4 . Rainwater in cities causes more troubles than wet feet. It carries away waste from rooftops and streets as it washes through cities. European scientists are now trying to work out how to deal with flooding rainwater.

In the city of Wetteren, Belgium, researchers are experimenting with seashells. Millions of shells from the nearby North Sea are used to collect and treat rainwater from a shopping-mall roof and a parking lot. The shells are laid below a surface drain (下水道) through which dirty water is carried away. With a 70% empty space that allows them to store rainwater, they’re also a natural cleaning station, which is then used to water community gardens.

The experiment is part of a project called StopUP whose goal is to prevent rainwater from carrying pollutants into lakes and rivers. The project’s focus is to make sure that such wastewater, which can include everything from plastics to heavy metals, gets treated.

Thomas Jeffery, head of the College of Environmental Engineering in Germany, said a big knowledge gap can exist between the popular perception of rainwater and its true content. “Rainwater seems to be very clean, but when it washes the streets and roofs, it becomes full of dust and other harmful pollutants,” said Thomas.

In Europe, 38% of surface waterbodies have different forms of pollutants, which run deep in the ground and damage soils, plants and animals, according to Julie Rosalie, director of the European Environment Agency. Human health depends on clean water for drinking, bathing and cooking, and now we arc at risk because plants and animals are affected by chemicals in rivers, lakes and coastal waters.

“StopUP technologies and methods could provide tools to reduce rainwater pollution.” Rosalie said. “It has a positive effect on the quality of our common environment.”

5 . The holiday season is a time for celebrating with friends and family, when people give gifts or decorate their homes. Unfortunately, this can all lead to a lot of waste. However, there are ways to reduce the amount of waste you create.

Gift bags or wrap that can be reused are recommended on the list. You can reuse them the next time you give a gift. You can also wrap gifts in old maps, pages from magazines, and art paper. The person receiving the gift could use the wrap for something else. The Chinese traditional cloth-wrapper is popular wrapping cloth, which is pretty and strong. It can be used for other things, like a colorful scarf or tablecloth, rather than just thrown away.

For many people, sending holiday cards is a tradition. Now people are increasingly accepting electronic holiday cards. “There are so many digital options now, and people get just as much joy out of it,” some people said. These cards offer a range of benefits. With the increasing popularity, electronic cards have become a preferred choice.

For decorating the home, real trees have become first option rather than plastic ones. Some trees are grown for the purpose of being cut, and new ones are typically replanted every year. So, the cycle continues. Buying local trees means that it doesn’t use much fuel. After the holidays, trees are picked and processed into usable products, like small wood pieces for the garden. What’s more, you can’t beat the smell of a fresh-cut tree.

6 . When most kids go to the beach, they’re too focused on making sandcastles and splashing around to notice litter, but several years ago, for 7-year-old Cash Daniels, noticing a plastic straw sparked a lifelong passion for saving the planet.

Cash, who is now known as the “conservation kid”, has always loved nature. He grew up fishing along the Chattanooga River, after all! But once he learned that 80 percent of all trash from land and rivers ends up in the ocean, he couldn’t sit back.

He started with cleanups along the river, something that quickly went from a family affair to a community effort with volunteers and neighbors. In 2019, Cash, together with a Canadian conservationist, Ella Galaski-Rossen, started a nonprofit called the Cleanup Kids. Despite living in different countries, they managed to create educational videos on their YouTube channel. “We hope to be a really big nonprofit that eliminates plastic in the U. S. and Canada,” Cash said. “We want to inform kids and adults in the landlocked states on how their actions are connected to the water and the ocean,” Cash said.

Cash was selected as one of America’s top 10 youth volunteers of 2021 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. He also earned the title of National Honoree, where he received a$5,000 grant to go to a nonprofit of his choice, and he became the first person to win the Youth Conservationist Award two years in a row from the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.

“I want to travel the world, teach others, and help them feel connected to the ocean. Because if you are connected to the ocean-if you love it and what lives in it—you’ll want to protect it,” he said. “This is my fun, and it becomes more fun with every new discovery.”

7 . Government agencies and volunteer groups in many places are using sea creatures to protect coastal areas from storms and rising sea levels. The idea is that large groups of oysters (牡蛎) known as colonies, can help reduce the power of waves. Powerful waves can damage lands along the edge of ocean waters.

Oysters may play an important part in dealing with the problem. Oysters are central to a project that is taking place near Vaccaro’s rebuilt house. The project is being carried out by the Littore Society. It received $1 million from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The group has been building steel wire containers, filling them with rocks and whelk (海螺) shells an positioning them along the shoreline of Barnegat Bay.

Tiny baby oysters are attached to whelk shells and placed in the existing cages to further strengthen the shoreline. The shoreline in Vaccaro’s neighborhood has lost 46 meters of beach since 1995, the Littoral Society says.

The oysters appear to be doing their job. One recent day, a strong east wind blew across the bay. But between the oysters and the shoreline, the water was much calmer, and waves gently wen onto the shoreline instead of hitting it with force.

As an added benefit, the oysters help improve water quality in the bay. The Associated Press reports that a single oyster can filter (过滤) up to 190 liters of water a day.

A few kilometers south, a group called ReClam the Bay is building an oyster reef to protect the shoreline of Mordecai Island. People do not live on the island, but it protects the shoreline of Beach Haven, a town on Long Beach Island.

Volunteers fill bags with 16 kilograms of whelk shells, to which millions of baby oysters have been attached. Then volunteers move them out to the reef a few hundred yards into the ocean. They have placed 10, 000 bags of oysters and whelk shells there since 2015.