2 . Nanako Hama gets a lot of mail, mostly from strangers who live in her home city of Tokyo. In light envelopes, they send locks of their hair, hoping to recycle it.

People generate a huge amount of hair waste. Nearly all of that waste ends up in landfill, where it can release harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

But hair possesses useful qualities that it’s a shame to simply throw it away. That’s why people all around the world, like Hama, have been collecting hair and finding innovative ways to recycle it, including making mats (垫子)out of it for removing oil leaks.

Hama is part of the nonprofit Matter of Trust (MoT) members working at more than 60 centers dotted across 17 countries, using machines to make hair donated from local salons and individuals into square mats, which are then used to clean up the floating oil.

Hair is particularly well-suited for this, says MoT co-founder Lisa Gautier. “That’s because its rough sort of outer layer lets oil stick to it.” MoT’s mats have been used in major oil leaks. including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 2007 Cosco Busan incidents.

In a 2018 study, Murray, an environmental scientist at the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia found that mats made of recycled human hair could absorb 0.84 grams of oil onto its surface for every gram of hair—significantly more than polypropylene (聚丙烯), a type of plastic that’s typically used to clean up floating oil.

Besides, hair is also useful as fertilizer (化肥). Hair contains a relatively high nitrogen (氮), a chemical element crucial for plant growth, and each lock of hair is made of roughly 16 percent of this essential nutrient. Last year, more than 560 gallons of liquid fertilizer made from human hair was sold to farmers in northern Tanzania and the feedback from the farmers has been very encouraging.

“It’s just a great way to use hair in a productive way. Hair is an answer literally hanging in front of our eyes—for oil and soil,” Hama says.

3 . A couple has recently placed their garbage can out for collection for the first time in 14 months, all thanks to their recycling skills. Richard and Louise Arnold have established such an effective routine that they only need to put their garbage can on the side of the street once a year.

Louise explained that making small monthly changes in her life has resulted in her family producing very little waste. She said, “It’s not as difficult as you might think if you start with small steps. We began with soap, switching from bath cream to natural soap without packaging. These bars are large enough that we cut them in half, using one for the sink and the other half for the shower. It’s both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.”

“So it’s actually quite easy. Just go around your house and think of little things you can do gradually, and you’ll start noticing the difference,” Louise added. Currently, the couple takes recyclable waste to the tip, donates clothes to charity shops, and brings soft plastics and batteries to a shop that accepts them.

In 2017, the couple established No Waste Living, which initially started as a weekend stall at the local market and has since developed into a website. Louise regularly writes a newsletter for her hundreds of subscribers. They also started selling eco-friendly products, ranging from non-chemical household cleaning and washing solutions for a “less toxic home” to bamboo washing-up brushes. Louise mentioned, “I started No Waste Living because I wanted to show our achievement s and lead by example.”

Although the family occasionally faces criticism, Louise remains determined. She said, “The main point of contention(争论) for people regarding new waste rules is having to drive their waste to a recycling center, which adds to their already busy lives. However, in the long run, you will create more space in your home, save money, and spend less time dealing with garbage cans.”

4 . In the forest of New Mexico, scientists are carrying two ten-day-old Mexican wolf pups (幼崽) riding in a backpack, searching for a Mexican wolf pair that has just given birth to six pups.    1    

Mexican wolves were extinct in the USA by the 1970s, but there was a plan to bring them back. The first step was to trap five wild Mexican wolves and breed them with two caged ones. In 1998, the first caged-born adult Mexican wolves were released into forests.     2    If animals have to pair up with family members, then their pups will have unhealthy genes, making them sick.

    3     Let wild wolves adopt caged-born pups-that’s how these two pups end up in backpacks. While the adult wolves are out hunting, the scientists gently place the pups with their new brothers and sisters. They rub the caged-born and wild pups together, ever letting them pee (小便) on each other to mix their smells!     4     This result makes the scientists optimistic about the plan.

The idea is that the caged pups will grow up and breed with wild wolves.     5     Thanks to this ongoing work, 250 wild Mexican wolves wander Arizona and New Mexico today.

5 . When you think of a new place for growing food, you might think of Mars. But one Italian family believes one possible place is right here on the Earth: the ocean.

Nemo’s Garden is the world’s first underwater system of land plants. Located off the coast of Noli, Italy, it consists of several greenhouses called biospheres, each of which is attached to the seafloor. “The aim of it is to change agriculture, and add a possibility for growing produce in the ocean,” says co-founder Luca Gamberini.

His father Sergio Gamberini came up with the idea by combining his two passions — diving and gardening. In 2012, the project began with planting basil (罗勒) underwater. Now Nemo’s Garden is growing strong.

