1 . More than one billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. every year, and after they’ve been used for Halloween, millions of them will end up in a waste yard.
“Driving around after Halloween, you see so many pumpkins on top of their garbage cans. All of them will go to a waste yard and become methane gas(沼气),” says Kay McKeen, director of an environmental education organization based in Illinois.
Methane is a greenhouse gas. Compared to CO2, it warms the atmosphere in a shorter amount of time, which means it’s a most important cause of climate change. And waste yards—where we send as much as 40 percent of the food we produce—take up 14 percent of methane produced in the US every year.
That’s why, in 2014, McKeen began a collection event where local people can bring their waste pumpkins to 69 different locations to send them off to the bins, and—of course—smash them to pieces.
“It puts nutrients(营养) back in our soil, it saves water, it doesn’t make methane gas—it’s just a win-win,” says McKeen.
But not everyone has access to pumpkin smashing events, so we asked our newsletter readers how they reduce their pumpkin waste. The answers are various, ranging from baking sweet treats to bringing a pumpkin treat to farm animals.
1. What happens after Halloween?| A．A lot of pumpkins are thrown away. |
| B．People are busy cleaning up garbage. |
| C．It is the best time for pumpkin harvest. |
| D．People use pumpkins to make methane gas. |
| A．Pumpkins cause the climate change. |
| B．Illinois people waste half of their food. |
| C．Both methane and CO2 are greenhouse gases. |
| D．Methane is the only reason for climate change. |
| A．Burn. | B．Shake. | C．Break. | D．Press. |
| A．A letter. | B．A speech. | C．A news report. | D．A health report. |
