1 . Against huge odds, Shikuku Ooko is fighting to save the last remaining ancient forest. When he was in his early 20s, Shikuku Ooko was deeply taken with the Afro-Alpine forests of central Kenya. So much so that he decided to buy 15 acres of woods next to Mount Kenya National Park & Reserve. More than 30 years later Mr. Ooko’s home is one of the few plots still filled with native trees and plants. In contrast, much of the national park has been heavily logged.

The Mount Kenya region is remote and delicate, which makes it difficult to safeguard. Though the Kenya Forest Service has made sustainably managing all public forest plantations its second priority, the burden of conservation has fallen on the shoulders of local individuals such as Mr. Ooko.

In recent years, herders (牧民) have even built animal pens within legally protected areas. “It’s a bit of an annoying sight,” Mr. Ooko says, “when foreign visitors have to pay a high fee to enter the park but then come across huge herds of sheep and cattle in the delicate environment. The laws protecting that environment are in place, but they are insufficiently enforced because rangers (护林员) at each gate are limited.”.

When he’s at home in Naro Moru, Mr. Ooko advocates for tree planting, particularly among kids. “It’s something I grew up doing,” he explains. “When I was young, my dad would give all of us 10young trees to plant and take care of. Somehow, he knew the connections between trees and climate changes.”

It’s a practice Mr. Ooko has kept alive despite continuous challenges with climate and cattle; it is not uncommon for sheep and cattle to destroy the young trees that he and his young friends have planted. “We just keep going,” he says. “It’s something I value, and I think we should plant more.”

2 . Where does food waste go? In most countries around the world, it goes into landfills (垃圾填埋场). But not in South Korea. The country banned food waste in landfills nearly 20 years ago and today, it is turned into animal feed, fertilizers and fuel.

Around the globe, 1.4 billion tons of food is thrown away every year. The waste goes into landfills where it can pollute the land and water as well as releasing methane — a greenhouse gas — into the air. In fact, food waste is the third-largest source of methane in the US.

The system that is in place in South Korea keeps almost 100 percent of unused food out of landfills. While other cities and local governments have put similar plans in place, it is not done anywhere else on a country-wide basis.

There are two reasons why South Korea passed laws to carry out mandatory (强制性的) recycling of food waste. First, the country’s cooking tradition of numerous small dishes resulted in large amounts of uneaten food. This food waste went into landfills. But the country’s mountainous geography didn’t allow for enough landfills to be built. That’s why the government forced recycling of paper and plastic in 1995 but food waste continued to be buried in landfills. But it was the neighbors of these landfills that demanded that another solution be found due to the very unpleasant smell from rotting food. The government banned organic waste from landfills in 2005. Another law that was passed in 2013 banned dumping liquid food waste in the ocean.

The system is not free but most of the cost is absorbed by the country. People can buy yellow recycling bags that are picked up on the roadside and some local governments have placed autonomous food waste collectors that require residents to pay a weight-based fee by using cards.

The food waste is collected from the bins every day except Sunday. Some of it is used to make animal feed or fertilizers and some is used to make fuel.

3 . Abdullah was born in Terengganu, a state on the eastern coast of the Malaysian Peninsular, known for its beautiful tropical islands. Growing up on the coast, he felt a close bond with the ocean. After being adopted as a child, he would escape from his strict home to the seaside to free himself.

The local adults would consider him a strange diving instructor, “who spent his days in the water and spoke to corals (珊瑚) as if they were people”. For a long time, he worked unknown to the public and at times in poverty. But it was this closeness to the sea that led him to study the marine (海洋的) environment, and later, earn a scholarship in Oceanography at the Florida Institute of Technology. With the travels across the globe that this research involved, Abdullah learned about the extensive degradation (退化) in the marine ecosystem. He was enthusiastic about the need to take action to restore the damaged and dying coral reefs.

Abdullah set up Ocean Quest Global in Malaysia in 2010, an environmental organization focusing on coral reef protection. It was buoyed by volunteers working throughout Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Its founder has spent most of his life on the coral reefs of Malaysia, observing their behavior and life cycles, and conducting his own research.

In less than a decade, Abdullah’s organization had expanded to several countries like Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines. It has over 800 trainers across the world, working on 180 islands, roost of them in Thailand. Most recently, the organization has been actively working on the restoration of Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh Island, Thailand. It is also building the first subtropical coral nursery in Egypt, reports the diving industry portal, ADEX Ocean Vision.