“Our limited number of resources can not promise sustainable (可持续的) development,” Luca says, “and we believe that underwater gives us some advantages over traditional agriculture.”

Floating six to ten meters underwater, plants in Nemo’s Garden are separated from any outside pathogens (病原体). Also, the temperature of the ocean water is an ideal environment for plant life. Besides, Nemo’s Garden uses a technique that uses water-based nutrients (养分) instead of soil. “Also, there is little interaction with the underwater environment and related ecosystems, which means no harm is caused to sea creatures,” adds Luca.

Everything is monitored on land through cameras and sensors, and settings can be adjusted. When it’s time to harvest, a diver will cut the vegetation, place it in bags and float them to the surface.

The team at Nemo’s Garden has plans for even bigger biospheres in the future, as well as other locations. Luca believes the future of Nemo’s Garden will be mostly along the coastlines where communities could benefit from the added space it offers.

6 . The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has released the first global blueprint to save the world’s forests. The WWF is a global conservation charity. Its Forest Pathways Report details the state of the world’s forests and what governments can do to better protect them. The report focuses on the commitments that were made at COP26 ——a conference on the climate emergency held in the UK in 2021. At COP26, more than 140 countries, covering around 90% of the world’s forest, promised to end deforestation by 2030. However, the WWF says that this target is in danger of being missed.

In 2022, 66,000 square kilometres of forest around the world was lost. About two-thirds of this was from tropical forests. This is having an effect on wildlife, with the WWF’s blueprint noting a decline in the populations of species that depend on forests, such as gorillas, hornbills, orangutans and black-headed squirrel monkeys.

However, the report also highlights some conservation success stories. For instance, the Khata Conservation Area in Nepal has grown by a size amount to 3,000 football pitches, providing a home for tigers and other species. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Wild Ingleborough project, a partnership between the WWF and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, is restoring 15square kilometres of land in the Yorkshire Dales back to its natural wild state, complete with woodlands. Mary Gagen, author of the Forest Pathways Report, says, “There are pockets of success where countries are approaching deforestation, and we know what needs to be done to grow those.”

The report includes a list of recommendations for world governments, providing a blueprint to save forests. This includes toughening up rules against deforestation as well as recognizing the rights of indigenous (当地的) peoples who live in the forests. They are the descendants (后代) of those who lived somewhere before another culture arrived and took over.There are also some specific suggestions for the UK Government, such as bringing in environmental standards for food that is bought and sold in the UK, so that none of it contributes to deforestation.

7 . For outdoor enthusiasts, it is crucial to be prepared for any sort of natural disaster in the open air.     1    . It includes what kinds of disasters may strike, and what resources should be taken on your trip.

    2     Desert areas are more likely to be affected by droughts; coastal regions are more likely to see hurricanes; mountainous areas are likely to avalanches (雪崩) in winter and landslides in summer. Therefore, always do some research ahead of time to help you find right survival strategies in different conditions.

While you’re planning, the essential thing to consider is the things you should pack for your trip. Any disaster that may separate you from civilization for a period of time will require you to provide your own food, water, and shelter for at least a few days.     3     For disasters that may wet your equipment, flameless light sources are a must. What you bring with you should be suited to the disaster you might encounter.

Once you complete your survival plan, it’s better to review it periodically. When a natural disaster strikes, you probably won’t have time to go over a document or go online to seek advice.     4    

If a natural disaster strikes while you are in the wilderness, you should put your survival plan into effect immediately.     5     Then contact others for help. Do not wait around to see if the disaster is really that serious, do not panic, and do not easily abandon your plan.

10 . Are you sure you know how to protect the environment? Many of us believe that we lead lives that respect nature but our consumption habits give us away.     1     Here are some everyday habits that you thought were harmless, or even ecological, but that cause considerable damage to the environment.

Eating too much meat and fruit

These foods are essential for our diet, although they are not very healthy for the natural environment. In a 2018 report, Greenpeace warned that 14.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG ) emissions come from industrial stock farming. The meat industry, for example, negatively affects land use as between 75 and 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used for stock breeding. But if the same land was used for growing vegetables, there could be food for 4 billion people more.     2    

Using paper bags

We think that because they are made of paper they are not as harmful as the plastic bags that we use around the world, according to the UN.     3    . In addition, the amount of energy needed to produce a paper bag is four times more than for a plastic bag and its production requires a large amount of water and wood, emits harmful gases into the atmosphere and uses chemicals that pollute water courses and harm ecosystems.     4    

Drinking bottled water

Plastic bottles are a clear example of environmental pollution.     5    . These bottles, 500 billion of which are produced each year worldwide, can affect our health due to the microparticles that they leave in the bottled water. The only environmentally responsible option, therefore, is to drink tap water or use reusable glass bottles.