3 . Different ways have been applied to dealing with waste paper, specifically used newspapers. Some people put them in the recycling area, while others keep them as wrappers (包装纸). While these are both good measures, a Japanese publishing company had a better idea for their end use.

The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. invented the “Green Newspaper”, which allows people to grow plants with it. This unique newspaper was published on Greenery Day, which is focused on environmental news and made of green paper with seeds placed into it. What makes it even more special is the ink (油墨) used to print words and photos, which is made from plants. The publisher advises readers to tear the used newspaper into small pieces and plant them in a container with soil. They should water them, like they would do for any plant. Within a few weeks, the seeds will grow into plants.

This brilliant concept was invented by Dentsu Inc., one of Japan’s most famous advertising companies, which works with the publishing company on the initiative (倡议). The publisher’s belief is environmental sustainability (持续性). As its mission statement says, “The Mainichi doesn’t take action only through information, but also by solving global issues.” With joint efforts, this initiative has reached the corners of Japan and sold around millions of copies daily. Other such initiatives producing plantable paper are also seen in India and the US.

About 95 million trees are lost for producing newspapers every year. The Internet, the number of whose users stands for 62.5 percent of the population worldwide, has influenced how people read news and the print readership has dropped greatly. However, the reinvention and reimagination of this newspaper will bring about a change in the publishing industry as well as having an environmental influence.

5 . Which is better for Earth: an electric or gas-powered vehicle? The answer to this question might seem blindingly obvious: Of course electric cars must be better for the environment, because they don’t give off greenhouse gases as people drive. However, electric vehicles (EVs) aren’t perfect, and they come with their own set of polluting problems. Their batteries require a large amount of energy to produce.

Battery production is just one part of an electric car’s life span. A study looked at the entire life cycle of an EV’s emissions (排放), from mining the metals for the batteries to producing the electricity needed to power them, and then compared this with the average emissions of a gas-powered vehicle. The team found that when EVs are charged with coal-powered electricity, they’re actually worse for the environment than gas-powered cars.

“Only when connected to the dirtiest, coal-heavy electric grids (电网) do gas-powered cars become comparable to EVs on a greenhouse gas basis,” said Colin Sheppard, an expert in energy and transportation systems. That’s why more and more countries are decreasing the power supply from coal. In China, the national grid is improving with more investments in renewable energy. For example, it has twice as much wind energy capacity as the U.S. and it builds more solar panels per year than any other countries.

Sheppard modelled a future in which all cars were electric. “We wanted to understand what it might be like if all passenger vehicles are electrified.” For example, Sheppard calculated that if all vehicles in the U.S. were electric, it would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 46% every year. This reduction could be increased even further if those vehicles were using a technique known as “smart charging” in which cars are recharged at chosen times (often at night) to reduce the cost of electricity.

In short, it’s far easier to argue in favor of buying an EV than a gas-powered vehicle. But what about the cost? Aren’t electric vehicles too expensive for most people?

6 . A method to transform a commonly thrown-away plastic to a resin (树脂) used in 3D printing could allow for making better use of plastic waste. A team of Washington State University researchers developed a simple and efficient way to transform polylactic acid (PLA)(聚乳酸), a bio-based plastic used in products such as filament, plastic silverware and food packaging to a high-quality resin.

“We found a way to immediately turn this into something that’s stronger and better, and we hope that will provide people the inspiration to upcycle this stuff instead of just throw it away,” said Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a co-corresponding author on the work. “We made stronger materials just straight out of trash. We believe this could be a great opportunity.”

Although it’s bio-based, PLA, which is categorized as a number 7 plastic, doesn’t break down easily. It can float in fresh or salt water for a year without degrading (降解). It is also rarely recycled because like many plastics, when it’s melted down and re-formed, it doesn’t perform as well as the original version and becomes less valuable.

“It’s biodegradable and compostable, but once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to rot away in a landfill,” Chang said. “In reality, it still creates a lot of pollution. We want to make sure that when we do start producing PLA on the milliontons scale, we will know how to deal with it.”

While the researchers focused on PLA for the study, they hope to apply the work to poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) (涤纶树脂), which is more common than PLA and has a similar chemical structure and presents a bigger waste problem. They have filed a temporary patent and are working to further optimize (优化) the process. The researchers are also looking into other applications for the upcycling method.

7 . A student-led push to get solar panels installed at a middle school in Tacoma is receiving national recognition from a clean energy nonprofit organization called Generation 180. The girls involved are advocating and fundraising for the project.

Sammy Firkins, Gwen Newport and Annie Son will talk about their idea to generate solar electricity at Jason Lee Middle School in a panel discussion organized by Generation 180. In 2019, the three of them teamed up with their science teacher, Kathy Hall, to push for solar panels to be installed. Hall, who uses solar power at her own house, said it’s long been a dream of hers. The school would be the first in the Tacoma district to use solar energy.

