2 . BANGKOK - The world is “failing” on a commitment to stop and reverse (彻底改变) deforestation by 2030, with global losses increasing last year, a group of NGOs and researchers warned Tuesday.

In 2021, leaders from over 100 countries and territories -representing the vast majority of the world’s forests-promised to stop and reverse forest loss by 2030. But an annual assessment released Tuesday found global deforestation actually increased by four percent last year, and the world remains well off track to meet the 2030 commitment. “That 2030 goal is not just nice to have, it’s essential for maintaining a livable climate for humanity,” warned Erin Matson, a lead author of the Forest Declaration Assessment.

Forests are not only key habitats for animal life but serve as important regulators of the global climate and carbon sponges that take in the emissions human activity generates. However, deforestation last year was over 20 percent higher than it should have been to meet the leaders’ commitment, with 6.6 million hectares of forest lost, much of it primary forest in tropical regions.

“Data year over year does tend to shift. So one year is not the be-all, end-all,” said Matson. “But what is really important is the trend. And since the baseline of 2018 to 2020, we’re going in the wrong direction.”

The assessment was not universally depressing, with about 50 countries considered on course to end deforestation. In particular, Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia saw “dramatic reductions” in forest loss. Those gains are at risk however, the report warns. In Brazil, for instance, while there has been renewed interest in protecting the Amazon, another key ecosystem - the Cerrado savannah - has instead become a target.

The report praised new rules introduced by the European Union intended to block the imports of commodities(商品) that drive deforestation. But it called for stronger global action, including more money to conserve forests, and the end of subsidies to sectors like agriculture that drive deforestation.

“The world is failing forests with disastrous consequences on a global scale,” said Fran Price, WWF’s global forest lead. “Since the global commitment was made, an area of tropical forest the size of Denmark has been lost. We want to see nature and forest high on the agenda!”

4 . Cruise through many neighborhoods or parks around the world, and you will find no shortage of well-mowed expanses of grass. Lawns (草坪) do look attractive.     1     Additionally, they can require environmentally questionable practices to maintain. Researchers and landscape architects are increasingly considering alternatives that are more sustainable, demand fewer resources and help people connect more intimately with nature. Here follows an edited excerpt of the conversation between researchers MariaIgnatieva and Marcus Hedblom.

Why did lawns become so popular?

    2     They were like a special frontier that separated cities and towns from the wilderness. A lawn was always a symbol of how a civilized society should be. That’s why it was so powerful. And of course, they are also important for recreation.

What environmental problems are lawns causing?

Lawns are homogenizing the environment, not only in terms of biodiversity but also visually. You compare countries’ and cities’ urban landscapes around the world, and they look exactly the same.     3    Mowers burn fossil fuels and emit gases that heat up the atmosphere.

    4       

You have to find your own local solution. We can take inspiration from the natural plant communities around us. In suburban and rural areas, that might mean having a meadow or prairie. In other places, it might be a savanna like environment or mountain plants. You can have a “grass-free” lawn; with only low-growing plants that create the same effect as a lawn, and you can walk on it.

How can we persuade people to adopt these alternatives?

When people see them, they appreciate them and like them.     5     We also have to try to change the minds of decision makers, including politicians. We need to show the public there are different ways of handling our urban environment and making it better.

5 . People have come to understand the enormous impacts-beneficial as well as harmful- plastics have on human lives and the environment. As polymer (聚合物) scientists committed to inventing sustainable solutions for real-world problems, we set out to tackle the issue of plastic waste by rethinking the way polymers are designed so we could make plastics with recyclability built right in.

Everyday items including milk jug, grocery bags, and takeout containers are made from a class of polymers called polyolefins. These plastics are really durable (耐用的) because the chemical bonds in those polymers are extremely stable. In a world set up for disposable (一次性的) items, durability is no longer a design feature but rather a design drawback. Imagine if half the plastics used today were recyclable through twice as many processes as they are now. Also conventional recycling requires careful sorting of all the collected materials, which can be challenging with so many different plastics. For example, separating paper from metal doesn’t require complex technology, but sorting a container from a milk jug of a different polyolefin is difficult to do without the occasional mistake.

In a study published in Science in October 2023, we described a series of polymers with only two building blocks-one soft polymer and one hard polymer-that behave like polyolefins but could be chemically recycled. Connecting two different polymers multiple times until they form a single, long molecule (分子) creates what’s called a multiblock polymer. By changing how much of each polymer type goes into the multiblock polymer, our team produced a wide range of materials with properties that covered all polyolefin types.

Using the same strategy but by adding hydrogen, we could disconnect the polymers back into their building blocks and easily separate them to use again. When we made new polymers out of these recycled plastics, they performed just as well as the original materials even after several rounds of chemical recycling. So we were able to create materials with similar properties of the plastics the world relies on. We believe this work is a step toward more sustainable plastics.

I remember that every year in lunar December in my hometown, Xinyang, each family begins to prepare bunches of bacon and sausage hanging from yard to yard     1     (embrace) the upcoming New Year. Walking in such a street view and sniffing the smell of pickled bacon(腊肉), I always have a sense of    2     (happy).

Xinyang, located on the boundary between the north and the south, is rich in rice, wheat and fertile land due to its unique     3     (geography) position and climate. Therefore, it cultivates the characteristics of Xinyang people who have a good appetite     4     delicacies. According to relevant records, the history of Xinyang’s pickled bacon dates back to the Ming Dynasty,     5     the locals learned to keep its special taste by preserving it in a special bean. People in Xinyang love their life so much that even during     6     (tough) times, they still inherited the soul of taste and made delicious pickled bacon. Actually, Xinyang’s pickled bacon is made in     7     seemingly simple way by drying the meat in the shade but it brings out the flavor of the food     8     (it) and stays with our memory for long.

You’ll never become fully conscious of how much you value it until you     9     (tear) apart from it. Such is Xinyang’s pickled bacon, one of my unforgettable memories of my hometown despite time     10    (tick) by.