2 . McDonald’s sells about one billion Happy Meals every year in more than 100 countries, including a lot of little, plastic toys. As the climate crisis heats up, plastic has been targeted as a major factor. McDonald’s is trying its best to be part of the solution, announcing the roll of “more sustainable”. Happy Meal toys made from recycled or certified materials by 2025.

The process of adopting sustainable Happy Meal toys has been underway for the past few years and has been strong cooperation between the marketing and supply chain teams. The announcement, however, marks Happy Meals’ first sustainability makeover and their joining a number of other recent sustainability initiatives from McDonald’s.

McDonald’s claimed to be the first global restaurant company to invest in solar and wind energy to expand the amount of renewable energy available in the U.S. McDonald’s also recently completed its first net-zero energy restaurant, located in Florida, designed to create enough renewable energy on-site to cover 100% of its energy needs annually. The company is using the restaurant to test additional solutions to reducing energy and water use.

All these efforts have the potential to provide a model not just for the system of McDonald’s, but for the entire restaurant industry, given the chain’s scale. They’ re also likely to generate some closeness from younger consumers, who are demanding more social responsibility from major corporations.

The toy makeover won’t affect the price of Happy Meals, because the company has designed their cost to be neutral (适中的). This likely means the effort won’t affect sales much, if at all. Happy Meal sales are “stronger than ever”.

“We have listened to our customers and have heard not just from parents, but from kids themselves,” said Sam, one of the officials of McDonald’s. “They’ re worried about the planet. We want to grow and be relevant to our customers and are now making bigger changes because we know this is what they wanted us to do.”

4 . A United Nations group of experts predicted that global warming would reach extreme levels by the early 2030s. The likely result: ever-worsening weather disasters and related events—hunger, extinction of some plant and wildlife species and the spread of infectious diseases.

There is still time to avoid these disasters, but the window for action is closing quickly. Yet the reality is, few countries are on track to meet their existing goals to address climate change. Luckily, there is one bright note in this otherwise black picture: individual innovators are stepping up to try to find solutions to fight climate crisis using technology in new and creative ways.

When Beth began working in the fashion industry, she was disappointed to find that many makers tended to largely guess what people would actually buy. As a result, companies overproduced clothes, creating needless waste and environmental pollution.

To reduce unsold products and material waste in the fashion industry, in 2015, Beth began her own company, Unspun, which seeks solutions by making on-demand custom clothing tailored to a buyer’s body using a 3D-body scan. “We will never make clothes before they have a home.” said Beth. Its self-developed 3D-weaving(编织) machine enables customisation using a body scanner.

Unspun launched its first 3D woven items using the innovative tech last year. Since then, the company has produced thousands of pairs of pants, hats, bags in a test run for a large European retailer(零售商).

Unspun doesn’t intend to keep its novel production technique to itself. The company is in the process of building microsites around the world to localize 3D weaving production. For example, the company has set up its office in Hong Kong with a focus on business development, marketing and customer services. “Our goal is to reduce the global human carbon footprint by 1 percent, and the only way to realistically get there is to become a platform, working with forward-thinking brands (品牌) to collectively cleanup the industry,” says Beth.

5 . Welcome to Youth Conservation Corps

We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are now hiring four youths to serve on the Youth Conservation Corps located at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center, part of the Fergus Falls Wetland Management District.

Application requirements:

·Ages 15 through 18 years old.

·All applicants must have a valid(有效的)social security number.

·Fill out a Youth Conservation Corps application and return it to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center, 602 State Highway 210 East, Fergus Falls, MN 56537, no later than 4:00 pm on April 18, 2022.

Working conditions:

All members work on wildlife habitat improvement projects. They receive on-the-job training and work mainly outdoors, so exposure to weather conditions, insects, poison ivy and wildlife is expected. Proper personal protective equipment is provided by the district.

Schedule:

The summer work season starts from June 6, 2022 and runs through July 29, 2022. Work each day, Monday-Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm. Work 40 hours per week for 8 weeks.

Salary:

Each member is paid $10.08/hour.

Special notes:

·You can get application forms for pick-up at area high school career offices and at the visitor center of the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center.

·We will select the members through a random(随机地)drawing process to be conducted on April 22, 2022.

·To receive an electronic copy, email your request with Youth Conservation Corps

Application as the subject line to joanne_ryan@fws.gov.

Contact Information:

If you have questions regarding the application or the Youth Conservation Corps program, please call Prairie Wetlands Learning Center information desk at 218-998-4480 or email prairiewet@fws.gov.

7 . Most people suffer from what is known as “just-me-ism”. What is that? Well, say you leave the tap ______ while you brush your teeth, or you drop a piece of litter and can’t be bothered to pick it up. You know that all those things are ______, but so what? “What ______ can it possibly make?” you say to yourself. “And anyway, no one will ______.” You are not ______. But this kind of thought would be very ______.

To ______ young people to take action for the environment, Roots&Shoots (根与芽) was established in the early 1990s by Dr. Jane Goodall. The organisation is called Roots&Shoots because roots move slowly under the ground to make a ______ foundation, and shoots seem small and ______, but they can ______ brick walls to reach the light. The roots and shoots are you, your friends and young people all around the world. Dr. Jane Goodall believes that every individual ______.

You get to choose: Do you want to use your life to make the world a ______ place for people, animals and the environment? Do you want to make Roots&Shoots ______ in everyone’s heart? Do you want to be a part of a community for a shared ______? You cannot be ______.

8 . A Ghanaian man in Africa, who once made glass jewelry (珠宝), is now focusing on more than _________. The glass artist is reducing glass waste and helping his country both economically and _________.

Tetteh got to _________ the art of glass blowing (吹制) during a visit to Europe in 2012, then he became the nation’s only professional glass blower. Later, the beautifully-colored, artistic flower holders or water carriers really _________ him.

Why not _________ more Ghanaian people to make art pieces from glass? With efforts, Tetteh set up his own workplaces in Ghana where, every day, they _________ broken glass from waste centers and turns it into _________ for family use and decoration. Largely _________, after all, Ghana buys about $300 million yearly worth of glass and pottery from other countries.

Tetteh melts the _________ glass from old televisions or bottles and turns the old glass into hot liquid. Using a long pole to remove a ball of melted glass, he starts working to ____________ the glass into colorful items people can use again. Actually, In the past ten years, Tetteh’s ____________ has not only saved the country a lot of money but got the country ____________.

Tetteh, now 44, loves what he is doing. “Glass is my ____________, but Ghana is my heart,” he laughed, ____________ to do something for his country ____________.