【推荐1】Out of a home bakery in Bowie, Maryland, a young entrepreneur creates treats that are as delicious as they are helpful. For each cupcake this baker sells, he gives one away to someone in need. Behind the operation is 14-year-old Michael Platt.

Platt started baking with his grandmother at nine years old, and by 11, he has opened his own business. He calls his company “Michael’s Desserts”. “I knew I wanted to start a business, but I didn't really know how to do it, I guess,” Platt told the reporter while baking peppermint chocolate cupcakes at home.

“My parents got me a pair of Tom's shoes for Christmas. And Tom Shoes’ business model is one-for-one, which is my business model,” he said.

Platt recently got an order for a few dozen cupcakes, and as promised, he doubled the order and packed up the extra cupcakes to bring to a homeless shelter. The teen visits several shelters in the DMV area, and he also hands out cupcakes to homeless people on the street.

“Running a business, especially at my age is kind of hard,” he said. “Because I have to do other stuff while my friends are at the park or something. But, it's also really fun because I get to have an experience a lot of people don't get to have.”

Platt’s mom often comes to help bake large orders and his parents will transport the donated cupcakes. “When your kids say they’re interested in doing something so positive, you’re going to do what any parent does and make it work,” she said.

Platt hopes to open a pay-what-you-can grocery store for people who want to shop for affordable items. The nonprofit also offers classes for grocery shopping on a budget and gardening to give people more food options.

As if running the bakery and charity wasn’t enough, Platt partners with No Kid Hungry and raises money for the organization which helps children in need of food. He’s also been a contestant on Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship.”

On top of all of that, Platt recently gave a TED talk on being a young entrepreneur. He hopes his story inspires people to help others. “Kids can do what they love to do and also be able to help people,” he said as he iced his peppermint cupcakes.

【推荐2】The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles (EVs) in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility (多用途的) vehicles (SUVs) continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second,” said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency (JEA).

Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions (排放) from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion tons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. “While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking,” says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.

There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won’t be deterred by slightly higher taxes. “There are now some electric SUVs available, but I hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market,” says Peters.

Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn’t a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.

【推荐2】In the world of online shopping, many online purchases are based on careful consideration of star ratings and product reviews left by complete strangers. But should you trust customer reviews when deciding what to purchase? And do these mysterious reviewers have your best interests in mind? Here’s what you need to know.

Consumers today are skeptical, says Zach Pardes at review platform Trustpilot. “We live in a time when trust is completely under attack,” Pardes says. “So people are reading reviews and consuming them more than ever before, but I think there is a healthy skepticism at times of what they’re reading. Fake (假的) reviews do exist. Fake reviews include, but aren’t limited to, robot-generated reviews and reviews that are influenced by the seller.”

Of course, not all user reviews you read online are fake. High-quality reviews are a valuable tool when making a variety of purchases. Pardes says Trustpilot features a team in place to detect and remove fake reviews. Perhaps one of the best-known review websites is Yelp. Yelp takes measures to ensure “high-quality content,” says Kathleen Liu, a company spokesperson. That includes allowing Yelp’s community of business owners and users to flag content that may go against the site’s terms of service.

Since user reviews do provide helpful information, review as a whole shouldn’t be repudiated. But how can you tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not? It’s close to impossible for the everyday consumer. But if you conduct your investigation carefully, you can make an informed purchase.

Check more than one review source. Pardes advises consumers to read reviews on multiple platforms. “If you’re about to book a $10,000 vacation, you’d never rely only on the photos and the reviews posted by that hotel’s marketing team,” he says. “You are going to want to use a third-party independent resource.” Read more than a handful of reviews. Pardes says there is “safety in numbers.” Question perfection. Pardes says consumers shouldn’t trust reviews that show only five stars. “Nobody’s perfect so you can’t possibly have a perfect five-star review in every single category of your business.” he says.

【推荐3】In the past few decades, the way we shop has changed dramatically. We used to buy our goods in traditional shops. Now, customers are increasingly buying online, where they can order whatever they want directly to their door with the click of a mouse. As companies race to improve their Internet shopping experience, the trend towards shopping online is predicted to continue.

Most people commonly think that online shopping is better than in-store shopping. After all, an online store does not use the electricity that a traditional store might use and it doesn't require the customer to drive anywhere. So you would think the carbon savings must be significant.

Take the typical home delivery round in the UK, for example. Supermarket drivers often do 120 deliveries on an 80-kilometre round, producing 20 kilograms of CO₂ in total. In contrast, a 21-kilometre drive to the store and back for one household would produce 24 times more CO₂! However, the reality is slightly more complex than that. Many home deliveries fail the first time and the driver has to make a second or third attempt to deliver the purchase.

The carbon footprint also goes up if the customer chooses to return the item. A study in Germany shows that as many as one in three online purchases are returned. According to another study, merchandise（商品）worth nearly $326 million is returned each year in the USA. Two billion kilograms of this ends up in landfill（垃圾填埋池）, leading to 133 tons of CO₂ being released.

When we take all these factors into consideration, we realize that online shopping isn't necessarily as green as people might think. There is some positive news, as various online retailers（零售商）are starting to lower their carbon footprint by turning to electric delivery vehicles. However, the question of how to deal with returns efficiently and without waste is a challenge that many companies have not wanted to face, but they have to shoulder responsibilities.