1 . Small eco-friendly(利于环保的) decisions can add up to make a huge difference to our planet. Being eco-friendly doesn’t need to empty your wallet when you travel.     1    

Make flights a little greener if you need to take a flight for a trip. Do you know flying first class can be more than five times as heavy on carbon per person as flying economy class, according to studies? Why not fly economy class?    2    Therefore, you cut down on the weight of the airplane and save fuel and baggage charges.

    3     If possible, choose the train instead of a flight. Those travelers who seek to reduce carbon emissions should seriously consider rail travel, especially for long distances.

Eat and drink locally. Step away from Starbucks and McDonald’s and seek out the best in local produce. Jonathan Engels, from Green Global Travel, recommends seeking out traditional local dishes rather than imported stuff to recreate the same unhealthy food we try to avoid at home.

    4    If you choose a vegetarian diet, it is even better.

Do not disturb. One of the simplest ways you can help the environment is by hanging up a “Do not disturb” sign on your door.     5    You save the electricity needed to vacuum(用吸尘器打扫)，and the water needed to wash sheets and clean bathrooms, not to mention the harmful chemicals used in the cleaning process. Best of all, some hotel chains reward you for choosing not to have your room cleaned.

3 . It seems there’s nowhere left to run from the microplastic (微塑料的)pollution. A small pilot study recently took microplastics from one of Europe’s most distant places, the French Pyrenees mountains, and found as many microplastics in the soil as you might expect from a big city like Paris.

The reason? The wind. Researchers now fear that our planet’s winds can pick up microplastics from about anywhere and transport them around the world, sometimes in large quantities. “We’d kind of expected it in a city getting blown around,” said Steve Allen from the University of Strathclyde in the UK, one member of the team. “But way up there? We expected to find some, ” he said. “We didn’t expect to find so many.”

Microplastics are pieces smaller than a fifth of an inch that have broken down from larger pieces of plastic. The forces of nature don’t distinguish (区分)between materials like stones and rocks, and plastics. Wind and waves hit plastics and break them down just the same, making them into dust that can then get swept up by the gentle wind and into the atmosphere. It’s a continuing environmental concern, as more and more microplastics find their way into our food and air.

The fact that microplastics can be found in large numbers even in distant places is a sign that is has become a global pollution problem. Steve Allen and his team set up collectors 4,500 feet up in the mountains for five months to trap plastic particles (粒子) as they fell to the Earth. The team found that an average of 365 plastic particles fell on their square meter collector daily. This included bits form plastic bags, plastic film and packaging material, among other plastic sources. Many of these materials were small enough to be breathed in without even realizing it. They’re in the air, and they’re everywhere.

5 . Plastic, once seen as a revolutionary material for its wide application and convenience, has become a global environmental crisis because it is non-biodegradable. The ubiquity (无处不在) of plastic in our daily lives has led to an increasing amount of plastic waste, causing great harm.

One of the most alarming examples of this crisis is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mass of plastic waste in the North Pacific Ocean. It is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and consists of everything from microplastics to abandoned fishing nets. Marine life often mistakes plastic particles for food, leading to ingestion and death. Additionally, the chemicals used in plastic production can pollute water and soil, and finally threaten marine ecosystems.

Plastic waste is not limited to the oceans; it also impacts the land. Landfills overflow with plastic waste, emitting (排放) harmful greenhouse gases as plastics break down slowly over time. The production of plastics is highly energy-intensive and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating climate change. Furthermore, plastic litter is evident in urban and rural landscapes, destroying the natural beauty of our planet.

Beyond its environmental impact, plastic poses serious health risks to humans. Many plastics contain harmful chemicals, which can be found in food and drinks when plastic containers are used for storage and heating. These chemicals have been linked to a range of health problems, including developmental issues and cancer.

In conclusion, the problem of plastic pollution demands urgent action. A comprehensive strategy for cutting down on plastic is essential to tackle these challenges and safeguard the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants.

While reducing the consumption of plastic may seem challenging, it is achievable through a combination of policy measures, technological innovations and changes in consumer behavior. Governments must issue laws to ban or heavily regulate single-use plastics and promote alternatives. Businesses should adopt sustainable packaging practices, and individuals can reduce plastic consumption by making conscious choices.

When     1     (ask) by a TV reporter to talk about air and water quality in his hometown, Qi Mu noted, “The air is great now and we can take more walks and enjoy     2     (be) outdoors again.” He felt quite pleased because the villagers were living     3     (harmonious) with nature once more. However, he could not forget about an earlier time     4     his village had been struggling with a serious air quality problem.

