4 . Within the beautiful scenery of Wisconsin’s Lake Chippewa lies a natural wonder that is a unique challenge for the local community. This hidden wonder is exactly a giant floating island. The island, made up of plants and trees, sometimes floats around the lake, causing a major inconvenience by blocking (阻塞) an important bridge. Later, the local people came up with a solution to this problem. Every year, local boat owners work together and push the island away from the bridge.

Lake Chippewa was born in 1923 when a vast bog (沼泽) was changed through flooding. Soon after that, many of the dark bogs started rising to the surface and became perfect growing places for plants, with seeds carried by wind and wild birds to this floating place. Over the years, these bogs have grown plants and trees and turned into full islands. As time goes by, plants take root, and the oldest islands even have trees that act as sails (船帆) when the wind blows, moving the entire floating island around the lake.

Although the years-old floating island does not relocate (重新迁移) so often, when it does, it causes trouble for the community by blocking the important bridge that serves as the only passage between the lake’s East and West sides. The only solution is to gather a group of boats, and not just one or two, but dozens of boats working together to push the island away. “It takes a community’s effort, and you must have the winds at your back to push them in,” said a resident. Moving the island also requires precision (精确), as just relocating it a short distance may result in its return within days.

Some people have suggested destroying the floating islands to get rid of the problem. However, the big bog in Lake Chippewa has been around for many years, and during that time a variety of animal and plant species have made it their home. Therefore, local government advises they be dealt with in a way that won’t do harm to wildlife, paying more attention to the fine-drawn balance between human convenience and environmental protection. The annual tradition of relocating Lake Chippewa’s floating island is evidence to the coexistence of man and nature, a heartwarming display of community unity, and a reminder of the importance of preserving the unique areas that enrich our world.

5 . Drive through any suburb in the U. S. today, and it’s hard to miss the recycling bins that have become companions to America’s trash cans. Recycling has become common, as people recognize the need to care for the environment. Yet most people’s recycling awareness extends (延伸) only as far as paper, bottle, and cans. People seldom find themselves facing the growing problem of e-waste.

E-waste rapidly increases as the techno-fashionable frequently upgrade to the most advanced devices, and the majority of them end up in landfills (填埋). Some people who track such wastes say that users throw away nearly 2 million tons of TVs, VCRs, computers, cell phones, and other electronics every year. Unless we can find a safe replacement (替代品), this e-waste may get into the ground and poison the water with dangerous toxins (霉素), such as lead, mercury, and arsenic. Burning the waste also dangerously contaminates the air.

However, e-waste often contains reusable silver, gold, and other electrical materials. Recycling these materials reduces environmental problems by reducing both landfill waste and the need to look for such metals, which can destroy ecosystems.

A growing number of states have passed laws to ban (禁止) getting rid of e-waste. Still, less than a quarter of this waste will reach lawful recycling programs. Some companies advertising safe disposal (处理) in fact merely ship the waste to some developing countries, where it still ends up in landfills. These organizations prevent progress by unsafely disposing of waste in an out-of-sight, out-of-mind location.

However, the small but growing number of cities and corporations that do handle e-waste responsibly represents progress toward making the world a cleaner, better place for us all.

6 . Zhu Dejun’s first job after graduating from college was as a road design engineer in his hometown, Alshaa League, North Chin’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region(内蒙古自治区). In 2011, when Zhu was conducting a road survey along with his colleagues, he saw a plant that he didn’t recognize. Later, Zhu learned that the plant was a saxaul (灌木梭梭) tree which is an excellent tree species for sand fixation and afforestation (造林) in desert areas. Known as a desert guardian, a fully grown saxaul tree can hold together a 10-square-meter patch of desert land, according to Zhu.

Zhu quit (辞去) his job at the design institute in 2014 and joined a nonprofit organization, the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Conservation, or SEE, in the same year, concentrating on dealing with desertification (沙漠化) .During the past eight years, Zhu has been leading a team from SEE to plant saxaul trees in sandy areas in Alshaa League and other places of Inner Mongolia.

