【推荐1】It’s true that quite a few most respected scientific authorities have confirmed that the world is becoming hotter and hotter. There^’s also strong evidence that humans are contributing to the warming. Countless recent reports have proved the same thing. For instance, a 2010 summary about the climate science by the Royal Society noted that: The global warming over the last half - century has been caused mainly by human activity.”

You may not believe that humans could change the planet’s climate, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, billions of tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere because of human activity. As has been known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket.

Of course, the earth’s climate has always been changing due to “natural” factors such as volcanic eruption or changes in solar, or cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific research, however, the warming observed by now matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build - up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere - not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.

Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming recorded so far, that would give birth to a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it: “If some newly discovered factor is to blame for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”

The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths-one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.

【推荐2】The sporty all-electric car from the Netherlands resembles a BMW car, but is unique: It captures more carbon than it emits. “Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future,” said Jens Lahaije, finance manager for TU/ecomotive, the Eindhoven University of Technology student team that created the car. Called ZEM, for zero emission mobility, the two-seater houses a Cleantron lithium-ion battery (锂电池) pack, and most of its parts are 3D-printed from recycled plastics, Lahaije said. The target is to minimize carbon dioxide emitted during the car’s full lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling, he added.

Battery electric vehicles emit virtually no CO₂ during operation compared with combustion-engine (燃烧式发动机) vehicles, but battery cell production can create so much pollution that it can take EVs tens of thousands of miles to achieve “carbon parity (相同)” with comparable fossil-fueled models.

“Direct air capture is a fairly new method of cleaning the air by capturing CO₂ into a filter (过滤器). We have made use of this innovative technology and implemented this in our car. The idea is very simple: while driving, air will move through our self-designed filters and the CO₂ will be captured and stored.” ZEM uses two filters that can capture up to 2 kilograms (4.41 lb) of CO₂ over 20,000 miles of driving, the Eindhoven team estimated. They imagine a future when filters can be emptied at charging stations, based on the fact that there are a nationwide charging infrastructure, which includes residential, commercial and public chargers across the country installed by the Energy Department, automakers and private businesses.

The students are showing their vehicle on a US promotional tour to universities and companies from the East Coast to Silicon Valley, hoping to attract more financial support.

It is hard to tell where the future will take the electric vehicles, but it is clear that they hold a lot of potential for creating a more sustainable future. In the end, only time will tell what road electric vehicles will take in the future.

【推荐3】Two hours from the tall buildings of Philadelphia live some of the world’s largest bears. They are in northern Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, a home they share with an abundance (丰富) of other wildlife.

The streams, lakes, grasslands, mountain and forests that make the Poconos an ideal place for black bears have also attracted more people to the region. Open spaces are threatened by plans for housing estates and important habitats are endangered by highway construction. To protect the Pocono’s natural beauty from irresponsible development, the Nature Conservancy named the area one of America’s “Last Great Places”.

Operating out of a century-old schoolhouse in the village of Long Pond, Bud Cook, the president of the Conservancy, is working with local people and business leaders to balance economic growth with environmental protection. By forming partnerships with people like Francis Altemose, the Conservancy has been able to protect more than 14,000 acres of environmentally important land in the area.

Altemose’s family has farmed in the Pocono area for generations. Two years ago, Francis worked with the local branch of the Nature Conservancy to include his farm in a county farmland protection program. As a result, his family’s land can be protected from development and the Altemoses will be better able to provide a secure financial future for their 7-year-old grandson.

Cook attributes the Conservancy’s success in the Poconos to having a local presence and a commitment to working with local residents.

“The key to protecting these remarkable lands is connecting with the local community,” Cook said. “The people who live here respect the land. They value quiet forests, clear streams and abundant wildlife. They are eager to help with conservation efforts.”

For more information on how you can help the Nature Conservancy protect the Poconos and the world’s other “Last Great Places,” please call 1-888-564 6864 or visit us on the World Wide Web at www.tnc.org.

【推荐1】You may think you cannot live through summer without air conditioning (空调). But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only way to drive the heat away.

Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2,000 years ago. The fans came in different shapes and were made from all kinds of materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans marked the owner’s high status. Sandalwood fans could send out a sweet smell. Later, hand fans became far more than just something that could cool you down. They developed into art works, in which Tuanshan — round fans and Zheshan — folded fans, were the most common. In the shape of a full moon, Tuanshan were usually made of silk. They had beautiful birds and flowers on them. Women especially those in the royal palace, liked to use them.

Meanwhile, men, especially the literati (文人), used Zheshan. The literati liked them because Zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show off their ability in literature, painting and calligraphy. Many things were painted on Zheshan, but the most popular choice was usually beautiful scenery.

Today, Chinese people still use these fans, though not many people write or paint on them any more.

【推荐3】A desire among many seniors is to “age in place.” Aging in place is a term used to describe a person living in their own house, for as long as they are able to, as they age. Yes, the familiarity of your current home is the advantage of aging in place, but the potential financial drawbacks to renovate（翻新）the house might actually be more costly than the long-term benefits.

40 years ago, with a growing family, you probably purchased a 4-bedroom child-friendly house. Now, with kids moving out, you might be thinking about changing one of your bedrooms into a massive master bathroom, and another into an open-space reading area. You might also be thinking about cutting back on lawn maintenance（草坪维护）by installing a pool surrounded by beautiful paving stones. It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it？For the short term, you may really enjoy the new upgrades, but you’ll still have to climb those stairs, pay to heat and cool a home that’s larger than what you need, and continue fixing all the things that start to go wrong with a 40-year-old home.

Last month, in their Retirement Repot, Kiplinger addressed the point, “Renovations are just a part of what you need to make aging in place work for you. While it’s typically less expensive to remain in your home than to pay for assisted living, that doesn’t mean it’s a slam dunk to stay put. You’ll still have a long to-do list. You need to plan ahead for how you will manage maintenance and care-for your home, and for yourself.”

So, at some point, the time may come when you decide to sell this house anyway. That can pose a big challenge if you’ve already taken cash value out of your home and used it to do the type of renovation we mentioned above. The family moving into your neighborhood is probably similar to what your family was 40 years ago.