1 . Bubble tea(珍珠奶茶 ), also called boba, is becoming harder to find as the COVID-19-related shortage takes hold. The blockage of the Suez Canal by a large cargo ship in March 2021 is causing delays in the global supply chain, which is a big part of the reasons for the shortage.

“This is an industry-wide shortage,” the owners of Hayward, California-based US Boba Company said on their Boba Guys Instagram page. “Some boba shops are already out. Others will be out in the next few weeks. 99% of boba comes from overseas. ”

Oliver Yoon, vice-president of sales and marketing for Boba Tea Direct, a Chicago-based nationwide supplier of bubble tea products, told Business Insider that the shortage started about a month ago and wasn’t likely to end until the end of April at the earliest.

Alex Ou, owner of Tea & Others in San Francisco, said that 70% of her customers prefer boba drinks. “Some people will not buy drinks if we’re out of boba,” Ou said. “They’re simply here for the boba.”

“We have storehouses on both East and West Coast, so compared with other boba brands, there is little impact on us,” said Mai Shi, manager of Kung Fu Tea. “From this industry-wide shortage, we see the increasing demand for the entire bubble tea category as people want fresh, made-to-order drinks. We are using this as an opportunity to improve our products to attract more customers,” she said.

And despite the shortage, Kung Fu Tea is still planning to celebrate its annual National Bubble Tea Day when it gives its app users a free drink with a $ 4 credit to use on their next order.

East China’s Zhejiang province is showcasing its various experiences and achievements as a digital economy powerhouse during the 2022 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit,     1    takes place from Wednesday to Friday.

“China is pursuing common prosperity as its ultimate development goal. Zhejiang has    2    (deep) integrated the digital economy with the real economy. Digital technologies are widely applied in different sectors and play    3    comprehensive role. Many    4    (tradition) industries in the province are shifting toward digitalization,” Cao said.

The province currently    5    (boast) the smallest urban-rural income divide nationwide, and it has been vigorously building digital infrastructure in rural areas over the past few years. The annual incomes of both urban and rural     6    (resident) in Zhejiang ranked tops in China for 21 and 37 years in a row, respectively, according to the most recent data from the local government. 

Hangzhou-based Alibaba Group said that    7    a private enterprise in Zhejiang, it has more than 800 million users and a large number of customers who operate businesses on its online platforms. The company said it is its strategy and social responsibility    8    (help) promote China's goal of achieving common prosperity. 

“The digital economy is inclusive, social and flexible. For instance, people with disabilities can start their own businesses online, and many counties in China have traded their agricultural products online and become    9    (well) off than before,” Wen Jia, vice-president of public affairs at Alibaba Group, said in Wuzhen.

The digital economy in Zhejiang has become one of the main engines driving its economic growth. For example, Tongxiang, Zhejiang, has more than 2,800 registered companies engaged in businesses    10    (relate) to the digital economy, with the number up from some 350 related companies in 2014, according to the local government.

The New Zealand economy is struggling with many challenges, primarily high inflation (通货膨胀) and rising interest rates, according to a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

These challenges add     1    continued labor shortages, under the still    2    (evidence) influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the service industry. These factors are strongly influencing the economy in New Zealand, with signs of slowing activity across many    3     (industry), the institute’s principal economist Christina Leung said. “Cost pressures remain serious for families and businesses,    4    it is driving pessimism (悲观).” Leung said. She added that central banks around the world have responded to high inflation by increasing interest rates     5    (rapid). Up to now, the increase in interest rates     6    (have) the most immediate effect on the housing market, with the number of house sales     7    (fall) and a decline in house prices. The latest retail sales data show a slowing in retail spending and this phenomenon is thought     8     (continue), Leung said.

Despite these challenges, there remain factors supporting the     9     (recover) ahead. These include continued growth in incomes and new signs    10    indicate cost pressures start to ease, particularly with the recent decline in fuel prices, according to the report.

4 . With funding from Royal London’s Changemakers Programme, NEMI Teas is a social enterprise(企业)helping to train refugees (难民) for future employment. NEMI Teas is a specialist company offering fair trade, organic tea blends, such as loose tea and plastic-free, compostable pyramid teabags. It also provides employment, local work experience and job skills for refugees.

It’s based in London but a recent grant of £20,000 from Royal London’s Changemakers Programme means that it’s looking to expanding the programme nationally.

Pranav Chopra, founder of NEMI Teas, says, “A’ huge driving force that drove me to set up NEMI Teas to tackle inequality amongst refugee communities in the UK is really well captured in this quote by Pierre Omidyar:’ Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity. ‘ I’m excited to join the Changemakers Programme as it will provide us with much-needed support and guidance as we look to copy our Changing Journeys programme to empower refugees living across the UK.”

Royal London’s Changemakers Programme supports social enterprises that focus on promoting financial recovery and helping people move fairly to a sustainable world. Now in its second year,the programme has announced ten new social enterprises, including NEMI Teas.

Sarah Pennells, Consumer Finance Specialist at Royal London, said about this year’s Changemakers, “We believe that these inspiring social enterprises can provide real solutions to these issues, with innovation at their heart, which is why they’ve been chosen as our Changemakers this year. We are delighted to support people who are looking at new ways to ensure that a just transition-moving fairly to a sustainable world-is a possibility for everyone.”

6 . The environmental practices of big businesses are shaped by a fundamental fact that offends our sense of justice. A business may maximize the amount of money it makes by damaging the environment and hurting people. When government regulation is effective, and the public is environmentally aware, environmentally clean big businesses may out-compete dirty ones, but the reverse is likely to be true if government regulation is ineffective and the public doesn’t care.

It is easy to blame a business for helping itself by hurting other people. But blaming alone is unlikely to produce change. It ignores the fact that businesses are not charities but profit-making companies, and they are under obligation to maximize profits for shareholders by legal means.

Our blaming of businesses also ignores the ultimate responsibility of the public for creating the conditions that let a business profit through destructive environmental policies. In the long run, it is the public, either directly or through its politicians, that has the power to make such destructive policies unprofitable and illegal, and to make sustainable environmental policies profitable.

The public can do that by accusing businesses of harming them. The public may also make their opinion felt by choosing to buy sustainably harvested products; by preferring their governments to award valuable contracts to businesses with a good environmental track record; and by pressing their governments to pass and enforce laws and regulations requiring good environmental practices.

In turn, big businesses can exert powerful pressure on any suppliers that might ignore public or government pressure. For instance, after the US public became concerned about the spread of a disease, transmitted to humans through infected meat, the US government introduced rules demanding that the meat industry abandon practices associated with the risk of the disease spreading. But the meat packers refused to follow these, claiming that they would be too expensive to obey. However, when a fast-food company made the same demands after customer purchases of its hamburgers dropped, the meat industry followed immediately. The public’s task is therefore to identify which links in the supply chain are sensitive to public pressure.

Some readers may be disappointed or outraged that I place the ultimate responsibility for business practices harming the public on the public itself. I also believe that the public must accept the necessity for higher prices for products to cover the added costs of sound environmental practices. My views may seem to ignore the belief that businesses should act in accordance with moral principles even if this leads to a reduction in their profits. But I think we have to recognize that, throughout human history, government regulation has arisen precisely because it was found that not only did moral principles need to be made explicit, they also needed to be enforced.

My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish. I believe that changes in public attitudes are essential for changes in businesses’ environmental practices.