【推荐1】Carbon dioxide is released when oil, coal, and other fossil fuels are burned for energy—the energy we use to power our homes, cars, and smartphones. By using less of it, we can limit our own contribution to climate change while also saving money.    1    .

Buy energy-efficient appliances

Since they were first set in 1987, efficiency standards for dozens of appliances and products have kept 2.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air. That's about the same amount as the yearly carbon pollution coughed up by nearly 440 million cars. When shopping for refrigerators, washing machines, and other appliances, look for the Energy Star label.    2    .

Reduce water waste

Saving water reduces carbon pollution, too. That's because it takes a lot of energy to pump, heat, and treat your water.    3    . Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. And switch to water-efficient equipment. If one out of every 100 American homes did this, about 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year would be saved, avoiding 80,000 tons of global warming pollution.

    4    

Gas-smart cars, such as hybrids and fully electric cars, save fuel and money. And once all cars and light trucks meet 2025's clean car standards, which means averaging 54.5 miles per gallon, they'll be a mainstay. For good reason: Compared with the 2011 standards, Americans will spend $80 billion less at the gas station each year and cut their emissions by half. Before you buy a new set of wheels, compare fuel-economy performance.

Rethink planes, trains, and cars

Choosing to live in walkable smart-growth cities and towns with quality public transportation leads to less driving, less money spent on fuel, and less pollution in the air.

    5    . Air transport is a major source of climate pollution. If you can take a train instead, do that.

【推荐3】We all want to go somewhere — somewhere that has been on our bucket list for ages. So, when the chance arises, we tend to squeeze as many sights into the trip as we can — four cities in seven days, “must-see’s” in Tokyo, famous landmarks in Europe. It’s as if the faster we’re checking things off our list, the more we are experiencing.

However, when it comes to travel, it’s probably not quantity that counts but quality. Traveler, the South Korean reality show, can perhaps give us some idea of what travel is like at its best.

Like many travel-themed shows, Traveler features two celebrities — Ryu Jun-yeol, 33, and Lee Je-hoon, 35. But unlike other cookie-cutter (千篇一律的) travel shows, Traveler’s travelers don’t have a mission and there isn’t a competition for them to win. Instead, it focuses on “depicting the real experience of traveling by showing the processes of finding a place to stay or grabbing a taxi”, according to The Korea Times. In other words, Ryu and Lee are given total freedom to explore, for example, Cuba, the central American country, without any interference or help from a production team.

This is actually the philosophy of what’s called “slow travel” —which is currently trending among the world’s more adventurous journeyers.

Slow travel isn’t about getting somewhere as quickly as possible, but about simply being excited as you’re getting there — or not getting there at all.

You may try to wander off the main road and take a back street instead. You may ignore the guidebook’s recommendation and ask local people where they prefer to cat and hang out. And you’ll be surprised by what a place has to offer when you’re not busy rushing around and checking things off your bucket list.

“Travel is just like life,” said Ryu in the show. “There is little fun in it if everything is predictable.” It’s true that we all want to go “somewhere”. But as the travel blog Cheese Web says, “As long as you keep an open mind, you’ll see that everywhere is ‘somewhere’.”

【推荐1】In an era when many parents make efforts to ensure that boys and girls have equal opportunities, a recent study found that boys are paid twice as much allowance (零花钱) as girls for doing weekly chores.

An analysis of 10,000 families across the US showed that boys earned an average of $13.80 (92 yuan) each week compared with $6.71 earned by girls, according to BusyKid, a web platform that allows kids to receive, spend, or invest their allowance.

“I think this is a wake-up call for parents to realize what they are paying, to make sure they are being as fair as possible,” said Gregg Murset, CEO of BusyKid.

According to the analysis, boys averaged more allowance than girls because they were more often assigned chores considered more physically difficult, including cutting the grass. Girls, meanwhile, were more often paid for jobs such as loading the dishwasher. Boys also earned more money because they were paid for things girls were not paid for at all, including showering and brushing their teeth.

In Illinois, Vaishali Patel tries hard to teach her two children that gender shouldn’t determine what chores they are assigned or what activities they choose. The parents don’t pay their children an allowance, and instead expect them to help with all jobs around the house.

But Patel said the children still pick up on old-fashioned gender stereotypes (刻板印象) from elsewhere, like when they tell their son to try dance classes in addition to the sports he plays.   

“He’s like, ‘No way am I doing that’,” said Patel. “Some of that is really hard to influence.”

Barbara Risman, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that while Americans have come a long way in terms of offering more equal opportunities for men and women, changing mindsets (心态) forever takes even more time.