Cutting air pollution is on the agenda of all countries nowadays. In the efforts to build low-pollution cities, there are some traps city planners must avoid falling into.

Many countries intend to accomplish the switch to electric cars in the next two decades. In Canada, the government is planning to initiate policies for promoting the use of electric cars: a financial subsidy(补助)on purchase, low-interest rates on loans, etc. However, simply switching to electric cars doesn’t mean pollution-free cities. Emissions at different levels will still be caused when the electricity to run them is generated. Also, brakes, tyres and other components all create airborne particles(大气细颗粒物)pollution as they wear out.

A number of city planners are counting on the car-sharing system to be a great contributor to the reduction of emissions. According to the Economist, car-sharing is fashionable and trendy, but, when it comes to cutting emissions, “unreliable actually”. To make sure the cars come in handy and are always in good condition whenever and wherever a use needs to hit the road, more frequent road trips need to be made by lorries to transport these cars to the right parking spots and to auto repair centers for maintenance, causing extra emissions.

Across the cities around the world, as more people move to city centres, while young people especially are opting for other means of travel, researchers have recently made an inference that motor vehicle use in urban areas has already reached its peak and will decline. City planners need to catch up with this trend, instead of laying new roads to deal with traffic jams. As users of London’s orbital M25 motorway will know, new roads rapidly fill with more traffic. In the US, studies have shown that building new roads can simply multiply the traffic, taking us back to the starting point.

Are Competitive Game Harmful to Children?

There is a cry of rage, and a tennis racket crashes to the ground. Jake, age 7, has just lost another match and is now in tears beside the court. His sister Sally, just one year older, looks at her mother and rolls her eyes: it is hard to enjoy when this keeps happening. It is not an unusual situation, and it is one reason why many people argue that competition is bad for children. However, the truth is that competitive games are a valuable preparation for life.

Games with winners and losers given children the chance to experience life’s ups and downs. Take Jake, for example: even though is unhappy now, he will probably be smiling and laughing with his sister in a few minutes, just like the last time this happened. Gradually, he will learn that the world does not end when you lose a game. Eventually, he may even be able to lose with a smile on his face. This is an important lesson. Not everything in life goes the way you would like, and it is important to know how to handle disappointment when it occurs.

Children who participate in competitive games develop qualities that will allow them to succeed in the complex world of adult life. For example, one of the missions of the Youth Olympic Games is to inspire young people to adopt the Olympic values, which include striving, determination, and optimism. Competition creates the desire to do better. Children have to learn to succeed in a competitive atmosphere in order to take advantage of opportunities in the future. Although it is possible to win by chance occasionally, people who win and keep winning work very hard to achieve their success.

Of course, there are parents who argue that children of Jake’s age are too young to handle the pain of losing. But whether we like it or not, adult life is very competitive, and keeping children away from competition does them more harm than good.

The Metaverse(元宇宙): The Future of Web Design and Development?

To many, the Metaverse might seem like this is something that is still far from becoming a reality. To others, it is the inevitable future of web design and development.

The Metaverse is an ambitious project that seeks to bring together many different web development and HiTech technologies in order to offer users a new experience of the web. Today, users view content on the web. On the Metaverse, users will be immersed(沉浸在)in the content thanks to technologies like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, and other forms of Artificial Intelligence.

In brief, it is the next iteration(迭代)of the Internet where users will be able to navigate through a virtual space instead of the current two-dimensional screens. Although much has been said about it, there is still much that needs to be done, and this is both an opportunity and a challenge. Whatever the case is, it is the future of web design, and companies need to start thinking about how to reap the benefits of it.

One of the most important implications of this upgraded version of the web is the impact it will have on apps and websites. The rise of the Metaverse will not eliminate digital products as we currently know them. On the contrary, it will most likely be the case that both will coexist in new and more powerful forms.

This means that business websites will not become obsolete(淘汰的). As a matter of fact, they will probably become more relevant. Traditional websites will probably end up coexisting with the Metaverse, creating synergies(协同作用)that benefit users and businesses alike.

Aside from the impact on business websites, it is also important to consider operational aspects like the changes in the role of the typical web designer and developer. Digital product teams will have to rethink the tech stacks(一大推)they use in order to build interfaces and experiences for the user journeys coming our way.

Business decision-makers need to understand this and allow their teams to experiment with what might be the future of web experiences for users. Yes, it is a risky bet, but this is something that is gaining a lot of strength, and we might be hearing more about it sooner than we expect.

As mentioned above, traditional websites and other digital products aren’t going anywhere, but they surely need to be reworked in terms of what is expected of the future of web design.

Vertical farming isn’t actually a very new concept. The idea has existed since at least the 1950s. However, it was only recently that we began to seriously explore the idea, and put it forward as a solution to the world food crisis.

So what has vertical farming got going for it? At present, over 80 per cent of the world’s land that is suitable for farming is already being used. In order to grow enough food to feed the nine billion people that will be living on our planet in the middle of the 21 century, we’ll need TEN million more square kilometres of land - that’s an area 20 per cent bigger than Brazil!

The building used for vertical farming won’t take up much space because they are tail - they’re skyscrapers. They can be built in the middle of cities, where all the people are. The food would be on people’s doorsteps, almost literally, so transport costs are minimal. That’s great for helping to combat global warming and climate change.

Another advantage is that all food could be grown organically. The crops would need less water than traditional ones because all the water is recycled. All the nutrients are recycled too. The only thing that actually leaves the building is the produce, the food.

Vertical farming would create jobs too. Imagine the small businesses that would spring up around these farms - for packaging, distribution, catering, and so on - they would employ thousands of people.

Where is it likely to happen? Who will benefit most from it? First and foremost, countries that don’t have agriculture: cold countries, like Greenland and Iceland, and hot, desert countries, like Saudi Arabia. You would have sealed buildings in these places with an artificial climate - artificially warm in Iceland, artificially cool in a hot country.

The social benefits are amazing and everybody gets good, healthy food. People have reacted really well to this idea - I think the idea is about to develop into reality.