumption habits of young people, who grow up in the information age. They not only protect the intellectual property of the collections but also bring the public closer to China’s “excellent traditional culture”, noted Dunhuang Art Institute.

Su Bomin, director of the Dunhuang Academy, told Xinhua that more efforts will be made to explore new forms for showing cultural relics and offer the public greater cultural experiences to develop Dunhuang culture.

【推荐2】“It is the honor of a lifetime to repair precious ancient works, “says Hou Xue, a representative inheritor (继承人) of the state-level intangible cultural heritage of producing gold-inlaid lacquerware (金漆镶嵌).

Hou majored in art and design at the North China University of Technology. At that time, he hoped to find a job in a newspaper as an art editor. But, as chance would have it, he met Bai Qun, the inheritor of the craft of gold-inlaid lacquerware, who invited him to visit an exhibition of palace arts. Elegant works there appealed to Hou, and more importantly, he was surprised and deeply impressed by the extremely beautiful craftsmanship. Hou was so impressed, that when Bai asked whether Hou would like to learn this craft and start a career, he nodded without hesitation.

At Bai’s recommendation, Hou formally joined Beijing Gold Lacquer Inlaid Co. Ltd. in 2009. Every day, he got up at 4 a. m. in order to be at work by 8 a. m. , and took a bus to go back to his dormitory in the evening. In summer, it was very hot in the workshop, while in winter, it was freezing. From 2014 to 2016, he worked in the Palace Museum, focusing on protective restoration (修复) and replication (复制) work. Through several years of devoted study and practice, Hou has won many honors and titles.

In early 2022, the company joined hands with other local museums to launch handcrafted watches. The highlight of these watches lies in their appearance, which combines Po-phase flowers, highly favored in the Tang Dynasty, and the artistic concept of Maurits Cornelis Escher, a famous Dutch printmaker. The watch was soon sold out after being put on the market. Hou was thus inspired by this experience. “Excellent intangible cultural heritage works are not those thrown into museums for exhibition, but those that live up to modern aesthetic (审美的) level and modern life, “he said .

Hou said that he gauges an intangible cultural heritage item by the value it produces and the profits it brings. “If consumers are not interested in such works and inheritors can’t earn a living by doing the job, then these works have no value and the inheritance is worthless,” he added.

【推荐3】Cultural heritage sites are a nonrenewable resource. Today architectural heritage sites are being destroyed at an alarming rate. They’re threatened by rising seas, pollution, overtourism, conflicts and so on. Recently, Notre Dame Cathedral has attracted international attention.

Since its main construction from 1163 to 1350, Notre Dame Cathedral repeatedly has been damaged and repaired. On April 15, 2019, the landmark’s roof caught fire, causing the collapse of its spire (尖顶) and upper walls severely damaged. Work on the site began quickly. Through the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando Baptista, people will see restoring scenes where ruins are cleared and statues saved. Even the COVID-19 pandemic caused only a two-month delay. Architects have said the expensive project is on track to be completed in 2024.

And thorny questions arise. What duty do we owe the creations of our ancestors? What lesson can we draw from their presence?

Humankind has answered that differently. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche, an 18th-century baroque church, was famous for its bell-shaped dome (穹顶). In February 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II reduced the city to ruins. After German reunion, the church was reconstructed using many of its original stones, as a symbol of peace and harmony. Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also fell to bombing but had a different story. Its spire has been left a ruin on purpose to be a “warning monument” against war and destruction.

Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original, toxic metal — lead (铅) — for the roof, causing the debate about how to restore and maintain historic buildings. Actually, no one claims to have the “right” answers on preservation; there may not even be right answers. What people could do is to continuously monitor the global care of cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present, and future.

【推荐1】The health of our oceans is related to the planet’s overall environmental condition, with ocean currents (洋流) playing a key role in reflecting Earth’s climate. A recent study has shed new light on the impact of rising ocean temperatures on one of these vital current systems.

This significant research provides the first documented proof of a significant slowdown in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC (大西洋经向翻转环流). Alexey Mishonov and his team dive deep into the data in NOAA’s World Ocean Atlas to track down the AMOC’s performance over time. Their findings reveal a change: from 1955 to 1994, the AMOC’s flow remained unchanged. However, starting in the mid-1990s, a marked decline in its strength was observed, with a striking reduction in its speed.

