1 . Once again, China has conquered the world’s highest peak, Mount Qomolangma, on May 4th, 2022. Thirteen members of the Chinese Earth Summit Mission 2022 scientific expedition (探险) team successfully established an automatic weather station at an altitude of over 8800 meters, the world’s highest of its kind, on Mount Qomolangma on the China-Nepal border, achieving the milestone task of the country’s second comprehensive survey to the roof of the world.

To finish this mission, Yao Tandong, a leader of the expedition, said they have organized a massive party consisting of 16 teams and over 270 researchers, some of whom trained for over two years for the project. Now they have set up eight stations from 5200 meters to 8800 meters on Mount Qomolangma, with four stations higher than 7000 meters respectively at 7028 meters, 7790 meters, 8300 meters and 8800 meters. These weather stations at different altitudes mainly monitor the temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, wind speed, pressure and radiation changes in the region, and can realize real-time remote transmission (传输) of data.

Conventional weather observations are generally below 5000 meters and rarely above 5000 meters, and such high-altitude weather observations are scarce at the moment, Zhao Huabiao, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, said. “The reason for building a weather station at 8800 meters instead of 8848 meters is that the snow and ice on the summit are not suitable for fixing equipment, and in this regard, the weather station was built on bedrock around 8800 meters which is easier,” said Zhao.

The team reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma and used high-accuracy radar to measure the thickness of ice and snow, and collected samples for further research. Kang Shichang, a researcher of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said studying the changes to the glacier aims to clarify the impact of global warming, which is beneficial to mounting a global response to climate change. “Through the study of glacier changes and glacier air pollutants, we can see the impact of global and regional human activities in the Qomolangma area,” Kang said.

The international community     1    (astonish) by Japan’s action to discharge nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima plant into the Pacific on August 24, 2023. This move occurred despite the widespread protests and complaints from     2    (nation) across the Asia-Pacific.

Japan’s action is seen as     3     display of extreme self-interest and irresponsibility, with the potential to do immeasurable harm to the ocean ecosystem. The consequences are far-reaching, extending to safety risks in our food chain, the appearance of new illnesses, and an increased likelihood of cancer cases among humans.     4    (eventual), such a course of action will change the fate of our planet,     5    (cast) a shadow of uncertainty over its future.

The radioactive water is discharged into the Pacific resulting from the Fukushima nuclear leakage     6    (cause) by submarine earthquake in 2011. Japan’s 2011 nuclear leak disaster ranks among the     7    (bad) nuclear incidents in history, resulting     8     vital leakage of radioactive substances (放射性物质).

On August 24, the Tokyo Electric Power Company,     9     is responsible for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, started the water discharge process through remote operation from the plant’s monitoring room. As planned, about 460 tons of such water will be released daily for 17 days, with a gradual increase planned after that. The timeline provided by the Japanese government and TEPCO indicates that this oceanic discharge process is expected     10    (last) at least 30 years.

5 . Climate change is a growing threat and many businesses are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. According to Forbes, going green isn’t just good for the planet and it’s also good for businesses because 80% of customers respect eco-friendly businesses!

One of the best ways to make the change to environmentally friendly business practices is to listen to the experts. They can tell you which changes are the most influential and which are unimportant.

If you want to create a more energy-saving office, look at your lighting. First, replace your incandescent bulbs (白炽灯) with energy-saving bulbs. Though they may cost a bit more, they use less energy while they burn and they last longer, which will save you money in the long run. Second, don’t leave your lights on after hours. Many businesses leave their offices and parking garages lit after everyone has clocked out and gone home for the day or even the weekend. It’s time to start flipping all of those light switches before you head out!

When you have a long-distance business, consider limiting your travel, including your car travel and in particular your plane travel as much as possible. Keep in mind that train travel is a more environmentally friendly way to get around. The most ideal (理想的) choice is to hold virtual meetings, because there are tons of free or low-cost online resources that make video meeting a breeze (轻而易举的事) and you can start closing deals right from your own office without spending days on the trip.

We’ve provided a few ideas for eco-friendly business practices that can be achieved in a short amount of time. However, if you want to get serious about environmental friendliness, you’ll need to set some long-term goals.

6 . The beautiful blue whale is the largest animal in the sea and can weigh as much as 200 tons. Blue whales, like so many of the species, have been considered seriously endangered but a new Antarctic survey shows an obvious increase in numbers. This is certainly something to celebrate.

The 21-day 2020 survey led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), shows that blue whales and other whale species are making a comeback in the cold Antarctic waters. The survey marked the end of a three-year wild water project off South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic.

The survey included 40 researchers from nine countries. It took place in the most heavily hunted waters in the world where 176,000 whales were caught in around 60 years of hunting operations from shore stations on the island and from factory whaling ships. The researchers have spotted 55 whales in 36 sightings already in 2020 in a location where only one whale was spotted in 2018. The scientists were able to recognize the whales acoustically (声学上) through their songs — blue whales are also the loudest animals on Earth.

