【推荐3】Delicious New Year’s Sugar Cookies

This cookie recipe is one of my favourites because it’s similar to those soft, store-bought melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies that come in the plastic packaging. Even though those cookies are absolutely attractive, freshly baked cookies win my heart every single time, especially if they can be made in less than 30 minutes.

    1     Plus, depending on the occasion, you could add simple decorations such as frosting or these star sprinkles (点缀), which are perfect for New Year!

No matter how you decorate them, these treats are perfect for your next get-together, especially if you’re pressed for time. So if you’re on dessert duty for your upcoming New Year’s party, try making these star sugar cookies.     2    

Mix butter and sugars

Pour sugars into a large mixing bowl that has melted butter. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with paper. In a large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer, combine the 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup granulated (砂状的) sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar.     3    

Add in ingredients

Mix in an egg and whisk it in mixing bowl. Use a rubber spatula (抹刀) to stir in dry ingredients: 11/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix until no dry spots remain.

Scoop cookie dough (生面团) and roll in star sprinkles

Scoop cookie dough into hand. Use small cookie scoop or roll about 11/2 tbsp. of cookie dough into a ball. Add star sprinkles to a small bowl.     4     Place cookies, sprinkle side up, on a lined baking sheet, about 3 to 4 inches apart.

Bake

Bake the sugar cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, or until edges are set. Let rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire shelf to cool fully.

    5     If you’re looking for more recipes to your guests, check out our 3 Holiday Dips!

【推荐1】When a package from an e-commerce shopping platform arrives on the doorstep, how many of us think about where it comes from?     1     Perhaps even fewer will think about the carbon footprint produced in the whole process.

It is not merely the “last mile”—the delivery, which adds to our carbon footprints but every step: from when a product was made, all the way to when it makes it into our hands.     2    . But fortunately, there are a few things we can do to lessen the blow. First and foremost is green supply chain management, which integrates (整合) eco-friendly measures into the entire supply chain process, from product design to procurement (采购), and from product delivery to end-of-life disposal (处理).     3     Rather, green supply chain management requires an integrated approach, ensuring that every activity in the supply chain is more environmentally friendly. The following are two typical examples of it.

1. Package design

When we think about a single package, the amount of tape used to secure each one might seem insignificant.     4     It turns out that narrowing the tape, from 54mm to 45mm, can make a big difference. Given the huge amount of packages, it is estimated that at least 100 million metres of tape can be reduced each year.

2. Green warehousing (储仓)

Behind an efficient operation are large, highly-automated warehouses. In some of the automated areas, robots can operate in the dark, so there is no need for lighting systems.     5     Inside the warehouses, the trend of going paperless by using electronic order slips saves a large amount of paper.

【推荐2】A new study warns that pollution caused by the world’s food production system is also a major driver of rising temperatures on the planet besides the use of fossil fuels.

The study found that if the world food system stays on its present growth path, it will produce nearly 1.4 trillion metric tons of greenhouse gases over the next 80 years. That pollution is expected to come from fertilizers (肥料) used in agriculture, mismanaged soil, food waste and methane gas released from cows and other animals that are raised. Other causes include operations of turning forests into farmland.

The researchers predict that even if emissions from fossil fuels such as coal and oil were stopped now, emissions from the world food system would make it impossible to achieve a main goal of the 2015 United Nations Paris Agreement on climate change. The goal is to keep rises in the Earth’s temperature during this century well below 2 degrees Celsius.

The UN has said that in order to stay below the 1.5 degrees Celsius level, emissions must fall at least 7.6 percent each year through 2030. The new study calls for immediate “improvements in farming practices, as well as changes in what we eat and how much food we waste”, to help reach the Paris Agreement goals.

Jason Hill, a professor of biosystems engineering, said in a statement that most of the efforts aimed at reducing climate change center on reducing the use of fossil fuels, and that the research clearly shows that the food system has a much greater effect on climate change than is widely known. Hill also noted that fixing the problem would not require the world’s population to completely stop eating meat but eat better, healthier foods. People can improve how they grow foods. And they can waste less food.

The researchers say such efforts are achievable and can also lead to many other improvements beyond controlling climate change. These include making humans healthier, reducing water pollution, improving air quality, preventing animals’ dying out and making people make more money from their farm.

【推荐3】Our city is in a sorry state. Outdoor pollution kills 4.2 million people a year, according to the World Health Organization. Concrete and tarmac (柏油碎石材料) absorb the sun’s rays rather than reflecting them back into space, and also replace plants which would otherwise cool things down. The continuous spread of buildings and roads thus turns urban areas into heat islands, discomforting residents and worsening dangerous heatwaves.

A possible answer is trees. Their leaves may destroy at least some chemical pollutants (污染物) and provide shade. In 2019, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that American cities need 40% tree coverage to cut urban heat back meaningfully. Unfortunately, not all cities — and especially not those springing up in the world’s poor countries — are blessed with parks, private gardens or even street trees in sufficient numbers.

Miyawaki Akira, a plant ecologist at Yorkhama National University, in Japan, has developed a new way to increase unban greening. It is to plant miniature simulacra (微型仿制品) of natural forests in the unpromising abandoned areas. Dr Miyawaki has organised the planting of more than 1, 500 of these miniature forests, first in Japan, then in other parts of the world. Others are following in his footsteps. India is particularly keen. In Mumbai, more than 200,000 trees are found in Miyawaki forests throughout the city. Hyderabad started growing the largest individual forest of the lot in 2020.

The Miyawaki method will never work out on a large scale. Relying on nature and the passage of time is probably the best for replanting extensive areas of damaged woodlands. But if your goal is to better your immediate neighborhood, rather than to save the planet from global warming, then Dr. Miyawaki might well be your man.

【推荐1】In recent years, with the development of technology, it is common to see robots into our homes in the form of toys and vacuums (吸尘器) without question. Children’s toys that rely on robotics for both entertainment and education are becoming more popular and more easily accessible. Robot vacuums, too, are so popular that the Roomba has even earned itself a name in popular television.

A selection of other household wares can be purchased and owned for a reasonable cost, but they all look and perform like vacuums. Our domestic helpers are currently designed to vacuuming, mopping, sweeping and mowing.

Of course the best known of these is the Roomba, but there is actually some competition amongst the autonomous vacuum manufacturers. Roomba, made by iRobot, now comes in several designs and has been through many versions of improvements. The basic model is just about $400, but there’s a more attractive version, complete with a wireless command center to control the robot from anywhere in the home. Samsung also has a vacuum, called the Smart Tango, which makes increased improvements on the Roomba by including brushes for cleaning corners. It’s possible that some of the less well-known vacuums might be even more exciting, like the Neato Robotics XV that takes on a square shape to better clean corners. Incremental (增值的) improvements are what drive the home robot industry.

Now that domestic robots are becoming more popular, the near future should be exciting. If we are going to welcome robots into our lives and our homes, we should expect them to work for it, and work hard. It’s the dawn of the robot revolution, whether we like it or not, and it would be great to see that technology put to use in more innovative(创新的) ways.