2 . Music festivals are highly popular events during the summer months, attracting thousands of festival-goers who camp on-site. However, the question arises as to whether the tents left behind can be recycled.

While some festival organizers claim that they recycle the tents, the answer is not so straightforward. Every year, thousands of tents are abandoned (拋弃) at festivals, and it’s not just post-festival laziness or poor weather that is to blame. According to a recent survey, many festival-goers leave their tents behind because they believe they will be donated to charities. But unfortunately, this is only wishful thinking.

Matt Wedge, the director of Festival Waste Reclamation & Distribution, says that the number of tents left behind is increasing, estimating that around 20% of the tents at this year’s Leeds Festival were abandoned, which amounted to about 7,000 tents. He adds that Reading and Leicester festivals are usually just as bad but twice as big, meaning that 14,000 tents could have been abandoned there.

In terms of addressing this problem, one popular idea is to employ a tent deposit scheme (保证金计划). Under this scheme, festival-goers would pay a deposit to bring their tent to the festival, which would be returned to them if they take their tent home. “A similar thing happens with litter. Some festivals make attendees pay a £10 ‘eco bond’, which will be returned to them if they fill up a bag of rubbish and hand it in at the end of the festival,” he adds.

The shocking images of abandoned tents are more than just a comment on the environmental impacts of the festival itself. They are in fact a dramatic symbol of our throwaway culture. Just as images of clean fields at Glastonbury represent a refreshing sign of hope for what could be, the ultimate (最后的) message is to make it a habit to take your tent home at least. It’s the best thing people can do.

3 . Industry must speed up investment in new technologies that allow manufacture (大量制造) of materials using renewable electricity if net zero emission (排放) targets are to be met, research led by the University of Leeds warns.

Ensuring that no electricity is produced from fossil fuels by 2050 is vital for achieving net zero. However, its effect will be limited if industry cannot use this electricity. Steel manufacturing alone accounts for a tenth of all carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission in industrialised countries but latest estimates suggest new technologies to manufacture steel using electricity will not become fully operational until at least 2040.

The lead author of the study, Dr Alan Grainger, from the University of Leeds School of Geography, said, “ Delays in replacing existing steel manufacturing capacity represent a crucial ‘lock in’ constraint (约束) on achieving net zero. ” Humanity’s great dependence on steel, which accounts for 94% of all metal production, is a huge blockage that cannot be ignored, The UK Net Zero Strategy, published last week, recognizes this problem, but lacks detail on how to deal with it.

Governments should strengthen international carbon reporting standards for energy-intensive industries, the paper says, so that total levels of CO₂ production during the manufacture and lifetime of materials can be measured more obviously in assessing progress towards national net zero targets. The carbon price also needs to rise to make it economically viable (可行的) to introduce new manufacturing technologies with low CO₂ emission.

4 . A new school in Uruguay is teaching about environmental sustainability (可持续性) and practicing what it teaches. The school was built with recycled materials. Clean energy powers the building. The students learn to grow their own food. And, a regular curriculum is combined with lessons on farming, recycling and water protection.

The 43 students at the school grow their own crops like tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. And they eat them too.

The Uruguayan organization Tagma called this school Public School 294. Tagma supports responsible and sustainable ways of living and using natural resources. The U.S. architect Michael Reynolds designed the school which opened in February in 2016.

A student, Felipe Sanchez, said, “In my other school, we didn’t plant anything and it was not fun. I was bored and my friends did not understand me nor treat me well. In this school, my friends like me and we can plant crops and do a lot of things together.”

Solar energy powers the school. The school also uses filtered (过滤的) rainwater. Sixty percent of the building is made of recycled materials that the community collected.

The school tries to support a culture of community in the classroom. Students from different grade levels learn together and help each other.

Rita Montans is a teacher at Public School 294. “Our teaching is based on the principles of sustainability and environmental protection, so naturally it creates an environment where it is easier to make relations. The multi-grade system enables a fourth grade child to study with a third grade student.”

The school is still young. But its teachers are hopeful that the lessons their students are learning will last a lifetime. “I hope that the ideas of protecting the environment and living in harmony (和谐) with the environment remain significant.”

9 . Alaska's Arctic is experiencing surprising changes with the effects of climate change occurring at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Significant loss of sea ice from a warming climate is one example of this change. Polar bears rely on sea ice — their primary habitat — to hunt seals, which are their primary food source. In certain regions of the Arctic, loss of sea ice has sharply reduced the ability of polar bears to hunt for seals, and it has resulted in polar bears coming to shore to look for food and den in greater numbers.

There are 19 polar bear populations throughout the circumpolar Arctic, two of which include the Chukchi and Southern Beaufort Sea Populations. The Southern Beaufort Sea population is considered the most endangered on the planet, and Defenders has prioritized our polar bear work to focus on this population.

Defenders has a multi-pronged approach to protecting the Southern Beaufort Sea population of polar bears. We are working to protect its critical habitat, minimize climate change effects and reduce human-polar bear conflicts. To reduce human-polar bear conflicts, we promote and support a variety of coexistence measures, including the use of polar bear-proof food storage lockers and polar bear patrols in Arctic communities that use non-lethal hazing   and deterrence measures as a first line of defense.

The Southern Beaufort Sea population of polar bears has experienced such a dramatic rate of decline in the past few decades that it's possible that this population could be extinct within our lifetime. Clearly strong measures are needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions to lessen the effects of climate change and slow the loss of sea ice.

In the case of the Southern Beaufort Sea population of polar bears, in addition to reducing climate impacts, we need to continue to work to reduce human-polar bear conflicts so that community residents remain safe and fewer of these polar bears are lost to “defense of life and property” kills. Defenders is grateful to be able to work with Arctic communities, families and residents to do what we can't to ensure community safety and preserve and ultimately recover this polar bear population.

10 . ▶Western Sydney University

The university undertakes ranges of sustainability-related research, including sustainable agriculture, soil biology and food security. It has a range of living labs on its campus to aid with teaching and research in areas such as renewable energy, water recycling and natural and cultural heritages.

▶University of Reading

The university offers a range of modules on environmental and social issues to all undergraduate students, regardless of which faculty they are studying in. There is also a free online two-week course where you can investigate the impact of climate change and the research being done into it. The university has a range of sustainability projects, including the Research Woodland and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme.

▶University of Manchester

The university has a range of sustainability measures on campus to reduce waste. The Want Not, Waste Not shop on campus sells a selection of zero-waste products including spices, pulses, cleaning products and beauty products. The university is also working to reduce plastic at all its events, by replacing balloons with paper bunting, using potato-based tokens instead of plastic ones and eliminating plastic water bottles and printed flyers.

▶Manchester Metropolitan University

In April 2021, the university launched the Give It, Don’t Bin It” campaign, which encourages students to donate unwanted items and leftover food to charity partners, including the British Heart Foundation and Manchester Central Food Bank. Donation banks and boxes are situated all over campus. Students wishing to get involved in sustainability can choose from a range of initiatives across campus, including the Sustainability Ambassador scheme and Climate and Social Action Week. Students also run a clothing swap shop and MetMUnch, a student network that focuses on training and pop-ups all around food, nutrition and sustainability.