【推荐3】As a permaculture designer and consultant, I have been involved with a range of ecosystem restoration projects. These include both small-scale and landscape-scale projects to repair damage to degraded environments, boost biodiversity, and build toward a better future.

It is clear to me, as it will no doubt be clear to readers, that ecosystem restoration is crucial. As we seek to ease and adapt to climate change, and work to reverse (逆转) biodiversity losses, restoration is an important part of the global solution. But while it is widely understood that ecosystem restoration is the right thing to do, there is far less understanding about what exactly it means, and how it is to be achieved.

One of the most obvious misunderstandings about ecosystem restoration is that it is all about action, especially planting trees. It is important to understand that forest and woodland ecosystems are not the only crucial environments to restore. Ecosystem restoration consists of a huge range of different systems from farmland soils and grassland systems to our seas and oceans.

Ecosystem restoration is not always about actively intervening (干预). In many instances, passive intervention can be just as effective, if not more so, than active. This involves simply letting nature take the reins (掌管). In short, in ecosystem restoration, what we don’t do can be as important as what we do. Often nature already has the answers. But there are situations in which humans have damaged the environment to such a degree that natural restoration is impossible. This is when carefully designed action is required.

Another key thing to remember is that we cannot succeed in ecosystem restoration without local people’s involvement or, ideally, their leadership. When a community feels a sense of belonging and a deep connection with the land, this provides a firm foundation for future conservation and restoration work.

While I dislike taking an overly human-centered view, environmental issues cannot be separated in our complex modern world from socio-economic ones. We need to look at people and the planet as a whole and appreciate the complex web of human life and its interaction with the natural world in order to form practical restoration solutions. It is important to understand how nature can boom and still provide humans with the things we need. It is only when we consider the natural environment and human society as interconnected that we can really continue to make progress.

【推荐2】Despite the fact that the Mona Lisa is one of the most well-known paintings in the world, did you know that it’s actually just 30 inches by 21 inches? The famous Leonardo da Vinci painting is housed at the Louvre and is under reliable security, but in May 2022, an angry protester was still able to lob some cake over at it.

The man disguised himself as a senior in a wheelchair, when all of a sudden, he jumped up out of the wheelchair. He tried to break through the painting’s protective glass case, and when he failed to do so, he broke some cake directly onto the glass and threw roses on the ground. He was then taken out of the building by security guards.

As he was taken out, the man was said to have shouted, “There are people who are destroying the Earth... Artists should think about the Earth! All artists should think about the Earth. That’s why I did it.”

Experts believe he was able to get so close to the painting thanks to the use of the wheelchair disguise. A museum spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the museum had been following museum “usual procedures” for visitors with disabilities.

The painting was not damaged, but this was actually not the first time that it had faced the threat of damage. It first became well known when Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting in 1911. It took 24 hours for people to notice that the painting was stolen at all, but then it was reported all over the front page of international newspapers. Peruggia was caught two years later and the painting became internationally known after being recovered for the intensive coverage.

In 1956, the painting was sprayed with acid, with the lower part of the painting being affected. Then Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the painting, hitting the lower elbow of the woman in the painting. Following these events, the painting has been encased in bulletproof (防弹的) glass.

【推荐3】Shortly after the return of the NBA season in late July, the artist Victor Solomon showed an ambitious creation to mark the occasion: the “Kintsugi Court”. Using the Japanese craft of kintsugi, an ancient method of repairing pottery with gold, Solomon filled in the cracks of a run-down basketball court in South Los Angeles. In the process, he transformed the forgotten bit of concrete into something eye-catching and functional. He highlighted the court’s weak points instead of hiding them.

Basketball has been a frequent source for Solomon. But he’s far from alone. Over the past five years, basketball courts, some previously in disrepair or disuse, have been frequent canvases for public art. The work, from famous creators like Solomon as well as nonprofit organizations and art collectives, uses the courts to comment on the interconnected dynamics of race, class, and changing communities.

Artists say they’re drawn to basketball as inspiration because of the game itself—a sport described as a universally accessible, race-indifferent platform.

For other artists, that functionality—the opportunity to produce a useful public resource —is as important as the aesthetics (美感). DanPeterson is founding director of Project Backboard, an organization that changes old basketball courts into eye-catching murals (壁画) that double as durable public recreation spaces.

Since its founding in 2014, Project Backboard has made more than 20 courts active, using work by 17 artists, in locations around the US including Memphis, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Baltimore. Repairs are done with the same material used to repair public tennis courts, ensuring they will hold up for years to come.

“The thing about the sport and the court itself is that it is indifferent to class or race or background of people it’s surrounded by,” says Vannatter. “These are meaningful contributions of public art in places that maybe would never have access to art.”