2 . You’re out on a hike, snacking on an apple, a banana, or some nuts. When you’re finished, all that’s left is a core, a peel, or a shell. “It’s natural,” you tell yourself, throwing it into the woods.

After all, food waste is biodegradable (可生物降解的). It’s not like you’re littering by throwing away a plastic bottle.     1    

Food waste doesn’t break down as fast as you think

Most people know food waste is biodegradable. But fewer people are aware that orange and banana peels can take up to two years to break down in the wild, meaning they’re going to be staying in nature for a lot longer than you might think. And even if they eventually biodegrade, they can lead to a lot of serious problems.

    2    

“ Animals have a super advanced sense of smell compared to us,” says biologist Jeff Marion. All human food can attract animals. This can then cause “attraction behavior”, which refers to human actions that cause animals to overcome their natural wariness(警惕)of people.     3    

Attraction can mean aggression

When animals are routinely attracted to humans and their food, they often become habituated to human presence. “Once an animal reaches that point, it’s essentially game over,” Marion says. That’s the origin of the phrase: A fed bear is a dead bear.     4     Even if a person is injured by a bear, the human usually recovers. The animal, however, is often relocated or killed to prevent further potentially deadly encounters.

    5     You should properly store and deal with food waste. Don’t attempt to burn or bury it, as food waste is more difficult to burn than you think. Besides, if you see other food waste in nature, pick it up, even if it’s not yours. Because while negative individual impacts can have a harmful effect outdoors, positive individual impacts do just the opposite!

3 . A Plastic Ocean is a film to make you think.Think,and then act.We need to take action on our dependence on plastic.We’ve been producing plastic in huge quantities.Drinking bottles,shopping bags and even clothes are made with plastic.    1     What happens to all the rest?This is the question the film A Plastic Ocean answers.

The film begins as a journey to film the largest animal on the planet,the blue whale.But during the journey the filmmakers make the shocking discovery of a huge,thick layer of plastic floating in the Indian Ocean.    2     In total,they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years to make the film.

In the film there are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life.    3     We see how marine species are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping in the ocean.The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.

    4     In the second half,the filmmakers look at what we can do to deal with the problem.

They present short-term and long-term solutions.These include avoiding plastic containers and recycling as much as you can.The filmmakers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes.

We make a shocking amount of plastic.Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year,and at least 8 million of those are dumped into the oceans.The results are disastrous,but it isn’t too late to change.    5    

5 . For years scientists have been worried about the effects of air pollution on the earth’s natural conditions. Some believe the air inside many houses may be more dangerous than the air outside.

Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution. People began to notice the problem in the early 1970s. When builders began making houses and offices, they did not want to waste energy. To do this they built buildings that limited the flow of air between inside and outside. They also used man — made building materials which are now known to let out harmful gases.

As the problem became more serious, scientists began searching for a way to deal with it. They discovered a natural pollution control system for building green plants.

Scientists believe that a plant’s leaves absorb the pollutants (污染物). In exchange the plant lets out oxygen through its leaves. Studies of different plants show that each absorbs different chemicals. So the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants.

Preserving more habitats for China’s giant pandas is providing a giant payoff.     1     (save) the giant panda from dying out isn’t just good for the panda, but it’s also good for economy, a new analysis by an international team of scientists shows.

The results     2     (publish) in the magazine Current Biology, stress the economic benefits that go hand in hand with environmental     3     (protect). Giant pandas are one of the rarest species around the world. But pandas fell on hard times in recent decades, thanks largely     4     human encroachment (侵入). In 1980 alone, many habitats     5     (destroy) artificially, and in 1990, their habitats covered only 12,340 square kilometers, which is a major threat to the pandas in large part because bamboo, their main food source, is so low in nutrients     6     they must wander a lot of land in order to find and eat enough of it.

Because of this, Chinese officials began making     7     (significance) efforts to save the panda from extinction, establishing more reserves and increasing the reserve area three times. Panda numbers     8     (gradual) began to recover, hitting 1,596 in 2000 and 1,864 in 2010.

“    9     is clear that society’s investment (投资)     10     (start) to pay off so far in terms of panda population recovery”, the study authors said.

7 . A flood hit Yellowstone National Park on June 13, 2022. The disaster was caused by a combination of unusually heavy rain and rapid snow melt. The high and fast water flows destroyed bridges and swept away entire roadways, leaving communities and homes isolated (隔绝的). Fortunately, the approximately 10,000 park visitors were safely evacuated.

The town of Gardiner, along the Montana-Wyoming border, was particularly hard hit. The floodwaters left almost 900 people with no power or water for many days. Gardiner’s economy, which heavily depends on the almost three-quarters of a million visitors who pass through the park’s north gate annually, is likely to take a hit. The floodwaters severely damaged the main north entrance road to Yellowstone and could take years to rebuild.

Park officials have begun work on improving an alternative road to Gardiner. This will ensure that locals can access food, supplies, and other essential emergency services. A limited number of tourists may also be allowed into Gardiner once the road is stable.

Yellowstone’s north gate is closed indefinitely (无限期地). But the park’s south gate opened to visitors on June 22, 2022. Park officials have started a new entry system to prevent overcrowding. It is based on the last number of the visitor’s vehicle license plate and the calendar date of the month. Cars with odd numbers can visit the park on odd days of the month, while those with even numbers can go on even days.

Established in 1872, Yellowstone is America’s oldest national park. The 3,472-square-mile reserve spans three states and is home to a lot of unique wildlife. It is known for its natural beauty that includes mountains, rivers and lakes. The forces of fire and ice shaped the park over thousands of years.

8 . Soot (煤) pollution is speeding up climate-driven melting in Antarctica, a new study suggests, raising questions about how to protect the delicate continent from the increasing number of humans who want to visit.

“It really makes us question, is our presence really needed?” says Alia Khan, one of the authors of the new study. “We have quite a large black carbon footprint in Antarctica, which is enhancing snow and ice melt.”

Black carbon is the leftover thing from burning plants or fossil fuels. Soot in Antarctica comes primarily from waste gases of cruise ships (游轮), vehicles and airplanes, although some pollution travels on the wind from other parts of the globe. The dark particles (微粒) coat white snow and absorb heat from the sun the way a black T-shirt does on a warm day. The blanket of dark bits speeds up melting that was already happening more quickly because of global warming.

When snow and ice are uncovered, they reflect an enormous amount of sunlight before it can turn into heat. “These are the mirrors on our planet,” says Sonia Nagorski, a scientist at the University of Alaska Southeast. “When those mirrors are covered in a film of dark bits, they don’t send back that much light and heat. That means more heat is trapped on Earth, speeding up melting and contributing to global warming.”

As a scientist who personally visits Antarctica every year, Khan says she is troubled by her own research results. On the one hand, she goes to Antarctica to collect crucial data about how quickly the snow and ice there are disappearing. “But then when we come to conclusions like this it really does make us think twice about how frequently we need to visit the continent,” she says, “and what kind of regulations should be placed on tourism as well.” That could mean requiring that cruise ships and vehicles be electric, for example, or limiting the number of visitors each year.