1 . Sounds from human activity flood across the oceans, causing trouble to ocean creatures. And climate (气候) change may make some places even louder.

Researchers have expected the oceans to get noisier because of increasing human activity. “The more goods you buy, the more shipping you have, so the more noise you have.” says Luca Possenti, a scientist studying sound in the ocean at the Royal Netherlands Institute. But Possenti and his co-worker realized that climate change might also influence how sound travels through the water.

Human-caused climate change is changing ocean temperatures, salt levels and acidity (酸度). So Possenti’s team used computers to model how those factors (因素) influence noise levels across the world’s oceans.

When waters become more acidic, they can’t take in sound at some wavelengths as well, so those sounds can travel further, adding to the noise in some areas. This effect is relatively small. Other changes impact the sound level more, the researchers found. Changes to temperature and salt levels can change how well different layers (层) of the ocean mix, which, in turn, impacts how sound travels.

The team predicted (预测) models of the world in about 70 years if climate change continues. And then they compared them with models of the world now. In the North Atlantic, they saw an increase in sound levels in the upper 125 meters of the ocean. This was caused mostly by ice melting (融化) off of Greenland, forming a cold layer of water near the ocean’s surface. Sound traveling through water tends to go toward the coldest area. As a result, sound waves tended to get stuck in the cold top layer-spreading further out across the water, instead of traveling deeper. That increased the noisiness at this depth in the North Atlantic. The models suggested that a single ship could sound about five times as loud underwater because of this. Considering all the ship traffic between Europe and North America, that may stress animals, many of which communicate, and catch food with sound.

4 . As we all know, smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer all over the world. It’s no surprise, and you can see people of different ages smoke here and there, though some countries have strict laws on preventing smoking. One of the bad effects of smoking is pollution. After all, with the lack of smoking areas in crowded places, smokers are likely to litter. The result of this is cigarette butts (烟头) are everywhere.

Aiming to make a meaningful change, a factory in New Delhi, India has been turning those deserted cigarette butts into a little joy: soft toys and pillows. The way it works requires a lot of labor, but it seems that it’s done in good spirits. After all, these cigarette butts are being harvested to make little children and the young happy at heart.

The stuffing (填充物) itself is made out of cigarette butts that have been separated into fibers (纤维) and then cleaned. These cleaned fibers are then bleached (漂白) before taking on the form of the soft, white, and useful stuff inside the teddy bears and soft pillows. “We started with 10 grams of fibers per day and now we are doing 1, 000 kilograms. Annually we are able to recycle millions of cigarette butts,” said businessman Naman Gupta, the mastermind behind this good idea.

In addition to toys, the factory also separates the butts’outer layer (层) and tobacco to make recycled paper and some chemicals for farming, turning the rubbish that would normally be considered harmful pollutants into good things. And the method can also be recycled and updated.

Considering the fact that almost 267 million people, nearly 30 percent of the adult population in India are tobacco users, it’s not hard to imagine how easy it is to find them out on the streets of New Delhi. According to the World Health Organization, the total economic costs from smoking-related diseases in India from 2017 to 2018 for people aged 35 and above were up to $27.5 billion.

5 . Two years ago, enormous fires swept through some 46 million acres of forest in Russia, the country’s worst fire season on record. Now, researchers have a clearer sense of just how significant the 2021 boreal (北方的) forest fires were in terms of emissions.

The study showed that for the past decade or so, boreal forests, especially forests in the uppermost reaches of Alaska, Canada, and Russia, have steadily become drier and hotter as heat waves and drought affected the environment. Fires in boreal forests are a normal part of the life cycle of trees that grow there. But climate change is throwing that cycle out of whack. Just in the past handful of years, forests in northern latitudes (纬度) reached a tipping point and started to produce far more emissions than usual.

The researchers obtained the data for their study by tracking concentrations of emissions in the atmosphere using satellites, and then they put that information into a computer model to determine where, geographically, those emissions came from. They found that boreal forests, which typically produce about 10 percent of the globe’s annual wildfire emissions, accounted for 23 percent of the world’s wildfire emissions in 2021—more than twice as much as normal. While previous analyses have regarded 2021 as a particularly destructive year for boreal forests, the study is a valuable contribution to the field because it “offers meaningful insights about where fire emissions increased the most within boreal regions and provides potential explanations for why those emissions are increasing,” said Canadell, one author of the study.

Canadell’s biggest worry is the study’s main conclusion: boreal forests have served an important and underappreciated role in reducing carbon emissions, but climate change threatens to release that stored carbon. “We need to be very careful with these systems in terms of their future evolution,” he said.

6 . It’s a sweet moment, as a chimp reaches up to kiss his mother’s face. The touching photo was taken by the famous conservationist and activist Jane Goodall in 1993 in Gombe National Park in northwest Tanzania where she has studied chimpanzees for more than six decades.

The image is part of Vital Impacts consisting of a group of 100 photographers. The women-led non-profit was founded by award-winning photographer Ami Vitale and visual journalist Eileen Mignoni. They are selling fine arts images, most of which focus on wildlife and nature, with earnings benefiting conservation organizations including Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots program.