In 2014, the SEE launched a project titled “one million saxaul trees”, aiming to reach that number from 2014 to 2023, turning the desert of more than 133, 330 hectares (公顷) back into a satisfying ecosystem. By the end of 2018, half of the organization’s goal had been achieved. In 2016, Ant Finance cooperated with SEE to introduce the Ant Forest platform, not only encouraging people to choose “a low-carbon way” of shopping, traveling and living, but also to help control desertification.

Through the participation of a greater number of online users, who grow virtual trees, the SEE Foundation, set up in 2008, has been providing subsidies (补助金) for local herdsmen and farmers while also offering technological support to plant saxaul trees in desert areas. Now, Zhu is the head of the foundation’s project to fight desertification. He also gives lectures about saxaul trees and the fight against desertification at schools, hoping to raise awareness among young people.

7 . Looking to make the biggest impact during a crisis? This guide will help you get the necessary resources to the right people quickly and easily, as well as help you prepare for a potential emergency.     1    .

Put simply, more people equals more money, and creating your own fundraiser is a great way to encourage people who want to help. If you’re dealing with a local natural disaster, start by raising money through your community     2    , on the organization’s site or through an app; thus, you won’t have to deal with transferring donations through your personal account.

    3    . Start by checking an organization’s website; they often have lists of what is needed and where to send it. Or call community offices in the affected area to see what specific needs they have.

You can contact your local emergency services, to see if they are seeking a helping hand. If you don’t have a particular skill, offer your time to help with clean up afterward. However, always call or check online first.     4    . In reality, you will be adding one more person to the already strained situation.

    5    .

One of the most helpful things you can do in a natural disaster is to prepare yourself ahead of time. Not only will these preventive measures protect you, but they will also limit damage in case disaster strikes. The first step is to find out which disasters are most likely to affect you. The second step is stocking up on essential emergency items.

9 . Many people think of sharks as dangerous monsters. But human beings cause a far greater danger to them than they do to us. Although shark attacks do occur, they are quite rare. According to one estimate, however, humans kill 100 million sharks every year.     1    

Why should we save the sharks?

Sharks take up the top position on the food chain in the ocean. As sharks die off, the population of the animals that sharks consume will increase. This, in turn, means that the number of the creatures those animals eat will drop.     2     Fish that eat algae (藻类) are also included. This can cause algae to spread so much that it damages coral reefs.

    3     The ocean not only produces more oxygen than all the rainforests on Earth combined, but also removes half of the man-made greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Once sharks die off, the global ecosystem will be upset, affecting all creatures including human beings.

Don’t use shark products

First, vitamin energy drinks and leather goods can be made from shark parts.     4     In addition, shark meat is sold around the world, sometimes under misleading names such as rock salmon or whitefish. Shark fin soup is a popular dish. However, the process of getting fins is cruel. Fishermen cut the shark’s fins off and then throw the shark back into the water, still alive.     5     Sharks breathe by swimming, so a shark that can’t swim will die.

10 . The climate change has become an issue that no one can escape from. If the world wants to limit climate change, water shortage and pollution, we all need to choose “flexitarian” diets, say scientists.

This means eating mainly plant-based food, which is one of three key steps towards a sustainable future for all in 2050, they say. Food waste will need to be halved and farming practices will also have to improve, according to the study. Without action, the impacts of the food system could increase by up to 90%. Fast on the heels of the landmark report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) comes this new study on how food production and consumption impact major threats to the planet.

The authors say that the food system has a number of significant environmental impacts including being a major driver of climate change, providing freshwater and reducing pollution through over use of nitrogen (氮) and phosphorus (磷).

The study says that thanks to the population and income growth expected between 2010 and2050, these impacts could grow between 50%~90%. This could push our world beyond its geographic boundaries. So when it comes to climate change, the authors looked at what they called a “flexitarian diet”.

“We can eat a range of healthy diets but what they all have in common, according to the latest scientific evidence, is that they are all relatively plant-based,’’ said lead author Dr. Marco Springmann from the University of Oxford.

“You can go from a diet that has small amounts of animal products; some might call it a Mediterranean-based diet; we call it a flexitarian diet. We tried to stay with the most conservative one of these which in our view is the flexitarian one, but even this has only one serving of red meat per week,” he added.

If the world moved to this type of diet, the study found that greenhouse gas emissions (排放) from agriculture would be reduced by more than half.