2 . Looking for a way to connect with nature but you're not sure how to when you live in the city? Here are a few ways to live in harmony with nature and reduce your pressure.

Go on a wildlife walk.

There’s lots of urban wildlife for you to discover, so you can reach out to your city park departments to get some valuable information.     1     . A wildlife walk is one of the easiest ways to connect with nature because it helps you to realize that you're surrounded (围绕) by nature.

    2     .

Nothing will make you feel as closely connected with the earth as walking without shoes on grass for a couple of minutes. This very direct connection with nature will make you realize that you're part of the huge world, helping you to relax and feel calmer.

Attract nature yourself.

One of the best ways to connect with nature is to make it come to you.     3     . You can also fill some tubs (盆) with flowers to attract butterflies. Create a friendly place for nature and you're sure to attract all kinds of beings passing close to your home.

Create a small garden.

Plants and flowers are part of nature as well and even the tiniest amount of space can be turned into a beautiful garden. If you’ve got a balcony (阳台), fill it with pots full of flowers.     4    . Imagine how satisfying it would be to share them with your friends and family.

Use these tips for connecting with nature and living a more comfortable lifestyle in a big city.     5     .

3 . A very dangerous situation happened in California last week. More than 12 wildfires broke out in the state. Most of them began on September 8, in Northern California. They grew rapidly. The fires were made bigger by winds of up to 50 miles per hour and dry air in the area.

At least 20 people have been killed, the state government said. About 200 have been injured. At least 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. About 50,000 people have been required to evacuate. Many left in a hurry, without time to take their personal things. “All the good stuff (东西)—I’m never going to see it again,” Jeff Okrepkie said. He escaped from his Santa Rosa home. It was destroyed soon after he left.

The fires burned through eight counties (郡). These include Sonoma and Napa, which are important to California’s economy. They are home to many of the state’s vineyards (葡萄园) and wineries (酿酒厂). In 2021, California’s wineries made more than $90 billion.

September is when wildfires usually produce the most ruins in California. But it is unusual for so many fires to start at once. Up to now, the government has not given a cause for any of the fires, many of which were still burning.

(News from VOA September 13,2022)

5 . Capybaras (水豚) are group animals, so they do not like being alone. In fact, leaving a capybara alone is not only uncomfortable for the animal, but it can be harmful to their physical health, as well as their mental happiness. Capybaras love to talk to each other throughout the day. Groups of capybaras spend their days sun bathing along the edge of rivers, where they enjoy swimming together in the water. They spend half of their lives in the water.

Since they spend so much time around water, it makes sense that capybaras would come into contact with different kinds of other animals who stop in for a drink. Capybaras are gentle and peaceful river animals who enjoy a short sleep along the water’s edge — and often do so with other animal species as well. You can find pictures all over the Internet of these lovely animals lying beside turtles, birds, ducks, rats, and even monkeys as they enjoy a nap by the water.

Capybaras are also known to be excellent and friendly taxis in the animal world. Birds and monkeys commonly stand on the back of a capybara for a ride as capybaras search for grass to eat. Sometimes capybaras even serve as boats for other animals, letting them sit on their heads as they swim through the water.

However, if you see a capybara lying on its side with a yellow-headed caracara (长腿秃鹰) on its body, don’t panic just yet. Most likely the copybara is enjoying a nice spa day. Birds often make friends with capybaras and provide a natural cleaning service, picking off insects that live in the capybara’s fur. It’s a relationship that benefits each other, since the yellow-headed caracara also gets to enjoy eating those tasty insects. Yet, such lovely capybaras are not free of human influences and even face extinction now.

6 . Tariq Qaiser, an architect, is trying to protect mangroves (红树林). The trees could save Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, sitting on the Arabia Sea, from natural disaster. He comes to Bundal Island several times a week to document the illegal cutting of mangrove trees. Very often, “You can’t hear a single bird because the chain saws (锯) are so loud. The trees are cut down illegally for firewood,” he says, shaking his head. Besides, developers clear the mangroves to make room for construction.