In the 1990s, usually, garbage from a nearby city     5     (bring) to the village. “How can we make use of this?” the villagers wondered. Soon they found that garbage could be used     6     (feed) pigs. “Over the next few years, dozens of pig farms were set up,” Qi recalled.But then nobody in the village wanted to open their windows. “The smell from the garbage and pig waste was making us sick,” Qi said. The numbers of mosquitoes and     7     (fly) were also horrifying. “    8     such circumstances, no single women wanted to marry anyone in our village and movehere,” Qi sighed.

The villagers could no longer tolerate the situation. So an initiative was launched and     9     “clean-up” campaign was added to the government agenda, including restricting large vehicles from passing through the village. Garbage from the city was no longer disposed of in the village, and more trees were planted. “We can all     10     (breath) more freely now that the natural beauty of our village has been restored,” said Qi.

8 . In recent years, Ethiopia has become a regional leader in solid waste management. Last year, the country transformed the landfill (垃圾填埋场) in Addis Ababa into a new waste-to-energy plant, the first such project on the continent. The plant incinerates up to 1, 400 tonnes of waste every day, about 80 percent of the city's rubbish, supplying the capital with 25 percent of its household electricity needs.

However, despite these important steps, challenges remain in Ethiopia. Although the country has permitted the Basel, Stockholm and Rotterdam conventions, laws and policies for environmentally sound management of hazardous (有害的) wastes are still not effective in pre- venting littering waste illegally.

To help Ethiopia meet these challenges, the Chemicals and Waste Management Program is supporting the country with a three-year project to enhance its capacity for sound management of hazardous wastes.

In the initial stages, a project management unit will be formed, made up of many representatives from government departments and private organizations. This unit will be responsible for reviewing and assessing Ethiopia's current legal system, which, despite numerous advances in recent years, does not specifically target the recycling of hazardous waste. Once legal gaps are identified, the project will seek to update existing policies and strategies.

Many people in Ethiopia are not aware of the possible effect of environmental damage and the need to report such crimes to the police. To resolve this pressing issue, Ethiopia will be conducting a series of capacity-building activities, including creating awareness-raising programs, training trainers and providing equipment.

Ethiopia will also work to establish a national mechanism for chemicals and waste management by engaging government departments and civil society groups. Authorities will also make budgetary provisions (预算拨款) in national, regional and institutional planning to ensure funding for these activities is sustainable even after the project's completion.

The planet is facing a crisis. Overuse of resources, like fossil fuels,     1     (combine) with high levels of consumption of goods and the resources needed to make them, is taking our environment to a     2     (break)point.

We live in a disposable culture where we want to keep up     3     the latest trends, but at what cost? Forests     4     (cut) down and minerals mined for objects that will be used for a short amount of time and then thrown away.

Our consumption habits have a direct impact on the planet that we live on, and the lives in different parts of the world. Unsustainable     5     (consume) and production of material goods and food products leads to climate change, which in turn     6     (affect) countries in poverty.

Those methods are     7     (serious)damaging the environment. If we continue     8     (produce) and consume at current rates, using the same methods we will also be affected and it will lead to destructive consequences,for parts of the world already feeling the effects of climate change.

Although we may be from different countries, speak different languages     9     have different cultures, the planet does not recognize the differences we see in each other. Something     10     happens in one part of the world can have great effect on another part of the world many miles away from the event.

10 . A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would protect the whitebark pine as an endangered species. Whitebark pines can live for up to 1,000 years and grow at elevations (海拔) as high as 12,000 feet. Environmentalists had requested the government in 1991 and again in 2008 to protect the trees. A nonnative fungus (真菌) has been killing whitebark pines for a century. More recently, the trees have proved vulnerable (易受伤的) to tiny insects that have killed large areas of forest.

The whitebark pines have almost disappeared in some areas, including the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park, where they are a source of food for threatened grizzly bears (灰熊). This makes the government’s declaration of the Yellowstone area’s grizzly bears as a restored species a lie.

After being blamed for not taking steps to protect the trees, wildlife officials in 2011 admitted that whitebark pines needed protection, but they didn’t act rapidly, saying other species faced more immediate threats.

A lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which made the formal request for protection in 2008, expressed his disappointment that it took so long but said the proposal was still worth celebrating.

The government’s proposal described the threats to the trees as immediate and said the whitebark pines were one of many plants expected to be harmed as climate change moves faster than they can adapt. “Whitebark pines survive at high elevations already, so there is little remaining habitat in many areas for the species to move to higher elevations in response to warmer temperatures,” Fish and Wildlife Service officials wrote.

Government officials are working with researchers and private groups on plans to gather seed from trees, grow them in greenhouses and then plant them back on the landscape, according to Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Amy Nicholas. A proposal of that nationwide restoration is expected by the end of this year. “We do have options to restore this species,” Nicholas said.