【推荐1】If you’ve ever been annoyed with package, you probably love the idea of a package-free grocery store. And zero waste at the supermarket isn’t such a crazy dream; a new store in Germany is promising exactly that.

The Original Unverpackt in Berlin is a project of Sara Wolf and Miena Glimbovski. They crowdfunded the project, and the idea proved so popular that they are more than doubly funded.

The store will sell food locally to reduce transportation costs and energy use. There are containers that can be reused, or better yet, you can bring your own. It’ll also carry non-food things like cleaning products and personal care items.

The German project isn’t the only grocery store fighting wasteful packaging. In.gredients, in Austin, Texas is the first zero-waste store. It offers things that are filled in customers’ own containers and it offers reusable containers too.

Of course, plenty of stores have been doing some version (版本) of reduced packaging for years. The First Alternative Natural Foods Co-Op in Corvallis, Oregon, where I do most of my shopping, offers all dry goods including baking goods and dried fruit and beans in bulk (散装), and plenty of others too, including tofu, cheese, eggs, honey, and butter oils, soaps and pet foods too. I bring my own containers, and a couple of produce (农产品) bags for small items. I’m probably using half or less than half of the packaging I used to shop at a Whole Foods in Connecticut before I moved.

So even if you don’t have a zero-waste grocery in your town, you can still cut down on the packaging you use by planning ahead, and patronizing those businesses that offer bulk-food buying. Farmers markets are great in this way too — you can give the farmer any packaging right back for reuse.

【推荐2】Zheng Haiqiang and Ni Decong rose early on Jan. 24, before the break of dawn, to monitor Hainan gibbons (长臂猿). After a one-hour hike, they heard the animals howling, located their positions, and excitedly found one holding a baby cub.

There are 20 gibbon species recognized worldwide, of which six are known to come from China. The Hainan gibbon is the most endangered of them all and one of the world’s rarest primates. They can mainly be found in Bawangling National Nature Reserve in Changjiang county, western Hainan, which is part of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park.

Forty years ago, Bawangling formed a monitoring team, which consists of forest rangers and experienced villagers. The members of the monitoring team, like Zheng and Ni, will get up at 4 am every day. Science and technology help to scope out and predict locations where they may be able to observe the gibbons, and then they’ll wait for them to start howling at around 6 am, before taking photos and recording the lives of the gibbons.

The Hainan gibbons are a critically endangered and important flagship species. They serve as an indicator of the health and stability of the tropical island’s entire ecosystem, according to Qi Xunming, director of the Education and Publicity Division of Bawangling Branch of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration. “If the number of Hainan gibbons increases, it indicates that the local environment is healthy, complete and functioning well”, Qi says.

To educate people on the island’s exclusive residents, exhibitions have been held in schools and communities across the province. From Oct. 24 to 31, a science exhibition, Into the Mysterious “Gibbon Universe” of the Bawangling National Nature Reserve-the Familiar and Unfamiliar Facts of Hainan Gibbons was held at Hainan Library. With interesting, vivid and informative pictures and illustrations, the exhibition presented the living habits and population changes of Hainan gibbons, as well as the effects of conservation on the animal and its habitat.

“Hopefully, with more education and publicity, the national park administration will recruit more talents, and young people with a relatively high educational background will join the monitoring team”, Qi adds.

【推荐3】Overlooking the Biblioteca degli Alberi is Milan’s “Vertical (垂直的) Forest”: two residential tower blocks built in 2014 that are covered in 800 trees,4,500 shrubs and 15,000 plants. If this forest was planted on the ground, it would cover 20,000 m²— the size of three and a half football fields.

Each year the trees will absorb 10,000 tons of CO₂ and 57 tons of pollutants. They should also produce about 900 tons of oxygen. Boeri’s team of architects says the plants will also decrease the average air temperature, create noise barriers and boost biodiversity by creating a habitat for birds, insects and small animals.

It is not just physical wellbeing that is aided by large green structures in our cities. The team behind Sydney’s 100mhigh “vertical garden” claims it is a new form of “living architecture” that reminds us of “the restorative impact that nature has on our souls”. Just how restorative living near trees and plants is for our souls is open to debate; but studies in Germany have suggested that it can be extremely beneficial for our brains.

Scientists examined brain image sequences (顺序) of 341 elderly residents of Berlin, focusing particularly on the amygdala —the part of the brain that controls our fear responses and is responsible for stress and anxiety disorders. They found that there was strong connection between residents living within 1km of the forests on the edge of the city and those with the healthiest amygdala. A health y amygdala means being less likely to suffer from the stress and anxiety disorders controlled by this part of the brain. Mood and anxiety disorders are up to 56%higher in urban environments when compared to rural locations.

With two-thirds of the world’s population predicted to be living in cities by 2050, Milan’s Vertical Forest might show the world a way to create healthier, happier urban spaces.

