1 . The world is about to get a lot greener over the next 10 years. The United Nations has begun 2021-30 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and many countries, with help from donors, have started ambitious programs to restore forests. But little is known about how best to achieve that.

Between 2000 and 2020, the amount of forest increased by 3 million square kilometers, an area larger than Peru, according to the World Resources Institute, with China and India leading the way. But about 45% of those new forests are less beneficial for biodiversity (生物多样性) and long-term carbon storage than natural forests.

Many reforestation (新造林) projects focus on the number of trees planted, with less attention to how well they survive, how various the resulting forests are, or how much carbon they store. “We still know relatively little about what is working well or not, where, and why.” says Laura Duncanson of the University of Maryland, College Park, who studies carbon storage in forests.

Lindsay Banin, a forest ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and her colleagues examined data on how well newly planted trees survived at 176 reforested sites that differed in soil and environmental conditions as well as in what was planted. In some places, fewer than one in five saplings (幼树) survived, and on average only 44% lasted more than 5 years.

There is encouraging information: When saplings were planted near adult trees, an average of 64% survived, possibly because those spots were not as degraded. Other research has shown that some animals enjoy eating saplings which seem delicious. So measures such as fencing out cattle and improving soil conditions can be taken to increase saplings’ chances of survival as well, but they can be costly

Many other issues need attention as well, says Marshall, also a co-editor of the theme issue.

2 . People can be easily harmed by what they desire. The mouse is caught by the cheese, and man is caught by the world’s most popular entertainment — television.

The amount of time people spend watching television is surprising. According to a research, American adults usually spend four hours a day in front of the TV, fully half of their free time. Over a lifetime, that’s more than nine years. Yet, we love to complain (抱怨) that we don’t have time for the things we really want to do.

There are two reasons-— we end up watching more TV than we know we should. People think they need it and it’s easy. We usually don’t realize how long we’re watching television. Since it’s a passive (消极的) activity, with feelings of lowered concentration continuing even after the set is off, watchers find their energy and concentration are low. Thus, they don’t want to get up and do something else once you’re planted on the sofa.

Instead of being a passive watcher, Julie Morgenstern, the author of Time Management, advises a method. “Fill your time with things you like, ” she says. “You should have a plan for your time and don’t watch beyond what you’ve planned.”

There are also ways to make TV watching harder. Most people put the TV in their living room. But you may try to put the TV away in a back room or the basement. Then arrange your sofas and chairs for conversation and reading.

Benefits of less TV will be obvious. Every spring during the TV Turnoff Week (April 21-27) thousands of people give this a try and often find they prefer watching less. The first few days can be hard. But, after that period, people find freedom. They get more things done and that makes them happier.

You may see TV watching as a way to decompress after your day. Studies have shown that watching television doesn’t lower your stress level, but in fact may increase it.

3 . Long-time referees (裁判) in different youth sports say there’s an expectation for referees to be perfect. Parents want their children to excel, and coaches are under pressure to win. Sometimes, they say, referees become a scapegoat (替罪羊).

Perry Petterle, who is with the USA Hockey Officiating Program, says the number of teen and pre-teen referees is dropping. He says before the COVID- 19 pandemic the program had about 4,000 registered referees, but they’re now down to about 1,700.

“ It’s happening in soccer, it’s happening in other sports, the abuse (辱骂) that is coming from coaches and parents. It has a bad effect on a young kid, young lady or young man that’s out there refereeing, “ says Petterle.

Referees have to bear the abuse.

“ I’ve been in rinks (溜冰场) where I’ve had to go up to parents, and it’s happened three times this year, because you have parents banging on the glass, shouting at the official for a missed call (裁判员的判决). Yes, they’re gonna make mistakes and I go up and try to educate that parent’, Hey, we’ve got a 13-year-old kid out here. You know, we need him to stay in the program,’”he says.

Of the 41 years he’s been involved in refereeing, Petterle says the abuse has become more common in the last 10 years. Carlos Folino, who’s refereed soccer for 37 years, agrees.

