1 . The Last Straw?

Every second, the world uses 160,000 plastic bags — that is a total of over five trillion per year. Up to 99 percent of these plastic bags hang around for at least 1,000 years and pollute Earth. And yet, plastic bags are hardly a necessity in our lives. Of all the changes we could make to create a more sustainable lifestyle, a total ban on plastic bags should be simple.

At the beginning of 2021, Shanghai put in effect a ban on all plastic bags in shopping malls and supermarkets, as well as a ban on non-degradable plastics in many other areas. Over the years, individuals and companies have worked to replace plastic items, such as cups and straws, with paper ones.     1    .

Customers complain that paper straws often become soft and break before they can finish their hot drinks. Experts, however, have repeatedly stressed plastic substitutes (替代品) are not the ultimate solution, and that our consumption habits need a bigger change.

In college, one of my environmental science professors promoted a type of waste-free living. She carried around a small glass jar with her, and in it was all her trash she collected for the entire year. She was able to do this by bringing her own cup to Starbucks, her own bags to the shops, and never buying anything that came wrapped in plastic. Her food waste also became compost.     2    .

Plastic bags are incredibly easy to forget about when they become increasingly common.     3    . Once they are in the trash, we take it for granted that they are someone else’s problem. The sad fact is that plastic bags break down into microplastics which then get mixed into the air, soil and water, and eventually end up in plants, animals, and our very own human bodies. So what are you going to do about them?

2 . The Decision That Changed My Life

We make decisions every day. Whether it is a small decision like what to wear that day or a big decision like where to go to college, these decisions have at least some influence on the rest of our lives. I wanted to talk about a decision I made that has changed my life forever.    1    I know that it seems like such a tiny decision, but it truly has changed my life.

I gave up soda about a month and a half before my trip to the Bahamas as a healthy step towards “getting in shape” for my trip. At first I thought it was going to be really hard giving it up, but after that first two weeks I wasn’t thinking about soda at all. One tiling led to another and I started eating better, working out more and just generally living a healthier life. I had already seen a difference in my life following this healthier life style.    2     During my trip I was extremely tempted to drink soda because all we were drinking was water.    3    

That was because I wanted to show those who maybe thought I wouldn’t be able to do it that they were wrong. Soon the urge to drink soda somewhat disappeared and I really did not even become tempted by it by the end of the trip. I got home to the States and when I got back home I decided to weigh myself. I had lost 20 pounds on my trip!

I also wanted to give some advice for those who were in the same situation as I was, where you wanted/needed to give up something that you think you can’t live without.    4     My friends really helped me out by supporting me and reminding me of the reason why I was doing it. Lastly, remember why you are giving it up. Use the goal of you losing weight or being generally healthier to motivate you through the struggle. In the end, giving up soda changed my life and I don’t regret my decision what so ever.

3 . A warning from science

When you're bored of some very boring task, what do you do? If you're like many, the answer is a no brainer: You reach for your phone. If that sounds familiar, a new unpublished study has bad news.    1    

The problem isn't taking a break. Previous studies show that we get more done overall if we take regular, short breaks. The problem is your phone. Dutch research shows most of us carry around a boredom-increasing machine in our pockets. To figure out the relationship between phones and boredom, A Dutch research team fixed an app on the phones of 83 volunteers to track how often they used their devices. They also asked these volunteers to keep diaries for three days, recording their level of tiredness and boredom every hour.

    2     “Phone breaks were frequent: In the 20 minutes following each survey, participants (参与者) picked up their phones 52 percent of the time. They spent an average of around 90 seconds on it each time,” reports the findings on the British Psychological Society Research Digest blog.

Equally unsurprising was the second finding:     3     The real unexpected thing was the final finding. While we look to our phones to relieve tiredness and boredom, screen time seemed to increase feelings of boredom. “Participants actually reported higher levels of boredom after having used their smartphones,” notes BPS.

    4     Switching from work to your phone and back may end up being more mentally tiring than refreshing. Picking up your phone from time to time might serve as a reminder of all the things out there you could be doing if you didn't have to fill out paperwork.

This one study can't definitively say if either of these explanations is right, but the idea it communicates is clear. You think a glance at your phone is going to make you feel less bored, but it's actually going to make your brain feel more tired.