【推荐2】Batteries are extremely useful. Many ordinary household items are powered by single-use batteries including TV remotes, toys, flashlights, and even smoke detectors. But what happens when the batteries are used up and have to be replaced? Many of them end up in the trash where the chemicals can get into the soil causing environmental damage. In fact in Australia, 97 percent of single-use batteries end up in landfills.

While batteries can be traditionally recycled, this involves using high heat to melt the metals that can then be reused. The method doesn’t allow for the repurposing of other elements that actually have to be mined. It is allowing valuable resources to go to waste.

Envirostream — a part of the battery recycling company Lithium Australia — came up with an innovative way to turn old batteries into plant fertilizer. While some of the chemicals in batteries are poisonous, the company engineered a new method that takes the micronutrients like zinc and manganese oxide out of the alkaline (碱性的) batteries by crushing (碎) them and removing the poisonous elements. Lithium Australia has tried to find a solution for these waste batteries that is better for the environment and creates better value.

The company began field trials in 2020, testing a fertilizer supplement made from the upcycled batteries on wheat and found that it compared well to commercial fertilizers. After that, they tested the fertilizer in soil that was lacking in the minerals. Now, the fertilizer has been successfully applied to growing tomatoes, avocados, and cotton crops.

Going from powering remotes to powering plants completes a cycle for elements that come from the earth to then go back to the earth. Recycling batteries for useful components and keeping them out of landfills is good for the planet.

【推荐3】The bald eagle was once a dying species in the United States. This is because the bird wasn’t always held with respect. At the National Book Festival, author Jack E. Davis detailed the bald eagle’s “great conservation success story”.

The bald eagle has faced extinction twice. The first occurred in the late 19th century. “It was then that a bald eagle seen was one to be shot,” he said. He explained that the bird had been regarded as a dangerous animal, and considered a threat. But such threat tended to be overstated. Throughout the early 20th century, thousands of bald eagles were shot down. Things began to change for the bird in 1940, when the government passed its legal protection — the Bald Eagle Protection Act.

However, only five years later, the bird faced its second near extinction when DDT, an environmentally harmful insecticide (杀虫剂), was introduced at the end of World War Ⅱ. In 1963, the bald eagle hit its lowest number — totaling less than 500 nesting pairs across the U.S. “At that time, only about one-third of the nation’s water was safe for swimming and fishing,” Davis said. “That was eagle habitat, but also our habitat.” “We stepped up.” He mentioned that this situation led a nonprofit organization, Fish and Wildlife, to launch “hugely successful” eagle protection projects.

By 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the list as the species regained its health, reaching nearly 11,000 nesting pairs nationwide, and today’s number is somewhere around 500,000.

For those looking to assist in the ongoing comeback of the bald eagle and other endangered animals, Davis said, almost every state has a center that accepts donations and welcomes visitors and volunteers.

【推荐2】Kenya has started its biggest rhino (犀牛) relocation project and began the work of tracking and moving 21 of the critically endangered animals, which can each weigh over a ton, to a new home.

A previous attempt at moving rhinos in the East African nation was a disaster in 2018 as all 11 of the animals died. Ten of them died from stress, dehydration and starvation intensified by salt poisoning as they struggled to adjust to saltier water in their new home, investigations found. The other rhino was attacked by a lion. The latest project experienced early troubles. A rhino targeted for moving was successfully hit with a tranquilizer (镇定剂) shot from a helicopter but ended up in a small river. Veterinarians (兽医) and rangers held the rhino’s head above water with a rope to save it while a tranquilizer reversal drug took effect, and the rhino was released.

The black rhinos are a mix of males and females and are being moved from three conservation parks to the private Loisaba Conservancy in central Kenya, the Kenya Wildlife Service said. Rhinos are generally solitary animals, which enjoy being alone, and are at their happiest in large areas. They are being moved because there are too many in the three parks and they need more space to walk and, hopefully, to give birth to babies.

Kenya has had relative success in reviving its black rhino population, which fell below 300 in the mid-1980s because of illegal hunting, raising fears that the animals might be wiped out in a country famous for its wildlife. Kenya now has nearly 1,000 black rhinos, according to the wildlife service. That’s the third biggest black rhino population in the world behind South Africa and Namibia.

Kenyan authorities say they have relocated more than 150 rhinos in the last decade and the country is aiming to grow its black rhino population to about 2,000, which they believe would be the ideal number considering the space available for them in national and private parks.