“For the most part, it’s getting to the point where youth used to think that it was a good way to make a few extra dollars, better than flipping hamburgers. But with all the shouting and abusing that they get, it’s not worth it. And that word gets to his or her friend and his or her friend won’t join because of that, ”says Folino, Michigan State Referee Administrator.

Folino says it needs changing. Petterle says education and communication are part of a possible solution to bringing respect for referees back to youth sports.

4 . It was winter of 1973 and Singaporean L. Shanmugam waited at the guardhouse of a building in the small town of Hermannsburg, Germany. The Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) instructor hoped for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to call on Kurt Hahn, the father of experiential education and founder of Outward Bound.

When a staff member told him that the elderly Hahn was a sick and weak man who did not entertain guests, Shanmugam still waited. He said he had hitchhiked(搭便车) his way from Wales to Germany, crossing the Alps just to show his great admiration for Hahn’s extraordinary achievements — if that was not the spirit of adventure, what was? The next moment, he was invited in. It was a dreamlike experience to finally meet Hahn, he recalled.

Over lunch, Shanmugam told the educator that he had come from a faraway country called Singapore. He talked about how the small flat tropical(热带的) island had little experience with mountaineering, polar exploration or extreme landscapes. Despite the limitations, this did not stop young Singaporeans from continuing to follow in Hahn’s rich legacy(遗产) of outdoor learning.

Hahn was among the earliest pioneers who believed that the outdoors could shape the personal development of young people. In 1934, as the founder and headmaster of Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland, he asked his students to make regular sailing expeditions(定期航海探险) and hill-walking.

During the Second World War, Hahn started a new kind of school in Aberdovey in Wales to train youths: a one-month course involving expeditions across three mountain ranges, rescue training and volunteer work in the local community. In 1941, Outward Bound, a charitable educational organization that provides adventure programs, was born.

Eighty years on, Outward Bound has become a national policy in Singapore. In following Hahn’s footsteps, the country has discovered that the act of communicating with the outdoors brings a certain kind of magic.

“We want all our young people to be strong, adaptable and creative. Outdoor adventure learning is especially useful in giving these lessons, which are very hard to teach in the classroom,” said Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

6 . In 2017, bottled water surpassed carbonated soft drinks to become the most popular beverage in the United States. While there are undeniably health benefits to more Americans choosing water over sugary sodas, the uptick(小幅上升)in bottled water sales and the marketing push for selling pre-packaged water has also contributed to an explosion of disposable container waste. Despite having some of the cleanest municipal water systems in the world, 60% of the world’s bottled water consumption occurs in the United States, even though Americans only comprise 4.5% of the world’s total population.

People justify drinking bottled water for many different reasons. Bottled water in restaurants has become somewhat of a status symbol, especially in fine dining. When I waited tables, I always dreaded asking guests for their water preference. In business settings where tablemates are unfamiliar with each other, no one feels comfortable answering for the group. Guests dining on an expense account—at least in a high-end restaurant—typically “splurge”(挥霍)on bottled water. A waiter wouldn’t dare offend a client by ordering tap water.

This results in trash bags filled with hundreds of empty glass bottles every night. In theory, the bottles and their packaging are recyclable, but history shows that, despite our best intentions, many recyclable products end up in landfills anyway.

We can all agree, hopefully, that whenever possible, restaurants should make more responsible choices about how their businesses impact the environment. The world is changing, and restaurants can’t always give people what they want anymore. Forgoing(放弃)bottled water is a very small sacrifice for those who prefer it—a drop in the bucket, as they say.

7 . Do boys and girls really deal with people in different ways? With Leaper’s help, we carried out some tests that showed us yes.

We offered the kids brightly wrapped (包装) gifts which may be disappointing: socks and a pencil. The girls responded very politely. Courtney said happily, “Just what I need. Socks and a pencil!” Her words made me feel good, while the boys weren’t about to make me feel good. “What?” Raja said, “Socks and a pencil? Rip-off!” Jacob had a similar reaction.

