【推荐1】A street in Toronto was turned into a river of knowledge. It was covered with over 10, 000 books as part of a yearly art festival.

Luzinterruptus, a group of anonymous (匿名的)artists from Spain, built a river of books for the Nuit Blanche Toronto 2016 festival with the help of 50 volunteers. They filled one of the city’s streets with thousands of books to fight pollution, noise and traffic, with the final result being called Literature VS Traffic.

Hagerman Street in downtown Toronto was closed and volunteers went about carefully laying out the books along with glowing lights. Pedestrians(行人)were welcomed into the street to walk among the books, sit down and read, or even take a title or two home with them. The lights twinkled beneath the books’ pages, making it a truly magical experience.

Throughout the display, plenty of pedestrians took photos of themselves lying among the books, or having a flick(翻阅)through a few pages. “Exactly burying myself in knowledge!” wrote one Instagram(一种移动应用)user as she shared a photo of herself among the books. “We want literature to take over the streets and public spaces, freely offering passers-by a traffic-free place which, for some hours, will give in to the power of the written word,” the group wrote on their website. “The books will be there for those who want to take them so the installation(设备)will recycle itself and will last as long as users want it there.” All in all it took about 10 hours for the whole installation to come apart, with just a few books left lying in the area by the break of dawn.

“Cars will finally fill their space but for many of those who walked by this place that night, the memory of those books that took over the space will improve their relationship with these surroundings,” they added.

【推荐2】Angela Pozzi didn’t like seeing plastic trash washing up on the shore near her home in Bandon, Oregon. She wanted to unite her community to clean it up, so she started an organization and called it Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea.

Volunteers help clean up Oregon’s 300 miles of shoreline. Then, using only plastics from the beach cleanup, Ms Pozzi and her staff and many, many volunteers create sculptures of sea animals. Ms Pozzi says, “I want to create sculptures that, hopefully, will make people consider their plastic purchases and be aware of how so much plastic ends up in the oceans.”

Since 2010, more than 10,000 volunteers have collected 21 tons of trash and helped create more than 70 works of art. Four traveling exhibits have displayed the sculptures in more than 18 places. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, hosted an exhibit through September 2018.

People have used plastics to create life-saving medical devices, inexpensive containers and gadgets, and toys, of course. But unlike wood, cotton, and other natural materials, plastics don’t break down into anything useful to other living things. Instead, they stay for years in landfills, waterways, and the oceans. The materials are harmful to some sea animals, such as turtles, sea lions, and birds. Some of these creatures eat plastic objects that look like food. Others become entangled (被缠住) in plastic nets or packaging.

Ms Pozzi gives credit to everyone who helps. “One person didn’t create these sculptures,” she says. “Some people have picked up the plastic; others have sorted the items by color. Still others have washed each piece of plastic trash. Volunteers have drilled holes or helped to make the small wire-stitched panels, while others welded (焊接) the giant frames. I do the heads and detail work, and my staff and I take all the pieces everyone contributes to finish the work.” Says Ms Pozzi, “Until we run out of plastic on the beach, the work will continue.”