“Our purpose is to use photography to create awareness and understanding; to help us see that the survival of the planet is closely connected with our own survival. As photographers, we have a huge opportunity to inform and influence change, but pressing the shutter (快门) is just the start,” Vitale said.

“For an image to have significance, it needs to reach people. To this end, we are working to get the photographs of Vital Impacts photographers and our students into high-profile media and exhibitions around the world.”

The organization gives special attention to photographers who are committed to the planet. Funds will be used to support global conservation and environmental initiatives and the group will offer two $20,000 environmental storytelling awards.

Vital Impacts has raised more than $1.5 million from the sale of fine art prints since the organization was set up in late 2021. Some of its profits were donated to the organization Direct Relief, which shipped more than 1,400 tons of medical supplies value d at $545 million to support 351 healthcare equipment in disaster zones. Other profits were able to provide fuel and vehicle assistance to support wildlife corridors (廊道), a monitoring program, and the restoration of the Snake River in the Pacific Northwest.

Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii is a nonprofit organization devoted to     1     (keep) the state’s coastlines clean. It has been working to reduce the effects of     2     (pollute) and climate change since 2010. The program     3     (begin) when eight young people came together to discuss a problem that troubled them: trash littering Hawaii’s beaches.

“We grew from eight to twelve, and now we have over 35,000 volunteers,” Caitlyn McCall,     4     servesas a volunteer at the organization, told me in an interview.

The nonprofit’s office     5       (locate) in Kaimuki, a neighborhood in Honolulu. More than 30 coordinators are based there. They focus on three major     6     (program): sustainable events, cleanups and education. The group has organized 240 cleanups, prevented an estimated 600,000 pounds of trash from ending up in the ocean, and educated 45,000 children.

The next step for the program is     7     (carry) out their sustainability courses with Hawaii’s Department of Education. As of now, a team from the nonprofit will visit a local school to talk with students about     8     (environment) sustainability.     9     team educates kids about the lifecycle of household products, their effects on marine life, and how the items we buy can end up on our shores.

Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii also hosts free cleanups for schools. “Climate change is a concerning subject for young people,” McCall said. “We want to equip students     10     the knowledge and tools they need to feel empowered to make a change.”

9 . Chongqing, a city of more than 32 million people, faced an unheard-of test this summer with a heat wave and drought causing a series of large wildfires since Aug 17.

Local residents have safeguarded their hometown in every way possible, with thousands of volunteers from all walks of life fighting the fires with professionals.

Under a very hot sun, some residents used chain saws(锯) to fell trees to make fire barriers. Others rode motorcycles on newly formed paths to take firefighters and supplies up a mountain, while some volunteers carried food and drinks on their backs by foot. Women and children helped organize supplies and clear the ground, and performed other essential tasks.

On Thursday night, as wildfires approached a man-made barrier on Jinyun Mountain in Beibei district, a total of more than 1000 firefighters and volunteers stood alongside the barrier with fire extinguishers. Seen from overhead, their lights formed a silver wall against the raging fire.

The residents’ stories have touched many people.

“Chongqing people are really amazing.“ said Du Hailang, head of the Beijing Emergency Rescue Association, an NGO founded in 2007 that has taken part in many overseas rescue operations. Du and 10 other members of the association joined the fire rescue team in Chongqing last week.

“The man-made wall was unbelievable, but shocking. It really showed Chinese people’s determination to defend their homeland.” Du said.

The outstanding work of the volunteers and the hospitality of local residents impressed the firefighters, too···

Bai Xueguang, from Gansu Forest Fire Brigade, said, “I never imagined that I would have ice cream and cold drinks at a fire rescue site.”

Zhou Hongyu, from Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade, said every volunteer he met at the scene asked him if he needed anything “It was the first time I had taken a motorcycle to reach a fire scene. We really appreciate the locals’ hospitality. Their support has been wonderful.” Zhou said.

10 . Somalia, Kenya, and now Ethiopia are warning of a serious drought (干旱)that affects millions of people in Eastern Africa. In Ethiopia’s Somali area, people have seen the failures of what should have been three straight rainy seasons. Droughts do come and go over the years. However, the lack of rainfall has led to the driest conditions in 40 years in parts of Somalia and Ethiopia.

UNICEF is the United Nation’s children’s agency. Local Zaynab Wali told a visiting team with UNICEF that she and her seven children had never seen a drought like this. She said the government gave out food for animals during the last drought five years ago. “This time, we even don’t have enough food for our family.”

Children walk among the bodies of dead animals, which died from lack of food and energy. Somalia Consortium works to improve international aid for Somalia. It said in a separate statement that in Somalia, more than 7 million people need emergency help. It is asking international organizations to give much more to the country.

“We are just one month into the long dry season, and I have already lost 25 goats and sheep,” Hafsa Bedel in Ethiopia’s Somali area told UNICEF. She also lost four camels, a large desert animal, as well. She said there was nowhere for her animals to eat. She added that there was not enough food for her own family, including her six children.

UNICEF thinks that more than 150,000 children in such areas of Ethiopia have dropped out of school. They are needed to help find the limited amount of water and help their families with other work.

One young boy was seen supporting an animal, a donkey. The donkey was once important for carrying goods. But now, it had become too weak to walk on its own.