Are boys and girls simply born different?

Susan Witt, at the University of Akron, says boys and girls respond differently in situations like these because we parent them differently.

Witt means parents and society treat kids differently. A famous study called “Baby X” designed by Phyllis Katz tested adults on how they treated babies based on what they thought the gender (性别) was. When adults thought they were holding a girl, they held her gently and gave her dolls. When they thought the baby was a boy, they offered him a football. In the 1970s, some people took this to argue boys and girls were born entirely the same, and they behaved differently only because parents and society taught them to. Now, however, it’s accepted that society and biology both create the difference.

Witt also offered a few tips for the parents of girls: Don’t help them so much. Research shows parents tend to help girls more than boys. This can make girls feel helpless and less confident.

In the case of the boys who were honest in our test, we saw that their parents gave them a lot of freedom to act out. “Maybe too much,” says Witt. Witt said Moms should discourage kids who scream out demands.

Finally, a caution (警告) about generalizing about gender. The differences between individuals are frequently bigger than differences between sexes. In our experiments, some girls did speak their mind, and some boys were very polite.

8 . SCANDINAVIAN STARTUPS

Kahoot!

The game-based learning platform is used in half of US schools, offering some 60 million competitions. The idea is to make learning “great and fun,” says, the company’s CEO. Last year, Kahoot! had more than one billion players worldwide.

Founded:2013

XPLORA

XPLORA founder Sten Kirkbak nearly lost his son Filip, at a shopping centre nine years ago, so he built a device that makes it possible for parents to know where their children are at all times. It is a bit like a speakerphone with a camera, but for old people it also tells the wearer when to take medicines.

Founded:2016

reMarkable

A black-and-white e-paper device made for notetaking, users write on the reMarkable, and text recognition software changes it into type. “We neither have many meetings, nor do much talking,” says founder Magnus Wanberg.

Founded:2016

No Isolation

This startup, founded by Karen Dolva, Marius Aabel, and Matias Doyle, hopes to help socially isolated (孤立的) people — its first product was a small robot called AVl, which acts as the eyes and voice of a child forced to stay at home or in hospital. More than 850 AVls are in use in 13 countries; 160 at over 100 UK schools. No Isolation’s latest device is KOMP. Made for old people, it enables simple video calls and messaging.

Founded:2016

9 . Take your dog for a meal. At more restaurants including some of the most fashionable ones, dining with animals is now part of the evening’s menu.

When locals in Key West, go out to dinner, a popular place is an open-air restaurant. On entering the restaurant, they’ll likely see a cat next to a sign that says “Pet the Cat, $1.”

For the owners of the restaurant, serving human guests alongside their pets is a no-brainer. Since they opened the restaurant, they’ve had a friendly rule towards pets, the one that allows pets into the restaurant in a given week.

Americans more and more depend on restaurants (they eat 4.2 meals out each week), it’s only natural that the family pet is finally getting into the act. Enter “pet-friendly restaurants” into an Internet search engine and many restaurants come out.

Why do restaurants court pets? “Dogs never send their food back,” jokes one owner.

The trend(趋势) doesn’t only belong to common places. Many high-rank restaurants also have followed the trend. And there are some cooks making a special effort to treat those with four legs. Lorie Ann, co-owner and cook at a restaurant named Fish Wagon in Calif., specializing in German and French food, serves a free home-made “doggie burger” and a few doggie “cookies” to non-human guests.

Even as more restaurants seek to draw pet owners, they are still the exception. Most local health rules make it clear that pets should be prevented from restaurants and suggest that they be kept out of open-air areas. Still, many officials don’t pay attention to the rules and allow pets to sit outside with their owners.

To make pet owners convenient within the rules, some restaurants allow pets to sit with their owners only when the animals are “parked” just outside the designated (指定的) dining area .