1 . If you’re aiming to cut back on meat and you want to build muscle strength, you’re not alone. Now, a new study finds that swapping red and processed meat for plant protein a few times a week leads to better health and lowers carbon emission.

“We found that there was an increase in life expectancy of approximately nine months linked to 50% reduction of red meat consumption,” says Olivia Auclair. “When it comes to diet changes to improve health and climate, we don’t need to go to major extremes or completely wipe out foods from our diet.”

But sudden changes can be jarring. For a long time Kyle Backlund had been in the habit of eating meat at many meals, and when he cut back, he felt a drop in his energy level and experienced some tiredness and weakness. When he realized he needed to increase his protein intake, his wife Stephany Marreel — who does most of the cooking and also eats a plant-based diet — found a solution by adding tofu, vegetables, and grains. Kyle says he is now feeling good on his plant-focused diet.

People can get all the protein and nutrients they need from a plant-based diet as long as they do a little planning, says Dr. Christopher Gardner, a food scientist. “If someone is consuming a reasonable variety, meeting protein needs from plant sources is no problem,” Gardner says.

There’s an environmental argument for shifting diet as well, Gardner says. Livestock (家畜) require lots of land and water. Beef production requires 20 times more land and produces 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions, per gram of protein, compared to beans. If people in the U.S. swapped beef for beans, this one switch alone could get the U.S. about halfway to its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

3 . Our recommended list of environmental books covers a broad range of topics. These must-read environmental books are sure to spark the interest of the greenest books.

Silent Spring

Written by Rachel Carson, Silent Spring highlights the effects of pesticides (杀虫剂) on the environment, especially DDT, which was a very popular insecticide until it was finally banned in 1972. The book eventually led to a change in the United States’ pesticide policy and contributed to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference.

This book collects 11 speeches made by climate activist Greta Thunberg, highlighting the issue of climate change and its impact on future generations. Greta Thunberg was 15 when she started the School Strike for Climate, also known as Fridays for Future. She inspired protests worldwide.

The Uninhabitable Earth

This book by David Wallace Wells examines the disasters that have already occurred and looks ahead to the year 2100 and what climate change will do if we continue on our current path. Its opening line is incredibly telling: “It is worse, much worse, than you think.”

The End of Nature

Published in 1989, the book describes the relationship between nature and humans. It expresses the idea that nature was previously independent of humans but has now been affected by them in every way. According to author Bill McKibben, the idea of wilderness is lost, and nature is no longer complete.

4 . On Friday, students around the world will walk out of their classrooms and gather in joint protests to highlight the global crisis created by climate change. The goal? To get elected officials and industry leaders to actually act to stop the coming disaster.

Climate change poses a terrible threat to humanity, and politicians aren’t doing enough to find solutions, protest organizers wrote on the Global Climate Strike website. Greenhouse gas emissions (排放) are a primary driver of global warming, but leaders have been irresolute about abandoning fossil fuels, even as global temperatures continue to climb.

Strikes and protests by students in more than 2,500 locations aim to show that the younger generations won’t stand easily by while their future — and their planet — hang in the balance. The strike follows a summer of extreme weather linked to climate change: strange global heat waves, wildfires and ice loss from glaciers (冰川). In July, three studies found that the global climate is changing more quickly than it has in the past 2,000 years.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is currently visiting New York City, is one of the strike’s key organizers. Thunberg will speak at a Friday demonstration at Foley Square there at 12 p. m. local time, after which protesters will march to Battery Park. Thunberg will also address the UN Climate Action Summit on September 23. The emergency meeting is being organized so that world leaders can present “concrete, realistic plans” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with the goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050, according to a UN statement.

Thousands of protests are planned for Friday — just three days prior to the summit—and collectively, they will be the biggest climate action in history.

6 . Have you got any electronic devices hanging around your home that you no longer want or use? Between us, we have millions of bits of unused tech kept in drawers.     1     There are several ways to make the most of our unwanted gadgets（小物件）.

Probably the best cure for our throwaway culture is to fix our broken tech.    2     They can be learned at repair clubs and repair cafés—free meeting places where you'll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. In the UK, the interest in mending our stuff and giving it a new life is reflected by the popularity of a TV series called The Repair Shop, where craftspeople rescue and resurrect（重新使用） items that their owners thought were beyond saving.

    3     Materials used to make them can be extracted and reused in other things. As an example, Elisabeth Ratcliffe from the Royal Society of Chemistry told the BBC: "There are about thirty different elements just in a smartphone, and many of them are very rare." These can be used in touch screens and solar panels. Many of the biggest players in the industry(including Apple and Samsung) will gladly take your old gadgets back and handle them responsibly.    4    

A final choice for your unwanted items is to up-cycle them. You can breathe new life into them by transforming them into valuable pieces or collectable retroitems（复古物品）, which could be sold on.    5     By up-cycling, you contribute to waste reduction and innovation in product reuse.