【推荐1】Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of Deniliquin, a country town in New South Wales, misses the constant whir of the rice mill whose giant fans dried the rice. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people globally. But six years of drought have had a destructive effect, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

Drought affects every agriculture industry based in Australia, not just rice – from sheep farming, the country’s other backbone, to the cultivation of grapes for wine, the fastest-growing crop there, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice. The drought’s effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages – for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to fight against global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb. “There will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change director at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The recent reports on climate change carried a warning that could make the news even worse: that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.

Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering. "Rice is an essential food," sail Graeme Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. "Wine is not."

Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice – although the effect reduces or disappears if the plants face unnecessary heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses. Still, the flexibility of farmers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be relieved, if not completely avoided. “I’m not as negative as most people,” said Will Steffen, director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”

【推荐3】The Earth is facing a climate crisis, but it’s also getting greener. According to a new research, the rise is largely because of China and India. A study by NASA, based on extensive satellite imagery, has revealed that the two countries with the world’s biggest populations are also responsible for the largest increase in green plants.

A third of the leaf increase is attributable to China and India, due to the implementation of major tree planting projects as well as a vast increase in agriculture. “China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation — a surprising finding, considering the large populations in the countries need much land,” Chi Chen, the study’s lead author said in a statement.

Between 2000 and 2017, a NASA sensor gathered data of the Earth’s surface from aboard two satellites, the Terra and the Aqua. Using the data, researchers discovered that China is the source of a quarter of the increase in green leaf area, despite possessing only 6. 6% of the world’s vegetated area. Forests account for 42% of that increase, while croplands make up a further 32%. China’s increase in forest area is the result of forest conservation and expansion programs, established to combat the impacts of climate change and air pollution.

Rama Nemani, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said in a statement, “When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more leaf growth in northern forests, for instance. Now, with the data, we see that humans are also contributing,” Nemani said. “This will help scientists make better predictions about the behavior of different Earth systems, which will help countries make better decisions about how and when to take action.”

【推荐2】I took a job as a receptionist in an animal hospital almost five decades ago. As an animal lover, I accepted the job on the condition that I would have to help with injured animals. I couldn’t bear to see them in pain.

At the end of my first week, we were closing the office for the day when a young man ran up to us holding a seriously injured puppy in his arms and begging as to save his life. The four-month-old puppy had been hit by a car.

The doctor and I ran back into the operating room. The doctor worked tirelessly for hours stitching (缝合) him back together again. That was uneasy. The puppy had broken many bones, including his spine (脊椎). If he survived the next few days, we were quite sure he would never walk again.

That day forever changed my life. The doctor taught me, and I became his assistant in all things medical. One of my first jobs was to give that puppy daily physical treatment. I remember moving his tiny legs to try to keep them from getting worse.

Weeks went by until one day, I felt this little fighter push back ever so slightly. And he continued to push back till he could finally use his legs.

A year later, I walked into the crowded waiting room and called the name of the next patient. Suddenly, a huge puppy who had been standing quickly with his owns on the other of the room broke loose and rushed toward me. I found myself stuck against the wall with this great dog standing on his legs, his front paws (爪子) on my shoulders, washing my face with joyful kisses!

I still tear up in amazement at the love and gratitude the dog had for me that day. All those years ago I went on to be an animal doctor for 14 years, and later became a volunteer at a no-kill animal shelter. Through all my experiences, I have never met a dog like that amazing puppy.

【推荐3】I was wandering around the Albuquerque International Support airport. My flight had been delayed and I heard an announcement: “If anyone near Gate A-4 understands Arabic(阿拉伯语), please come to the gate immediately.” Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman was crumpled(蜷缩成一团的) on the floor, crying loud. In her traditional Palestinian dress, she reminded me of my grandmother.

“Talk to her,” urged the flight agent. “We told her the flight was going to be late, and she did this.”

I bent over to put my arm around the woman and spoke uncertainly. “Shu-dow-a, shu-bid-uck, habibti? Stanischway, min fadlick, shu-bit-se-wee?” She stopped crying. She thought the flight had been called off. She needed to be in El Paso for a medical treatment the next day. I said, “You’ll get there, just late. Who is picking you up? Let’s call him.”

We called her son. In English, I told him that I would stay with his mother until we got on the plane. She talked with him. Then we called her other sons just for fun. Then we called my dad and they spoke for a while in Arabic and found out that they had several shared friends. After that, I called some Palestinian poets I knew and let them chat with her.

She was, laughing a lot but then, patting my knee and answering questions. She pulled a bag of homemade cookies filled with dates and nuts and topped with sugar from her bag and offered them to the people at the gate. To my amazement, no one declined. It was like a sacrament(圣餐). The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo—We were all smiling, covered with the same sugar.

I looked around the gate and thought, “This is the world I want to live in, one with no anxiety. This can still happen anywhere”, I thought. Not everything is lost.