The girls presented their idea to Gov. Jay Inslee’s STEM Education Innovation Alliance meeting in early 2019 and received enthusiastic support. They then spoke to the Tacoma school board and obtained buy-in from the district, though they were told the district did not have the roughly $ 200,000 for the 277 solar panels and that they would have to fundraise. They’ve since raised more than half that amount through grants and individual donations.

Gwen Newport said she’s always cared a lot about environmental issues and that she’s troubled that climate change does not get the attention it deserves. “At this point, I feel like it’s kind of been given to my generation almost as our responsibility now and so being able to be a part of this project and take action is really important to me,” she said.

The solar panels have not been installed at the school yet. But Hall said she estimates that the project will reduce the school’s power costs by about $ 14,000 a year, and that it also will serve an educational purpose. “We will have live data always streaming available so that people can see how the panels are working and how they relate to the amount of electricity we’re using, and it will be an incredible learning tool,” she said.

8 . Help Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs are nature’s recyclers. They eat waste and help keep oceans and shores clean. Unlike other crabs, the hermit crab has a thin outer shell over its soft tail. This makes the hermit crab easy prey for hungry predators. Hermit crabs stay safe by living in old seashells. A hermit crab is picky; it tries on many shells until it finds one that fits just right. In recent years, however, many hermit crabs have had trouble finding their perfect homes. What is the problems There are not enough shells to go around!

One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was. This has caused chemical changes to sea water. Some sea animals, like snails, are affected by these changes. Now there are fewer snails making shells. People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs. This is another problem. Other people even take shells for their own pet hermit crabs! They do not realize that hermit crabs in the wild need those shells too.

Now people are working to solve this hermit crab housing shortage. They are teaching beach-Boers to leave seashells where they belong — at the seashore! Some people even make fake seashells that they hope the hermit crabs will like. For example, a group called Project Shelter invited people who visited their website to create different designs for hermit crab shells.

These designers had a lot to consider. What kind of material should be used to build a seashells. The material must be light enough for the hermit crab to carry, but strong enough to protect the crab from predators. The man-made shells could not contain glue or any other substance that might harm a hermit crab. Another challenge with building a hermit crab home was the opening to the shell. Too big would mean the crab would not feel safe. Too small would be uncomfortable, and the crab would not want to move in.

The Project Shelter shells are placed in the wild for hermit crabs to find. Lucky hermit crabs can move into these new dream homes.

9 . Every year, butterfly(蝴蝶) lovers in California go out in November to count monarch butterflies. They     1    (get) a worrying result from their fall monarch count in 2018—    2     number of monarchs had dropped by 86% since 2017.

The orange and black monarch butterflies are famous     3     their long migrations(迁徙)—they fly thousands of miles every year. In the spring and summer they fly north; in the fall they fly south again.

Monarchs, like most butterflies, are     4    (terrible) important for plants. They help create more plants by spreading pollen(花粉) between plants. In turn, monarchs depend on plants for food. And they depend completely on a plant called milkweed     5    (lay) their eggs.

But monarchs have been facing growing problems for years. As more and more wild land has been turned into large farms, the monarchs have had trouble     6    (find) enough milkweed. Many farms also use chemicals     7     will kill insects in order to protect their plants. These chemicals also affect monarchs. Besides, pollution has made milkweed less     8    (health) for the monarchs than it used to be.

Scientists say monarchs will be in danger of dying out in the next 20 years if nothing     9    (do) to save them.

    10    (thing) that people can do to help include planting milkweed, controlling the use of chemicals, protecting wild areas, and planting trees.

10 . A waste management system is a collective kind of efforts and has to be supported by the government and all the people. There are some countries with the most interesting waste sorting culture.

Germany is the country with the world's number one recycling system. It has a quite detailed way of sorting their waste-down to the colour of glass waste and the type of paper that could be put inside the paper waste bin. Items like used batteries, electronics, unused paints and appliances must be returned to special locations to be recycled. Other items such as clothes, shoes and furniture are advised to be sold or donated. There's this thing called deposit in Germany, a certain part of the price on a bottled drink that you get back if you return the bottle. German law requires that all shops selling bottled drinks should have such a return point.

South Koreans used to ignore how to sort their waste, but in 1995 their government took a different path from other countries: they set up a systematic(系统的)and strict waste management standard to make sure the development of their future economy. Their government knows that a, good waste management system brings money-saving and environment-caring. South Korea succeeded in changing the people's behavior and did everything to ensure their waste reduction.

It's never too hard to throw your garbage in Indonesia. What Indonesians commonly do is putting your trashes in your personal garbage area at the front of your house, right at the side of the street. And the garbage collectors with their big garbage truck will pick the trashes up. Imagine how much culture shock an Indonesian would suffer when they live in a country famous for its complicated waste sorting system such as Japan, South Korea or Germany-a place where public shaming and fine for a failure in obeying the waste sorting rules is more likely to happen.