【推荐1】A warmer global climate will certainly mean more than just more sweat! It may, for example, change wind and rain patterns and it may lead to rising sea levels. These changes will affect plant and animal life as well as human health. The future climate will be determined partly by how many greenhouse gases are emitted (散发). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified (识别) how much we can expect the climate to change. According to the IPCC, if we don t take action to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, by 2100 we can expect the mean surface temperature to increase by (1.4-58C) compared to 1990 the sea level to rise between 9 and 88 cm 5-20% more rain and snow.

The reason why scientists do not know whether the temperature will increase by a little more than one degree or up to six degrees is that, first, they do not know how many greenhouse gases will be emitted in the future, and second it is still uncertain how sensitive (敏感的) the climate on Earth is to emissions of greenhouse gases.

Moreover, the above figures are averages (平均值) for the entire planet. This means that some places may become much warmer, while others may change little, or even become cooler. But the degree of climate change that a certain country faces has little to do with how many greenhouses gases have been emitted. Greenhouse gases are well mixed with the other gases in the air. After they are emitted, they do not stay in the same place, but spread throughout the atmosphere. Once they are there they stay a long time. This is why it is not true that the biggest emitters will suffer the biggest climate changes. The most serious results of an increased greenhouse effect are just as likely to show up in places far away from where the emissions began.

【推荐2】From cowboy hats and cattle to barbecue and football, Texas is known for many things. One thing the Lone Star State is not known for, however, is winter weather.

That changed in February last year, when winter storm buried Texas in ice and snow. It raged for a total of eight days, 23 hours, and 23 minutes, which was one of the most impactful winter events in recent history.

According to Texas TV station, winter storm Landon was so extreme that it caused trees across north Texas to “explode”, filling local communities with booms that sounded more like gunshots than tree branches.

The phenomenon of “exploding trees” isn’t as unusual or as terrifying as it sounds, according to Janet, who says trees often freeze and burst as a result of rapid temperature shifts. “Our wide temperature swings mean that trees may not be completely dormant (休眠的) or prepared for the cold,” Janet said. “Trees have several mechanisms they use to prevent freezing. They take cues to get adapted and ready for the freeze.”

In trees that aren’t completely inactive, cold weather causes tree sap to freeze. When that happens, the sap expands beyond what the tree’s bark can contain. And so, the tree splits in places that can’t cope with the pressure, creating cracks known as “frost cracks”. Although trees do not actually explode into pieces when frost cracks happen, there may be loud noises and visible fractures (折断), and heavy branches can fall to the ground.

“Trees explode in cold weather because the water content in the cells and tissues freezes,” MacKenzie said. “From midwinter to early spring this can occur when the temperature swings, snow melts and warm sun, cold nights work in harmony. It is usually nothing to be too concerned about; the tree will start to heal just as quickly. I have been awakened many cold winter nights hearing the trees explode.”

【推荐3】Whales are an important part of the ocean. They maintain the ocean ecosystem by providing important nutrients for phytoplankton (浮游植物), microscopic organism (微生物) in the ocean, to grow as food for fish and other animals. Phytoplankton also carry out photosynthesis (光合作用) to keep carbon dioxide level low in the atmosphere to keep the Earth cool. So, without whales, the oceans wouldn’t be healthy.

Currently, North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered. Scientists from University of South Carolina and Cornell University imagined that it is the warmer ocean waters that force whales to go to new places that don’t have rules, such as speed limits for ships, shorter fishing seasons, etc., to protect whales.

To see if climate changes can explain the loss of whales, scientists analyzed the water temperature near the Gulf of Maine, the feeding place of the whales. The temperature is affected by the position of Gulf Stream which brings warm water from the south.

They also looked at population data for the whales and their food, which is primarily small shrimps and crabs called copepods. They estimated how the whale population changed based on the number of whale sightings, whale birth and their bodies. Finally, they analyzed how the change in the water temperature related to the change in the whale population.

The result showed that since 2010, the Gulf Stream has been farther north than ever before, bringing warmer waters to the region. The population data shows a significant decrease in copepods population beginning in 2010. This means there has been less food available for the whales.

The best explanation is that global warming is causing the northward shift of the Gulf Stream, which is consistent with climate change, and making the waters near the Gulf of Maine warmer. However, copepods prefer cold water. Warmer water wakes them too early, they miss the nutritious spring phytoplankton bloom they need to grow. Besides, when the Gulf Stream is farther north, less copepods are brought into the Gulf of Maine.

With food levels too low, fewer whales are born, and fewer survive. To find enough food, some whales swim north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Therefore, there were more whale sightings there. It also explains why there were more whale deaths in the area in 2017 and 2019. By looking at the carcasses, scientists know that ships hit the whales, or they got trapped in fishing gear. So, climate change both makes the whales’ food shorter and causes them to move to new places, making it harder to protect them.

Global warming doesn’t only change the weather; it changes the ocean. To protect ocean species and keep our oceans healthy, governments need to adjust how they manage the ocean.