1 . 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.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental problems, and Earth Day 2020     1     (fall) on Wednesday, April 22 — the holiday’s 50th anniversary. The holiday is now a global celebration that’s sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green living.

    2    (elect) to the U. S. Senate (参议院) in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was     3     risk. In 1969, Nelson developed the idea for Earth Day after     4     (inspire) by some teaching activities     5     were taking place on college campuses around the United States.

Denis Hayes, a young activist who had served as student president at Stanford University,     6    (select) as Earth Day’s national coordinator (协调者), and he worked with     7     army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson’s Senate office     8    (organize) the project.

The first Earth Day was effective at raising     9     (aware) about environmental problems and transforming public attitudes. Earth Day kicked off the “Environmental decade with a bang,” as Senator Nelson later put it. The theme of Earth Day 2020 is “climate action.” EarthDay.org hopes it will be the     10     (large) volunteer event in history.

Global warming could make humans shorter, warn scientists who are said     1     (find) evidence that it caused the world’s first horses to shrink nearly 50 million years ago.

In fact a team from the universities of Florida and Nebraska says it has found a link between the earth     2     (heat) up and the size of mammals—horses. The scientists used fossils to follow the evolution (进化) of horses from their earliest     3     (appear) 56 million years ago.

“As temperatures went up,    4     (they) size went down, and vice versa; at one point they were as small as a housecat,” said Dr. Jonathan Bloch, curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History. The scientists say that the current warming could have the same influence     5     mammals — and could even make humans     6     (small).

Horses    7     (start) out small, about the size of a small dog like a miniature schnauzer.     8     is surprising is that after they first appeared, they then became even smaller and then     9     (drama) increased in size, and that exactly agrees with the global warming event. “It had been known that mammals were small when it was warm,     10     we hadn’t understood that the temperature really was driving the evolution of body size,” Dr. Bloch said in the Science journal.

6 . US forests could become a “substantial carbon source” by 2070, suggesting that forests could worsen global warming instead of easing it, a new Agriculture Department report says.

US forests currently absorb 11 percent of US carbon emissions (释放), equal to the combined emissions from 40 coal power plants. The report predicts that the ability of forests to absorb carbon will start declining after 2025 and that forests could emit up to 100 million metric tons of carbon a year as their emissions from decaying (腐烂) trees go beyond their carbon absorption.

The prediction suggests that this will require the US to cut emissions more rapidly to reach net zero, according to Lynn Riley, a senior manager of climate science. “Eleven percent of our domestic emissions. That is a really significant portion,” Riley said. “As we work to decarbonize... forests are one of the greatest tools available. If we were to lose that, it means the US will contribute that much more” in emissions. The report also assesses and predicts the extent of renewable resources provided by the nation’s forests and undeveloped landscapes, including farmlands, wetlands and grasslands.

According to the report, the loss of carbon absorption is driven in part by natural disasters which are increasing in frequency and strength as global temperatures rise. Development in forested areas, which the report predicts will continue to increase, is having the same effect as people increasingly move to the so-called wildland urban areas. Aging forests also contribute as older, mature trees absorb less carbon than younger trees of the same species, and the US forests are rapidly aging.

More aggressive forest management can help by cutting down a small portion of aging forests to make ways for younger trees that absorb more carbon. A thorough study of each forest should be done before removing older trees, Riley said.

The heat wave that broke high temperature records in five European countries a week ago is now over Greenland,     1     (cause) the surface of the island’s vast ice sheet to melt at near-record levels and a huge     2     (lose) of ice in the Arctic. On Wednesday alone, more than 10 billion tons of ice was lost to the oceans by surface melt, which is equal to about 4,000,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Melting     3     (increase) in recent decades because of climate change and has been decreasing accumulation from snow. Previously, during the 1970s and the 1980s, Greenland lost an average of 50 billion tons of ice each year. From 2010 to 2018,that figure shot up to 290 billion Tons     4     (annual). Next summer, the extent of the melt could surpass (超过) the record set in 2012,    5     about 97% of the ice sheet’s surface began to melt, NASA-JPL Caltech reported at the time.

Greenland, the world’s     6       (large) island, lies between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, with 82 per cent of its surface covered in ice.     7     June 2019 study by scientists in the U.S. and Denmark said melting ice in Greenland alone would add between 5 and 33 centimeters to the rising     8     (globe) sea levels by the year 2100.     9     all the ice in Greenland melted, which would take centuries, the world’s oceans would rise     10     7.2 meter.

10 . I strongly believe that individual actions make a difference to our environment. I’ve been a vegetarian for more than two decades, choose to be child-free partially because I can’t justify my genes’ importance over the shocking amount of resources needed for raising another American, and haven’t owned a car in four years. Those things, over time, will absolutely reduce my impact on our beautiful world, and the more people do them, the greater the impact is.

But it’s not nearly enough.

While I will continue to do my part to fight climate change, I have to wonder why there isn’t an equal effort by those who have the biggest impact. According to a recent report, 71% of greenhouse gases are produced by just 100 companies. Surely, working to minimize their emissions (排放物) will do far more, much faster than me talking people’s ears off on Facebook about eating less meat. After all, I have been doing that kind of work for 20 years now, and we are still headed towards climate disaster.

Why should so much of the solution to global warming be on the shoulders of individuals?

When President Kennedy decided we needed to beat the Russians to the moon landing, he didn’t encourage housewives to figure out bow to get there. He got the smartest and most talented people together to solve the challenges. NASA got us there, with lots of hard work and late nights, and also full encouragement and funding from the US government.

But this is not the case with climate change. Big companies are let off the hook while we take on the huge burden of dealing with the emissions of the biggest and most powerful. That strikes me as just plain unfair. The serious threats of climate change require an all-hand-on-deck response. Corporations need to do their part, because I can’t do it on my own.