The new survey is extremely important because South Georgia’s waters are a major krill (磷虾) feeding area for different whale species. In all, BAS estimated that 2000 whales of different species now spend the summer in South Georgia before heading north to breed. “After three years of surveys, we are excited to see so many whales visiting South Georgia to feed again,” whale project leader Jennifer Jackson said.

With increased awareness and protection efforts, species on land and in the sea can be preserved and their numbers can increase. We may not be able to restore all of the biodiversity (生物多样性) that once existed, but we can preserve what remains.

7 . In 2011, organizations in England called on the citizens to reduce the amount of meat eaten on Fridays. 28% of people adjusted their dietary habits in various ways. Some gave up meat on Fridays, while others reduced it.

A new study from the University of Cambridge aimed to look at the consequences of behavioral change from people within a society and how these consequences bring in potentially large environmental benefits over time has assessed the impact of this shift, estimating that over the past decade, 55,000 tonnes of annual carbon emissions were saved.

The 28% of people said they changed their habits; of these, 55% reduced meat consumption on Fridays, and 41% stopped eating meat on Fridays. The 72% of people who did not change dietary habits attributed it to preferring to choose their own foods.

Using further data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), researchers could tell that people in the UK eat an average of 100 grams of meat daily, and the average high-protein, non-meat-eater (who eats fish and cheese) contributes one third of the greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram that a meat-eater does.

Thus, making a conservative assumption that citizens who adapted their diet switched to high protein non-meat meals on Fridays, the researchers estimated that this equated to approximately 875,000 fewer meat meals a week, which saved 1,070 tonnes of carbon, or 55,000 tonnes over a year.

There are some concerns about the implementation(实施) of meatless Fridays leading to further reduction of fish stocks, as fish is a common substitute for red meat. The researchers say, however, that this need not be a concern; there was no increase in fish consumption over the past decade, nor did meat consumption go up on other days to make up for its absence on Fridays. Furthermore, there are many more meat substitutes available now than in the past, offering more options.

8 . Tolstoy, one of east Africa’s few remaining Super Tusker elephants, wandered the grasslands around Mount Kilimanjaro for more than five decades. That was until last year, when he died after being speared by a farmer seeking to protect his crops.

“This is happening more and more,” said ranger Daudi Ninaai from Kenya’s Amboseli ecosystem reserve. The ranger fears other elephants will meet the same fate, as the increasingly frequent conflicts between humans and wildlife are worsened by the increase of new commercial farms. Incidents of elephants’ crop robbing more than doubled from 156 in 2020 to 363 last year.

“It’s skyrocketing because the space is shrinking,” said Samuel Tokore, a senior official at Kenya Wildlife Service. The fenced farms have considerably reduced elephants’ ability to travel. Tall barriers have been thrown up across their ancient migration routes.

The problem begins partly from a state-led move to divide 1.35mn acres in Amboseli used by generations of native Maasai people into private lands. After the public land was divided up, some chose to sell them on to commercial farmers.

“The destruction of wildlife buffer zones (缓冲区) and corridors for industrial farming is at a tipping poinit,” WildlifeDirect’s Kahumbu said. Michael Kairu set up his farming business in Amboseli five years ago only to find out later about the threat it posed to wildlife. His 500-acre farm is located in what was once an elephant breeding ground. “Government agencies and communities should make it clear where you can farm,” said Kairu, whose customers include leading UK supermarkets. “I don’t want to be in the wrong place,” he said.

10 . The world’s longest and most demanding competition is underway as competitors adventure 36,000 miles around the planet on sailboats. The race is intense-but it’s not just about winning and glory. The sailors are also part-time citizen scientists competing on boats outfitted with tools that gather data on how climate change is impacting the world’ s oceans.

The sailing competition, called The Ocean Race, started in January. Those competing started in Spain, then raced down the coast of Africa before cutting across the Indian and Southern oceans to reach Brazil. They then headed up the eastern coast of the Americas before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to get to Denmark. This week, the teams will leave Denmark on the final two legs of the race, which ends in late June in Italy.

Each team is working to track how climate change is impacting the oceans, which are rapidly warming from absorbing 90% of the excess (过量的) heat created by planet warming greenhouse gas emissions (排放). Oceans provide about 50% of the oxygen humans breathe, making their health critical to human health.

The boats, which serve as high-speed laboratories, measure everything from sea surface temperatures to oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. The scientists onboard have also detected microplastics in nearly every sample they’ve taken so far. The data they collect is distributed worldwide.

The racers send all the data they collect to a satellite in real time, sharing 25 .000 data points per day. The boats also go where few scientific missions travel, making the data they collect especially valuable. The third leg of the race was a 38-day sail through the Antarctic Ocean.

“I truly think the data is invaluable because it’ s collecting information from parts of the ocean that we rarely have an opportunity to collect data from,” said Jon Hare, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.