1 . Lithium (锂) is called “white gold” for good reason. The metal’s value has been growing rapidly over the last several years, mainly because it is an essential material of lithium-ion batteries, which play an important part in several key sustainable technologies, e. g. electric cars.

As ocean waves, wind and solar power have grown into major players in the energy industry, lithium has also become key to building a future free of petrol. But getting lithium comes at a huge cost. As with most metals, its mining is damaging. It often works like this: Briny water, containing lithium and other metals, is pumped to the surface from underground. Then it sits in pools to allow the water to evaporate, leaving the rest behind as poisonous matter. Workers use chemical reactions to remove the lithium from that, making it into powder which is then packaged and shipped to the buyers around the world. Any accident that releases mine matter into surrounding communities or the groundwater supply could have damaging long-term impacts.

Indigenous (原住民) communities often bear the result of the damage, and political leaders have paid little attention to their concerns. In Arizona, for example, an expanding lithium mine is threatening the Hualapai Tribe’s historical sites. And for politicians who have promised to work with native peoples to deal with it, mining lithium and other precious metals is putting them into a dilemma: How do you ensure the availability of materials which are essential to the future while protecting indigenous people’ rights?

Mining of the metal is expected to increase greatly in coming years. Over time, that will make electric cars inexpensive and, therefore, more popular.

As environmentally conscious consumers buy electric cars in ever-greater numbers, it’s important to be aware of the dirty process that powers those clean air vehicles.

3 . Soot (煤灰) 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, airplanes and electrical generators, 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 are less reflective. 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.

4 . Changing to electric vehicles makes sense. Now it can make cents, too. France on Wednesday announced a program to get high gas consumption old cars off the road by offering a grant（补助金）to buy an electric bike.

A French driver can get $2,991 towards a new e-bike. The grant is high enough to buy a quality e-bike. To receive the grant, the driver has to ensure their old car to be taken off the road and scrapped(报废). Replacing the highly inefficient gas-powered vehicles will help France meet its the Paris Agreement goals to keep global warming below 2℃. In 2018, 200countries-including France-agreed to the Paris Rulebook that details the way countries can relieve climate change and this includes limiting greenhouse gas emission(排放). Other benefit to the programme is to get cars off crowded roads. After all, e-bikes take up far less room. And cleaner air due to fewer pollutants is also a big plus.

A similar program was introduced in Norway. The project for the old car was actually spearheaded by the country’s government. Drivers applied to receive a grant for up to $1,200 to buy a bicycle, e-bike, e-motorcycle, or even public transportation credits for turning in their old vehicles. More than 8,500 people applied for the grant. Finland also has a similar grant, which is used to help fund more than 1,000 low emission cars,2,000 e-bikes, and 200public transportation tickets. “For the first time it is recognized that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number, ” Olivier Schneider of the French Federation of Bicycle Users said.

Since the French grant is more than twice the amount of the Finnish and Norwegian ones, it should be more successful. Getting a large number of high gas consumption off the road will go a long way in helping to reduce emissions, road crowdedness, and less pollution in the air.

5 . Two little girls,14-year-old Cindy and 12-year-old Lucy, wrote to a newspaper office, asking some fast food restaurants to stop giving away free plastic (塑料) toys. Many people read the letter and supported them.

“We have been learning all about the environment at school and the problem of plastic. It made us very sad to see how plastic harms wildlife and pollutes the ocean, and we want to change this.That’s why we want the fast food restaurants to think of the environment and stop giving away plastic toys with their kids meals.” the two girls wrote in their letter.

“We like to go to eat in fast food restaurants, but children only play with the plastic toys they give us for a few minutes before they get thrown away. In the end, they will harm animals and pollute the sea. We want anything they give us to be sustainable (可持续发展的), so we can protect the earth for us and for future humans,” they continued.

The letter made a large number of readers pay attention to them. The number of people who supported them almost doubled after reporters followed the two little girls.

Since the little girls’ story started being picked up by news reporters, the fast food restaurants had to give a reply to the newspaper office, telling about their plans for making their free toys more sustainable.

6 . Plastic garbage is one of the world’s biggest environmental headaches. Some plastic items like water bottles and shopping bags can last for hundreds of years after being thrown away, with all this plastic rubbish disrupting ecosystems and disturbing the habitats of wildlife.

There have been several projects to help control plastic production, but researchers may have found a natural way to get rid of the products.

Waxworms, which are confusingly classed as caterpillars(毛毛虫), are the honey bee’s worst nightmares, as they lay their eggs inside their hives(蜂巢). Amateur beekeeper Federica Bertocchini decided to use plastic bags to protect the hives, however she was dumbfounded when she discover the insects were able to eat holes into the sides of the bags.

The beekeeper’s surprising findings sparked a study. Bertocchini, from the Spanish National Research Council, teamed up with scientists from Cambridge University to perform some tests.

When the team put about one hundred waxworms into a standard UK plastic shopping bag, they began feasting. After about 12 hours they’d eaten roughly 92 milligrams of the bag.

In all, this isn’t huge amount, but it’s a lot faster than other natural ways. Last year, researchers found a specific type of bacteria( 细 菌 )could eat plastic, but at a rate of 0. 13 milligrams a day, making this is a massive jump in the search for a natural way to dispose(处理) plastic.

The team is still not 100 percent sure how the worms do what they do, but they’re heralding this as an important first step to get rid of pollution.

Luckily, while that team works out the answer, plastic manufacturers have found a way to make their products much more environmentally friendly. There are three types of environmentally friendly plastics: bioplastics(which are made from corn starch), biodegradable plastics(which break down quicker) and recycled plastic.

Hopefully with these new products, we will get closer to a society that is less harmful to the environment.