1 . Lucy was rescued from a rural farm in New South Wales, Australia, two years ago. She was suffering from chlamydia (衣原体病), a disease widespread among koalas. Today, she is one of “the lucky” living creatures in tree corridors (走廊) that have been created by volunteers to protect koalas and other animals by saving their quickly shrinking habitats, or natural environment.

The corridors, planted by the local conservation group Bangalow Koalas, are made up of large systems of plants. They are intended for koalas and other animals like the glossy black cockatoos, possums, and wallabies. All of them are endangered, or at risk of becoming extinct. The corridors provide a safe path across the koala’s increasingly broken habitat. “Our corridors are actually trying to get them away from humans, from cars and from dogs,” said Linda Sparrow, president of Bangalow Koalas. “They can safely move across the landscapes and don’t have to put up with us humans.”

The koala is predicted to be extinct in the wild in New South Wales by 2050. Some of the biggest dangers include wildfires and habitat loss through land clearing for development. Koalas have already been declared endangered in several Australian states. A recent report by the Australian Koala Foundation said the animal was worth an estimated $3.2 billion per year to the tourism industry.

Founded in 2016, Bangalow Koalas has planted over 936,000 trees on 119 properties, helping koala conservation and improving the local ecosystem. The group, which depends on com munity volunteers, aims to plant 500,000 trees by 2025. Volunteer Lindy Stacker, who has been planting trees for over five years, still remains devoted to the cause. She said the activity is good for mental health and has brought the community together. “I can’t imagine a world where there’s no koalas in the wild. We’re going to do everything we can possibly to. make sure that won’t happen,” Lindy said.

2 . Lightning can strike anyplace on Earth. In fact, there are about 6,000 lightning strikes every minute, which is more than 8 million strikes every day. The risk of being struck by lightning is low, but the consequences of lightning strike injuries are serious. Even though your home is a safe shelter during a lightning storm, you might still be at risk. About one-third of lightning-strike injuries occur indoors.     1    

Avoid water.

Do NOT bathe, shower, wash dishes, or have any other contact with water during a thunderstorm.     2    

    3    

Do NOT use anything connected to an electrical outlet (电源插座), such as computers, game systems, washers, or stoves. Lightning can travel through electrical systems, radio and television reception systems, and any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring.

Avoid windows, doors, porches, and concrete.

    4     Do NOT lie on concrete floors or lean on concrete walls during a thunderstorm. Lightning can travel through any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring.

Don’t use corded (有线的) phones.

Corded phones are NOT safe to use during a thunderstorm. Do NOT use them.     5    

Follow the safety measures above can minimize your risk of being injured indoors on lighting days. Don’t take it for granted that only outdoor activities can put you in a dangerous place. Keep it in mind that inappropriate indoor activities can also be disastrous.

3 . On Nov 11, an Australian jockey (骑师) got hurt after his horse “broke down” during a horse race in Hong Kong. Though the jockey is safe now, his horse was not so lucky. Since the horse’s leg injury would have led to its death, vets euthanized (实施安乐死) it in front of the audience on the spot. Falling off a horse at high speed has a big risk of injury. You can say it’s the jockey’s choice to take part in the sport. But what about the horses?

This is not the first time that animals have been harmed because of animal entertainment-related sports. For example, about 180,000 bulls (公牛) are killed in bullfights around the world, with many more injured in bullfight events every year, according to Human Society International, an organization promoting the human-animal relationship globally. Hunters shoot more than 800 lions in South Africa, reported World Animal Protection.

To help these animals, animal lovers have started many campaigns , which seem to be taking effect. In June, Churchill Downs, the site of the famous Kentucky Derby in the US, stopped all horse racing, originally set to run until July 3. Circuses using animals have been banned by many countries around the world in recent years due to animal welfare worries, according to the website Four Paws.

Animals play an important part in our lives and are more than tools for sports and entertainment. The human-animal bond can be seen in all kinds of places. Service animals can help people in their jobs and animals are also used to help and care for people with illnesses and who have experienced abuse or mental illness. “We can have our sports, drinks, lively parties, and beautiful hats ‑ but we can leave animals out of it,” reported Vox.

4 . Cooler, higher places may not be very welcoming to some hummingbirds trying to escape rising temperatures and other effects of climate change. Anna's hummingbirds live no higher than about 2,600 meters above sea level. If the birds attempt to expand their range to include higher altitudes, they may struggle to fly well in the thinner air, researchers reported in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

These hummingbirds have expanded their range in the past. Once only found in Southern California, the birds now live as far north as Vancouver, says Austin Spence, an ecologist at the University of California, Davis. That expansion is probably due to climate change and people using feeders to attract hummingbirds, he says.

Spence and colleagues collected 26 Anna’s hummingbirds from different elevations (海拔) in the bird’s natural range in California. The team transported the birds to a habitat about 1,200 meters above sea level and measured their metabolic (新陈代谢的) rate when hovering (盘旋). After relocating the hummingbirds to a field station at an altitude of 3,800 meters, the researchers let the birds rest for at least 12 hours and then measured that rate again.

The rate was 37 percent lower, on average, at the higher elevation than the aviary, even though the birds should have been working harder to fly in the thinner air. At higher altitudes, hovering, which takes a lot of energy compared with other forms of flight, is more challenging and requires even more energy, Spence says. The decrease in metabolic rate shows that the birds’ hovering performance was suffering, he says “Low oxygen and low air pressure may be holding them back as they try to move upward.”

Additional work is needed to see whether the birds might be able to better adjust if given weeks or months to get used to the conditions at gradually higher altitudes.

5 . Improper disposal of electronic devices can lead to negative impacts on the environment. So if you are in possession of an “old electronics” box or merely an old iPhone, consider recycling as an option. Here are some organizations worth checking out.

EcoATM

EcoATM is an automated kiosk that collects your unwanted cellphones and tablets and gives you cash for them. You'll find them by the checkout lines at various grocery store chains. It accepts devices from any era or in any condition, and offers anywhere between a few bucks to a few hundred dollars in return.

Best Buy

Best Buy offers a simple, straightforward recycling program. You can take your old phone to any of its retail stores and it'll take care of the entire recycling process for you. Best Buy will even give you a gift card for the value of the device you give them.

Call2Recycle

Call2Recycle is one of the largest recycling programs in the United States. The company collects used smartphones and batteries and has them either recycled or refurbished (翻新) for future use. It partners with various retailers to provide recycling services in stores like Lowe’s, The Home Depot and other smaller businesses.

Eco Cell

Eco Cell takes a unique approach to recycling phones. The program collects used smartphones and other gadgets for recycling through local zoos and other wildlife organizations. It then gives what it makes from recycling or refurbishing the devices back to those organizations in order to continue their work.