【推荐1】A compost (堆肥) program at the Wesley School in Los Angeles is helping kindergarten through eighth grade students to teach them ways to solve human-driven climate change. For the past year, 5, 200 pounds of food waste from the school has gone into compost containers rather than a landfill where it would just break down and produce planet-warming gases.

The school workers could have easily thrown the food waste into a city-provided green bin (垃圾箱) . But taking it out of sight, which would have been easier, would have missed the point, says science teacher Johnna Hampton. “When it’s invisible like that, they don’t see it, but they know it doesn’t sink in (心安) .”

When sixth grader Finn saw the finished compost pile, it sank in. “That’s my orange chicken in there,” he says. “That’s not just like any food. Somewhere in there is my food.”

The school will use the compost on plants around campus. Some will be offered to families that want to use it at home, and whatever is left will be donated.

Fifth grader Sloan felt so encouraged by the school’s compost program she decided to take climate action outside of school. Along with several other fifth graders, Sloane says, “We did a lemonade stand at our friend’s house and we made over $200, and we donated it.” They also helped create a petition (请愿) to replace the plastic forks and spoons in the school cafeteria with compostable ones.

Fifth grader Kingston was excited to learn his food waste will help grow new food on campus. “It feels good that you’re doing something that helps the planet, instead of just sitting and watching it get destroyed,” he says.

Jennifer Silverstein, an expert on climate, says the school’s compost program checks a lot of the boxes for effective, positive climate education to help youth understand the crisis of human-caused climate change.

【推荐3】All around the world, there are small changes taking place. At the side of roads, behind school playgrounds and on all kinds of unloved pieces of land across towns and cities, tiny forests barely the size of tennis courts are appearing, making a great place for both wildlife and local people who may not normally have easy access to nature. This is the Tiny Forest movement, which aims to prove that the best things in life really do come in small packages.

Tiny forests were first pioneered as a concept in the 1970s by Dr Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist. As he went on to share his concept with others, the idea soon took off in India and other countries before eventually reaching Europe, where it became popular in places like France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

So how does it work? Louise Hartley, who is leading the Tiny Forest project in the UK, explains that the process begins by identifying areas in which a tiny forest could have the biggest influence. “We focus on urban areas where access to nature is often not that easy”, says Hartley. “We see it as a chance to try to break the growing disconnect between people and nature.”

In a Tiny Forest, there must be a minimum of 600 trees, and the trees are planted much closer together and without chemicals or fertilisers (肥料). There are usually around 30 different kinds of all-native tree species (物种). This variety, coupled with the fact that tiny forests grow up to ten times faster than standard forests, means they attract a rich abundance of wildlife. It’s also thought that these places could help reduce the risk of flooding, remove carbon from the atmosphere and fight climate change, as well as improving the mental health of those living locally.