1 . In an effort to help out important insects like bees and butterflies, bus stops across the United Kingdom (UK) are getting living roofs. Small gardens on bus shelter roofs are being planted with flowers chosen to help support the struggling insects. The gardens provide much-needed islands of nature in a man-made environment of a city.

Humans count on bees and other “pollinators (授粉者)” like butterflies to help grow plants, such as flowers and trees. But with humans taking over more and more land for cities, roads and farms, more natural areas have disappeared. The Wildlife Trusts, a group which works to protect wildlife in the UK, says that 97% of England’s wildflower fields have been lost since World War II and the insect numbers there have dropped by 50% since 1970. Bee bus stops are a small step toward supporting these important insects.

The advertising company Clear Channel is working with The Wildlife Trusts and city governments to set up bee bus stops in cities across the UK. Bee bus stops are like ordinary bus shelters, but small gardens have been added to the roofs. The gardens are filled with flowers and plants chosen to attract bees and butterflies. The company plans to set up 1,000 bee bus stops in the UK.

Clear Channel already has bee bus stop programs in several countries in Europe. In the Netherlands, the city of Utrecht has 300 bee bus stops. Research shows that these bus stops—along with many other steps taken to support pollinators—may be helping. After decades of dropping numbers, bee populations in the Netherlands seem to have become more stable over the last few years.

The little gardens can also help to slightly lower city temperatures. Even though the bus shelter gardens are small, together they add up to a much larger area. Thirzah McSherry, who works for The Wildlife Trusts, says, “We’re living through a nature and climate crisis and we need to use every tool we’ve got to deal with it.”

2 . Like other penguins, African penguins have white feathers covering their chests and black feathers covering their backs. They have lifelong mates, and they live in huge numbers —so, scientists wondered how the birds were able to identify their partners among a sea of black-and-white birds. To find it out, they studied 12 African penguins at a marine park called Zoomarine Italia.

In one test, they hung two life-size photographs of the African penguins. One is selected randomly(随机选择地), while the other is the test subject’s mate. The scientists recorded their interactions with the photos: How long did they spend looking at each photo, as well as how much time did they spend standing near each one? The penguins spent more time looking at the photo of their partners—about 23 seconds longer, on average —than looking at the other photo. They also stood next to the mate’s photo for twice as long. Then, the researchers covered up the heads of the birds in the photographs, and the penguins still stayed near their partners’ photos.

In another experiment, the researchers hung up two photos of a bird’s mate —but, in one, they had digitally removed its spots(点). In this case, the penguin again spent more time looking at the photo with the spots. In the third experiment, the researchers hung two penguin photos with digitally removed spots—one of the test subject’s mate and the other: a random penguin. In this case, the penguins did not appear to recognize their partners—they spent almost the same time looking at or standing near both photos.

Together, the research results suggest African penguins are zeroing in on their partners’ spots and using them like name tags. Scientists say: “Our results prove birds recognize their mates by specific visual patterns and all sensory modalities(模态)should be considered in the study of animal communication.”

4 . 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.

7 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.

Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.

Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.

The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.

But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.

10 . A tree planting initiative in Kenya has seen over 30,000 trees being planted. The Green Generation Initiative is a Kenyan charity that has been planting trees to counter climate change and the reduction in forest in the East African nation since 2016.

Founded by climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti, the initiative's primary focus is on developing young climate activists through environmental education in schools and addressing food insecurity in the region through planting fruit trees. Since its foundation, over 30,000 trees have been planted in Kenya, while thousands of school children have not just planted trees but adopted them to ensure that young people learn the importance of acting as a guardian of the health of the environment. The trees have recorded a survival rate of over 98 percent, as they continue growing from young trees to maturity.

Speaking to world leaders at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26)，Elizabeth issued a serious warning about the threat of climate change: “Over two million of Kenyans are facing climate­related starvation. In 2025, half of the world's population will be facing water shortage. By the time I'm 50, the climate crisis will displace over 80 million people in sub­Saharan Africa alone.”

Elizabeth said, “I have been doing what I can.Inspired by the great Wangari Maathai, I founded a tree growing initiative that enhances food security for young Kenyans. So far, we have grown 30，000 fruit trees, providing desperately needed nutrition for thousands of children.” “Every day we see that when we look after the trees, they look after us. We are the adults on this Earth right now, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the children have food and water, ”she added.