【推荐1】Six years ago, as the Paris Accord was agreed at the 21st UN climate conference, the French hosts wisely insisted on an item urging countries to match promises with deeds.

Having committed to try to hold global temperature rises “well below” 2℃ compared to preindustrial times, governments were commanded to produce updated plans in 2020, showing how they would actually achieve that goal.

This year’s extreme weather events—the terrible heatwaves, wildfires and floods that have made headlines across the globe—are evidence that the destructive consequences of global heating are happening faster than expected and on a larger scale. The world today is 1.1-1.2℃ hotter than in the preindustrial era. Heating beyond 1.5℃ would deliver even more devastating droughts and crop failures. It would increase the chances of greater famine and ecosystem collapse.

The European Union has suggested new law on industrial emissions, transport and carbon-intensive imports, designed to cut emissions to 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. These moves reflect a delayed sense of urgency; but time is running out in the race to close the gap between the total emissions cuts proposed by countries and the level actually required.

Cop26 is unlikely to produce the drama of a Paris-style breakthrough; but it must pave the way for concerted global action to speed up emissions cuts. Concrete measures are required in areas such as consuming less coal, reducing methane gas emissions preserving forests and lands, and financing climate improvement in developing nations.

What is done and left undone this decade will determine the fate of future generations. As a UN pre-summit spokesman put it last week, “Eight years to make the plans, put in place the policies, carry out them and ultimately deliver the cuts. The clock is ticking loudly.”

【推荐2】In 2008, when National Geographic Explorer and photojournalist Martin Edstrom learned about the discovery of Hang Son Doong in Vietnam, he realized the cave’s vast “room”—as large as a city block—would be a perfect showcase for the 360-degree and virtual reality(VR) technologies he was using. And while he loves heading to remote places, he doesn’t regard this part of his work as “exploration”. “I find that going to these remote and challenging places brings out the best in me creatively,” he says.

Edstrom traveled with a small team deep into the jungle to reach the remote entrance to the cave. There, they used robotic camera heads, a single DSLR and several smaller camera rigs to build immersive(沉浸的), 360-degree environments that viewers could “inhabit” via VR headsets. This technology was beginning to go mainstream, with Facebook launching their 360-video service in 2015.

The media that Edstrom and his team created allows people to have an intimate (亲密的)—though digital—experience of a natural wonder that few will ever witness firsthand. “The joy of this is really that I get to step out of these restrictions of the frame. I can put people inside the experience,” Edstrom explains. “They get to see what I see.”

Inspiring wonder of the natural world can also help catalyze positive action. The discovery of Hang Son Doong prompted great interest from investors looking to capitalize on the site’s heritage value, including one company that proposed running a cable car through a section of the cave. By drawing international attention to the cave, Edstrom’s 360-degree interactive videos may have played a part in ensuring its preservation: for now, just one tour operator is licensed by the Vietnam government to conduct expeditions to Hang Son Doong, and these are limited to four days. For Edstrom, this is exactly the kind of outcome he’s looking for.

【推荐3】Today, interest in sustainable weddings is on the rise. And some of our decisions do not seem as unusual as they once might have. Here are some tips to help you plan a wedding that centers on using your garden and the things you grow in it.

Having a wedding outdoors means you don’t have to cope with energy costs or other concerns about a venue(场地).     1     The only thing out of your hand is the weather!

For many people, creating a romantic environment means having flowers. Even if you don’t have a wedding ceremony outdoors surrounded by living plants, you may wish to bring nature into your chosen wedding venue.     2     You have complete freedom to grow flowers you like in it.

    3    . Not only flowers but also food for the wedding can be grown. If not, a garden lover might prepare drinks or add homegrown elements to dishes to give the event a really personal touch.

The added extras can be prepared by using things from your garden before the big day, ranging from sweets, cookies to soaps, baskets, or other thoughtful homemade presents.     4    

You might consider making personal and handmade invitations with natural inks, paints and even paper from plant fibers.     5     They won’t be thrown out after being read, but will serve some other functions. For example, pieces of wood cut from trees in your garden can serve as invitations as well as coasters (杯垫)after wedding.

【推荐2】Sea life near Turkey is being threatened by a layer of brown foam on the ocean s surface.

The actual name for the foam is mucilage (黏液). Scientists first noticed and described mucilage in 2007, when it was found near Turkey. Then, it was also found in other parts of the Aegean Sea, near Greece.

This year’s outbreak of mucilage is the worst ever recorded. It’s been developing for seven months and is now covering large parts of the Sea of Marmara. The Sea of Marmara is an “inland sea”, surrounded by land belonging to Turkey, and connected to the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.

There are many different kinds of algae (海藻), and it’s natural and normal for algae to grow in the ocean or in other bodies of water. But when there is lots of food for the algae, and other conditions are just right, there can be “an algae bloom” which results in algae growing quickly and in huge numbers And in very bad situations, mucilage is the result.

There are two main causes for the present outbreak of mucilage. One is the heavy pollution sewage, fertilizers, and other chemicals- flowing into the Sea of Marmara. The second cause is higher water temperatures because of climate change.

The mucilage causes problems in lots of different ways. For one thing, by covering the ocean’s surface, it stops sunlight from reaching all the sea life below. “This mucilage is now covering the sea surface like a tent canvas,” says Muharrem Balci, who teaches biology at Istanbul University. Because there is so much algae, it takes up lots of oxygen from the seawater. That means that there’s very little oxygen left for the other sea creatures that depend on it. The BBC reports that divers in the area are seeing large numbers of dying fish. After a while, the mucilage falls to the bottom of the ocean, where it covers the sea floor threatening to poison creatures that live there, like crabs and mussels. This year, the mucilage has been found as deep as 30 meters below the surface.

【推荐3】Doctor Scharfschwerdt spent 15 years in some of the poorest counties in Southwest China’s Yunnan province providing free medical services and training village doctors and nurses.

The man from Germany sometimes even paid for patients who could not afford their medical bills. Besides being a volunteer doctor, he was also an English teacher to middle and primary school students. He offered an English corner for village kids at a high school in Honghe to stimulate their interest in study, broaden their vision and give them personal encouragement.

To help villagers get rid of poverty in Heqing county, he ran community development projects. He bought 145 goats and then loaned them to 28 families so they could raise the goats and generate more income, and built 56 water cisterns and 48 family biogas plants. He also introduced small-scale silage pits and supported silkworm (蚕) raising.

Scharfschwerdt was deeply impressed by the progress in healthcare services in this remote part of China. “To me, the introduction of the rural cooperative medical insurance program and its continuous increase in coverage have had the most crucial impact on local healthcare,” he said.

When he arrived in Yunnan in 2000, many patients couldn’t afford hospital treatment due to the absence of health insurance. In those days, many county-level hospitals had only very simple equipment, and medical concepts were based on personal experience rather than scientific evidence. With the introduction of health insurance in Heqing in 2006, the number of inpatients tripled because people could afford medical treatment, and a new hospital had to be built. Similar things happened all over Yunnan.

After having learned Chinese language and culture for two years, he moved to the countryside in 2001 to impart medical knowledge and skills to healthcare providers through informal bedside teaching as well as formal training courses with instructors from other countries.

Scharfschwerdt returned to Germany in 2016 but he still visits China twice every year. In the future, he plans to organize training programs in Yunnan and take young people from Germany to visit China to help them find out that China is a beautiful place and the Chinese people are hospitable.