1 . On March 31, 2007, the World Wildlife Fund（WWF）urged the citizens and businesses in Sydney to switch off all lights for one hour.     1     This small action helped save 10% of the electricity—the equivalent（等同）of the carbon dioxide emitted by 48,000 cars—consumed by the city’s residents in a regular evening hour.

As news of the impact spread, more people became inspired to join the Earth Hour movement. In 2008, over 50 million people in over 5,000 cities worldwide observed the event.     2     Today Earth Hour, held annually on the last Saturday of March, is the biggest voluntary environmental movement globally and is celebrated in over 180 countries.

Besides making an immediate difference, the WWF says the worldwide participation demonstrates people’s desire to do their share to reverse climate change. In the past decade, the Earth Hour movement has inspired several global initiatives to protect the environment.     3    

    4     According to the WWF, simple actions such as turning off unnecessary lights or choosing wood pencils over plastic ones can go a long way to help reverse climate change.

Not sure what to do without your gadgets and television for a whole hour?     5     “If that is not exciting enough, then how about a late-night hike or bike ride? Remember, climate change can be reversed if we all help—so, be sure to do your part!

2 . There you are in your favorite clothing store. You don’t really need to buy anything, but everything is so cheap and stylish! Before you know it, you leave the store with bags and bags of new clothes.

On the surface, this doesn’t seem so bad. However, there are a lot of hidden costs behind the cheap price tags (标牌). To put it plainly, the fashion industry is terrible for the planet. Not only does it use up a lot of resources, but it also heavily pollutes the environment with chemicals, microplastics and unwanted waste.

Fashion is one of the least sustainable industries on the planet, commented Michael Stanley-Jones. “We’ve all become our own waste managers, hoarding fashion waste in our houses,” he noted.

It doesn’t just take up space in our cupboards, though. It also ends up in landfills (垃圾场), too. But, thankfully, the fashion trend tides are changing. People are increasingly examining their own consumption and what changes they can make to become sustainable, Jane Fellner, founder and CEO of sustainable fashion seller Loopster, told the Guardian.

In particular, with its typically lower prices and rare fashion finds, shopping secondhand   has become an increasingly popular and eco-friendly option. According to online reseller ThredUp, the secondhand market is predicted to reach $80 billion by 2029. And, although fast fashion will continue to grow 20 percent over the next 10 years, secondhand fashion is expected to grow an unbelievable 185 percent in that same amount of time. Fellner continued: “Secondhand has become more socially acceptable. Thrifting (节约) is now massive on TikTok.”

The only true sustainable way to shop is to not shop at all, unless you’re buying clothes that already exist.

5 . When we talk about protecting the environment and sustainability, we focus on factories and industries that produce cars, household objects, and materials used in production. However, the carbon footprint of the fast fashion industry is sizeable and should not be overlooked.

Fast fashion has seen quite the rise recently, with stores spreading far and wide all over the world. They mass-produce one collection after the other, always on trend, and always encouraging consumers to follow the said trend. However, what about the impact this kind of business model has on the environment?

The clothing industry is the second-highest polluter of water. Factories of fast fashion poured poisonous chemicals into clean water supplies because clothing production is a land-and water-intensive industry, responsible for 10% of all carbon release globally. Even after the clothes are produced in factories, they can still affect the environment. For example, polyester (涤纶) can release plastic microfibres into the water system, which contributes to the already existing plastic problem.

The fashion industry is indeed causing great harm to the environment; moreover, the clothes being made are not meant to last. In most cases, the quality is not there, and the clothes are only used a few times before being discarded. Before the rise of fast fashion, clothes were made to last and were not meant to have the high turnover that clothes have.

There are many designers who are committed to mass-producing their clothes in sustainable ways. Some big brands are also trying to make improvements in the materials they use and the mass-producing process, but big efforts are needed if we are going to see a change. What we as consumers can do is shop consciously and consider how the clothes have been made and whether we truly need that piece or not.

8 . New international research reveals the far-reaching impacts of forest cover loss on global biodiversity. The study, led by the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews, investigated the impacts of forest loss on species and biodiversity over time and around the world, revealing both losses and gains in species.

Focusing on biodiversity data spanning(跨越) 150 years and over 6,000 locations, the study, published in Science, reveals that as tree cover is lost, plants and animals are responding to the transformation of their natural habitats.

Bringing together over 5 million records of the numbers of different plants and animals   with information on both historic and contemporary peaks in forest loss, the researchers discovered both immediate and delayed effects of forest loss on ecosystems.

The pace at which biodiversity responds to forest loss varies from a few years, as is the case for light-loving plants and insects, to decades for long-living trees and larger birds and mammals. Gergana Daskalova, a Ph.D. student in the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and lead author of the study, said, “Changes in the biodiversity of the planet’s forests matter because they will reflect how these landscapes look, the types of species they support and the benefits that forests provide for society like clean air and water.”

Maria Dornelas, a co-senior author from the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, continued, “Humans are undoubtedly changing the planet. Yet, global analyses of how biodiversity is changing over time are revealing biodiversity changes are nuanced(有细微差别的) and variable.”

She added, “With a better understanding of the different ways, both positive and negative, in which forest loss influences biodiversity, we can improve future conservation and restoration of global ecosystems.”