Mishonov explains the signs of weakening circulation in Atlantic ocean currents, stating, “If AMOC slows down, the heat exchange will be reduced, which in turn will affect the climate, causing hot areas to get hotter and cold areas to get colder.” This imbalance could have far-reaching effects on global climate patterns, possibly leading to more extreme weather conditions, rising sea levels, disorders to marine (海洋的) ecosystems, and a mass of other climate feedbacks.

Mishonov’s research also touches on the cultural spirit, referring to the dramatic description of a similar scene in the 2004 disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow. While he stated that the film’s scenes with explosive effects is highly exaggerated and not supported by the scientific community, the hidden message—that a significant slowdown in the AMOC could lead to great and unpredictable climate changes—resonates with (与……共鸣) many experts.

As the scientific community continues to uncover the mysteries of our oceans, the significance of Mishonov and his workmates’ work cannot be overstated. Their research contributes to our understanding of the relationship between ocean currents and global climate.

【推荐2】To adapt to climate change, some flowers are darkening their color to protect themselves from the sun’s radiation, new research shows.

The study suggests that over the past 75 years, the ultraviolet (UV) pigments (紫外线色素) in flowers have increased in response to rising temperatures and a thinning ozone layer (臭氧层). The flowers won’t look any different to humans, but insects consider the higher levels of UV pigments as a darker color, which could be confusing when they try to find out colorful flowers to land on.

The UV-absorbing pigments in flowers work like sunscreen and protect sensitive cells from harmful radiation, Matthew Koski, a plant ecologist at Clemson University, says. He and his team hoped to determine if changes in pigments were a result of environmental change — and if so, what are the plants responding to?

The team collected dried, pressed plants across North America, Australia, and Europe. In total, they studied 1,238 samples from 42 different species dating back to 1941. Then, using a UV-sensitive camera, they photographed flower petals from each species to see how the pigment level changed over time. Next, they paired the photographs with historic local temperature and ozone level data from the time the plant was picked.

The researchers found that the changes in pigments differ by species, a result of the flower’s structure. Flowers with open, exposed pollen (花粉) had more UV-absorbing pigments when ozone levels were low and radiation was high. But flowers with pollen surrounded by the petal responded to temperature, not ozone levels.

As climate change continues to intensify, these changes in flowers’ color can affect plant-insect interactions. When the whole flowers get darker, insects might miss the flowers entirely. “This has a negative influence on plant reproduction.” Koski says.

【推荐3】July was the world’s hottest month on record. Wildfires this summer destroyed a Hawaiian city and caused evacuations (疏散) in Canada, Greece, and Thailand. Floods devastated towns in Vermont in July and killed thousands of Libyans in September.

John Vaillant’s new book Fire Weather aims to shake us out of this with a tale of terror from a climate change frontline: the city of Fort McMurray, in northern Canada’s vast forest, where an uncontrollable wildfire during an exceptionally warm spring in 2016 flooded entire communities within days.

Vaillant tells his story at disaster-movie pace, starting with the glimpse of smoke on the horizon and assurances from the authorities that all will be fine. Mounting misfortune follows as the flames lick golf courses on the city’s edge. By the end, 90,00 people had been evacuated, 2,500 structures destroyed, another 500 damaged. The energy generated by the fire created its own weather system, with hurricane force winds and lightning strikes.

What attracts me most is the book’s central irony. The story takes place in Fort McMurrary, which is the industrial centre of northern Alberta’s tar sands, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel deposits. It is a city whose existence depends on the hydrocarbons whose burning caused climate change; but whose existence almost ended in a climate-caused burning.

Fire Weather isn’t a typical disaster book. Vaillant’s references to Nassim Taleb, Lucretius, Seamus Heaney, The Lord of the Rings, Xerxes, and Moby-Dick can grant. But Vaillant’s theme is also catching my eyes. Our industrial world is releasing carbon at a rate 10 times faster than scientists can find in the geological record for the past 250mn years, he writes. “Thanks to fire and our appetite for boundless energy, we have evolved into a geologic event that will be measurable a million years from now.”