1 . Plastic straws (吸管) have been a major problem in global discussions of environmental damage. Maybe because of their small size, the production cost of straws is low. In many countries, straws are offered freely after buying soft drinks. Therefore, plastic straws are one of the most used plastics and pollutants in the world.

The plastic straw is light and small. Due to their small size, plastic straws are often eaten by sea animals. Environmentalists have shown that the death of many sea animals is caused by eating plastic straws. The other damaging characteristic of plastic straws is that they are made of materials which cannot degrade. That means the materials cannot be changed into small harmless (无害的) ones.

The most effective way of dealing with the environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is the reuse or banning (禁止) the use of plastic straws. Being plastics, the straws can be made new items. Many organizations around the world change used straws into new products. In Africa, local communities collect used plastic straws and use them to make mats and bags. Another way of dealing with environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is placing a ban on their production and use. Experts advise governments to ban using plastic straws to save the environment. A few countries in the world such as Rwanda, Macedonia, China, Kenya have already banned the use of plastic bags and are expected to include plastic straws and bottles. But it will be a long way to do this effectively.

There are few environmentally friendly and biodegradable productions to take the place of plastic straws. These productions include paper straws, bamboo straws. However, such straws are usually expensive as their production cost is high. It’s still a question whether they can entirely take the place of plastic straws.

3 . China and India are leaders in improving global (全球的) tree cover, a new study based on NASA research showed.

They took a 31.8 percent part together of the total global new leaf area between 2000 and 2017. China played a major role, adding 25 percent to this increase, and India added 6.8 percent, followed by Canada and Russia.

The study in the Nature Sustainability journal shows that more than 5.5 million square km of green leaf area was added globally. Since 2000, there has been a five-percent increase in global green cover, it said.

“The greening over the last twenty years shows an increase in leaf area on plants and trees which is as large as the area of the entire Amazon rainforest,” Chi Chen, a Boston University researcher and lead of the study told Nature Sustainability. Large plantation activities to protect forests in China contributed nearly 42 percent to the country’s green cover, and agriculture (农业) added another 32 percent. In India, 82 percent of the increase in leaf area was because of agriculture.

“China and India take up one-third of the greening, but hold only nine percent of the planet’s land area covered in green plants,” Chi Chen told NASA Earth Observatory. “That is a surprising finding, considering the land degradation (退化) in countries with large populations.”

Boston University’s research team first detected (检测)an increase in global green cover in the 1990s but were unsure about what contributed to (导致) the increase. Finally, with the help of NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites research, they managed to find out the increase in leaf cover from different areas and places.

4 . For more than 100 million years sea turtles (海龟) have covered huge distances across the world’s oceans, making them among the oldest creatures on the planet. However, they are on the list of endangered species.

Different from some animals like snakes, the sex of the baby sea turtles, called hatchlings , is determined by the environment after fertilization (受精). The temperature of the eggs during a certain period of development is the deciding factor in determining sex, and small changes in temperature can cause very big changes in the sex ratio (比例). Often, eggs at low temperatures (22—27℃) produce males, while eggs at higher temperatures (30℃ and above) produce females. At temperatures in 29℃, which is good for a balanced sex ratio of turtle hatchlings. If temperature reaches 36℃, no hatchlings will be produced.

Climate change has a powerful effect on turtle nesting (筑巢) sites. It changes sand temperatures, which then affects the sex of the hatchlings. Scientists have found that unusually warm temperatures caused by climate change are upsetting the normal ratios, resulting in fewer male hatchlings. The past four hottest summers in Florida have seen only female sea turtles. And an Australian study has shown a similar effect in which 99% of the hatchlings are female.

In addition to rising temperatures, turtles are also facing the threat of too much plastic in the oceans, along with a number of other threats. “Plastic pollution is a problem for turtles as they can mistake plastics for food easily. Even a single piece of plastic can kill a turtle,” Dr Couper, working at the Queensland Museum, said. “We have collected some plastics taken from turtles’ stomachs to show people what kinds of things are showing up on beaches. I want it to be an eye opener.”

7 . After decades of work trying to save the giant panda, Chinese officials have announced the species is no longer endangered. The pandas have been reclassified in the country from endangered to vulnerable (易危的) after efforts to increase the population. Now the number has risen to 1,800 in the wild.

“China has established a relatively complete nature reserves system,” Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Natural Ecological Protection of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said on Wednesday. “Large areas of natural ecosystems have been systematically and completely protected, and wildlife habitats have been effectively improved.” The latest classification upgrade reflects their improved living conditions and China’s efforts in keeping their habitats integrated, Cui added.

Bamboo makes up 90% of pandas’ diets, and the animals would likely starve without the shoots (竹笋). Experts believe China’s efforts to replant bamboo forests have been the key to the increase in the population of pandas. Generally speaking, a panda has to eat at least 26 pounds of bamboo every day to maintain its energy, so large areas of bamboo forests are primary to their survival.

Planting bamboo also has advantages for the planet, as the bamboo is grass, not a tree, and is incredibly efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide, as well as emitting (排放) 35% more oxygen than trees.

“The Chinese have done a great job in investing in panda habitats, expanding and setting up new reserves,” Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of conservation at the World Wildlife Fund, told the media. “They are a wonderful example of what can happen when a government is committed to conservation.”

Continuing China’s success will be dependent on the country protecting land from agricultural and urban development. As land becomes rarer, measures will need to be extended to protect more land, to ensure bamboo forests can thrive and as a result, protect the future of the world’s most lovable, lazy, and monochrome (black and white) creature.

8 . The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by S02 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must care about the rise in pollution at the same time.