3 . As my husband and I drove down a country road, we passed a fire station with a sign that read. “Are you ready for the next storm?” Our area had just been in the path of Hurricane Irma, causing downed trees and power off.     1    

We have had our share of storms in the past — a snowstorm and other heavy snows that knocked down trees, sometimes up to a week at a time. Those days weren’t fun, but we learned so much from those early storms. It made later storms easier to bear.

    2     We bought a battery-operated radio to keep up with the news. We stocked up on batteries so that we’d have plenty for extended power failures. We make sure our grill is ready and its tank is full, and we purchase food that can be easily prepared and then cooked or heated on the grill.     3     We have book lights to read in the dark. We keep our car gas tanks full and have emergency cash on hand.

We’re ready for the next storm, but we wouldn’t have learned to do all those things if we hadn’t faced a storm in the past. The same is true spiritually. Those little storms in our lives are never fun, but they prepare us for the big trials coming to us.     4    

Are you ready for the next storm?     5    

5 . Every day Mengel, a 67-year-old woman, wakes up and puts on her man-made leg. Then, Mengel does the same for Lola-Pearl, her five-year-old cat.

Mengel has many cats. Most of them have disabilities (残疾). But Lola-Pearl is special. She is a treatment cat. And, she and Mengel are partners of a kind. They are among 200 treatment cat teams registered (注册) by the nonprofit group, Pet Partners. The group helps humans and pets alike by setting them up into teams to provide animal-assisted treatment. The teams visit hospitals, nursing homes and schools and assist those in need.

Chastain Griffin is a researcher who studies the effects of treatment cats. She said that there is a lot of research on other treatment animals like dogs, and many people are surprised to learn that cats can be treatment animals too. However, there is not enough on cats.

Mengel says Lola-Pearl showed signs that she would make a good treatment cat soon after the animal joined her family. Mengel took her new cat to a meeting for the disabled.

Recently people who attended a support group for disabled persons were able to meet Lola-Pearl. They petted her as she woke up from a rest. On the side of the cat carrier she rode in was a sign: “Treatment Cat”.

Mengel was a traveling nurse when she got into a car accident that almost killed her. One of her legs could not be saved. Later, she connected with a friend in Missouri who had a severely injured cat. Her legs were twisted together. An animal medical specialist worked to repair the damage but, in the end, he had to remove one of the baby cat’s legs. Mengel took Lola-Pearl as her cat after talking with her friend. “It’s a really rewarding experience,” she said. “I get just as much out of it as the people that I visit.”

6 . Gracing every continent of the Earth, wetlands are essential to the planet’s health, often compared to its vital organs, acting as arteries (动脉) that carry water and as kidneys that filter harmful substances.

Wetlands serve as protectors: they form protective barriers against tsunamis and absorb the excess rainfall. During the dry season in dry climates, wetlands release the stored water which helps delay the attack of drought and reduce water shortages. They also store vast quantities of carbon, helping ease climate change. Home to some of the most diverse and rich ecosystems, wetlands support one billion people. 40 percent of all plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands.

World Wetlands Day is observed each year on 2 February to increase people’s understanding of the importance of wetlands and raise awareness of the urgent need to protect the threatened natural treasure.

“We are proud to join in this celebration and recognize the unique and valuable ecosystem services provided by wetlands. We are committed to doing our part to conserve and protect wetlands, and we are calling on all of you to join us in this vital cause,” said UNCCD (The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw.

To date, nearly 90 percent of the world’s wetlands have been degraded or lost, with 35 percent in the last 50 years alone. That is why on this World Wetlands Day, UNCCD is joining the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and other partners to highlight the examples of countries and communities making strides in wetland restoration.

As stressed by the UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw, successful wetland restoration requires a joint effort from governments, civil society and the private sector. Investments in science for technology innovation, infrastructure for effective management and financial mechanisms for project implementation (实施) can turn the tide toward a better future for wetlands.

7 . Sharks and their relatives are some of the most threatened vertebrates (脊椎动物) on Earth. Coral reefs (珊瑚礁) provide homes for countless fish species that are vital for fisheries and are therefore an especially important ecosystem for humans — and one where the decline of shark populations seems to be especially sharp.

The study by Simpfendorfer with his team is the result of an act of worldwide cooperation called the Global FinPrint Project. The data analyzed include more than 20,000 hours of standardized underwater video taken at nearly 400 reefs in 67 countries around the world. It reveals declines of 60 to 73% of once-abundant coral reef shark species at reefs around the world. The global conservation status of sharks and rays (鳐鱼) is worse than a decade ago and is even more concerning for some groups of sharks.

However, the findings of Simpfendorfer with his team include signs of hope and a clear path forward. Their result s show that although shark populations in many reefs had declined, some health y reef shark populations remained. The reefs with healthier shark population s had some important similarities: they tended to be in the waters of high-income countries with stronger natural resource management laws and rules. Unfortunately, such countries were relatively rare, and lower-income countries tended to have fewer resources for eco-friendly management.

The most unexpected result of the study is that a decline or complete loss of shark species in one reef was not always associated with similar changes in nearby reefs. They found that one reef could be overfished so badly that a once-common reef shark species was totally gone, but another reef a short distance away could have healthy populations of that same species.

The problem is clear -animals that provide ecosystem services that are vital for human food security and livelihoods are disappearing at an alarming rate. The loss of sharks and the ecosystem services they provide represents an ecological disaster that can cause substantial harm to humans.

9 . Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution to two of her country’s problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than throw your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.

Chip waters drop off their empty bags from Doritos. Lays. and other favorites at two locations in Detroit:a print shop and a clothing store. where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they clean the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding (衬垫) and liners (衬里) from old coats to line the insides.

It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags depending on whether they’re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof lightweight and easy to carry around”. Oleita told the Detroit News.

Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags. Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita — whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life —and her fellow volunteers. “We are devoted to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,”she says.

And, of course, there’s the symbolism of rescuing bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental problem and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told hourdetroit.com, “I think it’s time to show connections between all of these issues.”