Karachi has a hot climate, and its concrete buildings and paved roads make it even hotter. Offshore, there are islands where mangroves grow. They could be the key to slowing climate change. Mangrove forests pull carbon dioxide out of the air, holding four times as much of the planet-warming gas as other forests can. They support diverse ecosystems. As sea levels rise with global warming, the trees could play a big role in protecting coastal cities like Karachi from flooding. Karachi’s mangroves are disappearing. But its numbers are rising in other parts of Pakistan. With replanting efforts, the country has tripled (三倍于) its mangrove coverage over the past 30 years.

Qaiser’s work may have worked. Recently, a court in Karachi declared Bundal Island’s mangroves to be protected forests. But unforested parts of the island remain unprotected, and developers want to build there. City officials say this could provide much-needed housing and bring in billions of dollars. They claim that some of that money could be used to plant mangroves in other parts of Pakistan.

Ecologist Rafiul Haq appreciates Qaiser’s “extraordinary work” educating the public about mangroves. But he wishes Oaiser would look at the bigger picture. “Only 7% of Pakistan’s mangroves are in Karachi,” Haq says. He thinks it’s wrong to focus on the losses in 7% of the country while ignoring the success in 93% of it. But Qaiser believes it’s important to protect every bit.

7 . Taking a holiday doesn’t mean letting go of all the eco-friendly choices. There are many ways you can have a much-deserved break without harming the environment.

Forget planes. While most forms of transport produce carbon dioxide, planes have a massive carbon footprint because of the huge number of miles they travel.     1     Many of us ignore the endless beautiful scenery around us. There’s the outstanding beauty of the Mississippi River.

Alternatively, you can drive your car to the Grand Canyon to see its splendor.

Pack with care.     2     All of their bottles, from shampoo and conditioner to body wash and moisturizer (润肤霜), are now made from recycled plastic that can be repurposed again and again so no new plastic is produced. And their iconic soap bars now also come in plastic-free packaging.

    3     Hotels can be huge producers of greenhouse gases. Think about the water that’s wasted and all the buffet food that goes uneaten. So choose an eco-friendly option instead. Camping and a home stay — where you live with a family in their own home — are two of the best options. But if you insist on staying in the hotel, pick one made from sustainable materials.     4    

Buy gifts responsibly. Bringing back gifts for friends and loved ones is part of the fun of a holiday.     5     Avoid anything plastic, or if it is plastic, make sure it is 100% recyclable, and make sure your friends will love whatever you give them so it isn’t just thrown in the bin headed for landfill.

10 . In the endless sky, the unaided human eye should be able to perceive several thousand stars on a clear, dark night. Unfortunately, growing light pollution has impeded people from the nightly view.

New citizen-science-based research throws alarming light on the problem of “sky glow”-the diffuse illumination (漫射照明) of the night sky that is a form of light pollution. The data came from crowd-sourced observations collected from around the world as part of Globe at Night, a program developed by astronomer Connie Walker.

Light pollution has harmful effects on the practice of astronomy but also on human health and wildlife, since it disturbs the cycle from sunlight to starlight that biological systems have evolved alongside. Furthermore, the loss of visible stars is a great loss of human cultural heritage. Until relatively recently, humans throughout history had an impressive view of the starry night sky, and the effect of this nighty spectacle (壮观) is evident in ancient cultures.

Globe at Night has been gathering data on star visibility since 2006. Anyone can submit observations through the Globe at Night web application. Participants record which one best matches what they can see in the sky without any telescopes or other instruments.

Researchers find that the loss of visible stars indicates an increase in sky brightness of 9.6% per year while roughly 2% is measured by satellites. Existing satellites are not well suited to measuring sky glow as it appears to humans, because they can not detect wavelengths shorter than 500 nanometers (纳米). White LEDs, with shorter wavelengths under 500 nanometers, now are increasingly commonly used in outdoor lighting. But human eyes are more sensitive to these shorter wavelengths at nighttime. Space-based instruments do not measure light from windows, either. But these sources are significant contributors to sky glow us seen from the ground.

“The increase in sky glow over the past decade underlines the importance of redoubling our efforts and developing new strategies to protect dark skies,” said Walker. “The Globe at Night dataset is necessary in our ongoing evaluation of changes in sky glow, and we encourage whoever can to get involved to help protect the starry night sky.”