1 . Begun 30 years ago, the Kubuqi desert greening project has succeeded in not only controlling the fast growth of the seventh-largest desert in China, about the size of Kuwait, but also turning about 6,000 square kilometers of the desert — one-third of it — green.

The desert lies about 800 kilometers to the west of Beijing in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region (自治区) and the greening efforts have also controlled desertification (沙漠化) in the rest of the area.

The project, which began about 30 years ago, can be looked to as an example of efforts to advance green development, in order to create harmony between humans and nature, and leave a better environment for future generations.

The success of the project, which has been praised by the UN Environment Programme as an “eco-pioneer”, sets an example for successful desertification control and ecosystem improvement based on effective government policies, supported by investment (投资) in the eco-industry and combined with the efforts of local farmers. These three aspects are key to the success of the “Kubuqi model”.

Elion, a private ecology (生态) and investment company, has invested about 38billion yuan ($5.82 billion) in the Kubuqi desert-greening project since 1988 helping to lift about 102,000 local farmers out of poverty. For example, the locals grow a drought-tolerant (耐旱) plant, Chinese licorice, which is the most used herb in traditional Chinese medicine. The plant helps enrich the desert soil, with the bacteria around the roots of the plants producing nitrogen(氮气).   Besides, Cistanche, another type of drought-tolerant herb, was introduced after the successful planting of licorice. Under the company’s guidance and with the local government’s support, the local people benefit from the   “environmental wealth”.

More companies should be encouraged to apply the “Kubuqi model” in other desert control projects in Inner Mongolia and neighboring Gansu province, where the climate conditions are similar but not quite the same, so as to further gain experience and enrich the model in practice. Showing it can be successfully applied in other areas will help promote the model worldwide.

2 . Ever been hungry enough to eat a house? Now, you actually could.

Food waste is a big problem in Japan and globally. Japan produced around 5.7 million tons of food waste in 2019. The government plans to reduce that by around 2.7 million tons by 2030. Tokyo University researchers Kota Machida and Yuya Sakai have developed a way to transform food waste into cement(水泥) for construction use and more. This is the first-ever process created for making cement entirely from food waste. The researchers say their product is four times as strong as traditional concrete. This particular cement can be used to make things like tea cups or chairs as well. However, there’s one additional feature — it’s also edible(可食的).

Kota and Yuya are the intelligence behind the formation of Fabula Inc., a company with purposes of reducing food waste, and helping fight global warming.

As expected, something this unique took years to develop. It took a few attempts to find just the right process. Kota and Yuya created the unique technology while researching possible environmentally-friendly materials to replace cement-based concrete. Cement production accounts for 8% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

After a few failures, they realized they could get the cement to bind(黏合) by adjusting the temperatures. “The most challenging part was that each type of food waste requires different temperatures,” Yuya said. So the researchers had to observe them and respond in time. In the experiments, Kota and Yuya have successfully made cement using tea leaves, coffee grounds, cabbage and even lunchbox leftovers.

Fabula Inc. is currently working to make tea cups and furniture, but Yuya is thinking a little bit bigger. Their product could provide relief in the form of edible emergency shelters in disaster ones. “For example, if food cannot be delivered to the people, they could eat makeshift beds made out of food cement,” he said. To eat the material, a person needs to break it apart and boil it.

5 . Melbourne Girls’ College is getting rid of all dustbins and asking students to take their rubbish home to encourage them to move towards zero waste.

Starting next Monday, the college will gradually ____________ all the rubbish bins in five weeks in classrooms and the yard, ____________ 1,400 students and 140 staff to find their own home for chip packets and juice boxes. Volunteer students will ____________ daily non-compulsory food inspections in which children bringing “zero waste” lunch boxes will be ____________. Students using only ____________ packaging will receive a token (礼券) to win prizes.

The rubbish that students take home may still go to landfill (废物填埋场) via their home bins, ____________ the new policy will help persuade ____________ to buy fewer packaged items and reuse containers. Most issues around carrying rubbish home, such as smell and mess, can be solved. ____________ tuna (金枪鱼) in a tin, for example, can ____________ the school’s compost (堆肥) bin and the tin can be ____________ before it’s taken home.

The college principal Karen Money acknowledges that some parents may not have the time or means to avoid ____________ in single-use packaging, “But we are ____________ to get as many people as we can to avoid it. We talk a lot, ____________ educators, about the bad problems the world ____________, and if we don’t start putting some actions ____________ that beautiful idea, then it’s just empty.”

8 . Molai grew up in a tiny village in India. The village was near some wetlands (湿地) which became his second_________. He learned the value and beauty of _________ there from a very young age.

When he was 16, Molai began to notice something _________ happening around his home. A flood had hit the area earlier that year and the _________ it caused had driven away a number of birds. _________, the number of snakes had declined (减少) as well. He _________ that it was because there weren’t enough trees to protect them from the _________. The solution, of course, was to plant trees, so the animals could seek _________ during the daytime. He turned to the _________ department for help but was told that nothing would grow there. However, Molai went looking on his own and __________ a nearby island where he began to plant trees.

__________ young plants in the dry season was __________ for a lone boy. Molai built at the __________ of each sapling (幼树) a bamboo platform, where he placed earthen pots with small holes to__________ rainwater. The water would then drip (滴落) on the plants below.

Molai __________ to plant trees for the next 37 years. His efforts have resulted in 1,360 acres of naturally grown land that has become home to many plants and animals.

The School English Club