1 . One man’s trash is another man’s treasure is absolutely the case in Turkey where garbage collectors started collecting books that have been thrown away and ended up opening a library.

It started when garbage man Durson Ipek found a bag of abandoned books when he was working and then it snowballed from there. Ipek and other garbage men started gathering the books they found on the streets that were ready for landfills (垃圾填埋地) and as their collection started to grow, so did word of mouth. Soon, local residents started donating books directly. The library was initially available only to the garbage employees and their families to use but as the collection grew, so did public interest and the library was opened to the public in 2017.

“On the one hand, there were those who were leaving these books on the streets. On the other hand, others were looking for these books,” Ankaya mayor Alper Tasdelen told CNN. “We started to discuss the idea of creating a library from these books. When everyone supported it, this project happened.”

All the books that are found are sorted and checked for condition. If they pass, they go on the shelves. Today, the library has over 6,000 books that range from fiction to nonfiction and there’s a very popular children’s section that even has a collection of comic books. An entire section is devoted to scientific research and there are also books available in English and French. The collection has grown so large that the library loans books to schools and educational programs.

“Village school teachers from all over Turkey are requesting books,” Tasdelen told CNN. The government has to hire a full-time employee to manage the library.

This library is incredibly popular. It is frequently filled with the children of the city’s workers and students from nearby schools. There is a waiting room set up for readers and chess boards for the people who visit the library. You can even enjoy a cup of tea in the waiting room.

2 .    

Endangered Species Youth Art Contest

2023 Contest Now Open!

Join us for our 6th annual Endangered Species Youth Art Contest! In celebration of Endangered Species Day (May 19, 2023), Roger Williams Park Zoo is accepting art entries from local K-12 grade students in the New England area showing threatened and endangered species. Together we hope to raise awareness about the importance of saving endangered species and their wild habitats.

Winners will be formally announced by May 2023.

Rules & Art Submission Instructions:

▲All entries are to be submitted electronically. Web form will be made available beginning February 1,2023.

▲Students’   artworks must be original. Computer-produced images will NOTbe judged.

▲All artworks must be about threatened/endangered species.

▲Each art entry must also include a short explanation (3-5 sentences) as to why saving your chosen species from extinction is important.

Deadline: Entries must be received by Sunday, April 2,2023. Late entries will not be judged.

2023 Art Contest Prizes

GRAND PRIZE(Judges Choice)

▲One Family RWPZoo membership (a S149 value; or extra year added to current Zoo membership)

▲An adopt-an-animal package of your choice

▲One $100 gift card

GRADE CATEGORY WINNERS (Grades K-2, Grades 3-12)

Each grade-winner shall receive:

★Six General daytime admission tickets to RWPZoo

★One $25 gift card

HONORABLE MENTIONS (Grades K-2,Grades 3-12)

Each grade-honorable mention shall receive:

·Four General daytime admission tickets to RWPZoo

·An award certificate

All winning artworks will be highlighted on the Zoo’s website and social media pages, and in the Zoo’s summer WILD Magazine issue.

3 . Growing up in Kenya, Lesein Mutunkei, together with his family, always celebrated significant occasions by planting trees, which motivated him to protect the environment. It’s what the now 18-year-old soccer player treasures, especially since Kenya has an ongoing problem with deforestation.

Mutunkei follows in the footsteps of the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. This initiative has resulted in the planting of over 51 million trees to date.

In 2018, Lesein decided to start a movement of his own. He started by planting one tree for every goal he scored during a football match. He called it Trees4Goals, and it has grown so much that he now plants 11 trees, one for each member of his team, every time he scores. Through this, he wants to inspire young people, specifically his fellow athletes, to follow in his footsteps, take nature conservation seriously, and promise to plant trees every time they score. As a result, some of them have adapted this practice for their sports. “Seeing that they’re taking that responsibility because of the project I started, for me, that is the biggest achievement,” he said.

The initiative has caught the attention of English football club Arsenal and Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, which he now works with regularly and gets advice from.

Like Green Belt Movement, Trees4Goals, which has planted 5,500 trees so far, has made it. While Lesein has received some recognition for his initiative, he sets his sights on making it a worldwide phenomenon. “Football is a universal game, and climate change is a universal problem,” he explains. “It has the power to unite, educate and inspire my generation to create a safer and greener future.” This is why he wants to work with the world’s biggest football federation FIFA.

As for what others can do to fight deforestation or other environmental concerns, the teenager says it’s important to just get involved in some way, no matter how small.

Traditionally, livestreamers(主播)sell delicious snacks or local goodies. But a recent livestream event in Tibet autonomous region did something different. Waste plastic bottles,       1     are regarded as a great damage to the local environment, were sold for 0.5 yuan each, with the     2     (intend)of raising people's awareness of Tibet's pollution issue.

According to the Sohu website, in 2019, about 40 million tourists visited Tibet, which     3     consequence left about 360 million plastic bottles     4     (abandon)in branches, on cliffs and in rivers. The white pollution causes serious threat to the delicate ecosystem     5     the death of local animals, such as yaks.

Over the past few years, more than 5,000 volunteers of different ages and from all walks of life     6     (participate)in the anti-white pollution campaign. They carry out over 2,000 clean-ups to collect 200, 000 bottles left by tourists each year. Then the bottles     7     (sort)by color and shipped inland     8     (make)raw materials. Roughly, each bottle costs about 0.5 yuan.

The livestream has successfully involved more people in the anti-white pollution campaign. People can scan QR code and donate money to encourage more people to collect bottles. It's really a meaningful event and helps to make     9     possible for us human beings to coexist with nature     10     (harmonious).

6 . More than 45，000 years ago，by the shore of present-day Tasmania，a local person picked up a large piece of thick，dark brown seaweed．And he realized that this giant piece of seaweed could be used to make a watertight bag．And 45，000 years later on mainland Australia，people are again turning to seaweed to solve pressing problems．Today，it is used to address the world's climate crisis．

Winberg，a marine ecologist at the University of Wollongong，has spent decades studying seaweed．She believes seaweed's fast growth rate and ability to absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide can help fight climate change，de-acidify（降低酸度）the oceans，and change the way we farm，not just in the oceans but also on land．

“If we used the infrastructure we have in the ocean and created seaweed islands，we would actually get rid of many climate change issues we have today，” says Winberg．Realizing seaweed's potential as a climate solution，Winberg opened Australia's first land-based，commercial seaweed farm in 2013．On her farm in New Wales，Winberg produces seaweed extracts（提取物）that are used in food，cosmetics and medicines

Like plants on land，seaweed absorbs CO₂ and grows biomass（生物量）．Coastal marine systems can absorb carbon at rates up to 50 times greater than forests on land，according to Emily Pidgeon，senior director of strategic marine initiatives at Conservation International．Globally，seaweeds are thought to absorb nearly 200 million tons of CO₂ every year - as much as New York State's annual emissions．And when the seaweed dies，much of the carbon locked up in its tissues is transported to deep oceans．

By raising pH levels in the ocean，seaweeds also improve growing conditions for shellfish such as oysters and mussels，whose shells become more fragile（脆弱的）in acidic environments．

The potential for seaweed cultivation doesn't stop in the oceans．Winberg has found there are benefits to doing it on land too．She believes that seaweed farming offers “huge potential” to not only address the climate crisis，but also feed a growing population in a sustainable way．According to Winberg，one hectare（公顷）of a seaweed farm can produce more protein than the same amount of land used for cattle．“We're sitting on undiscovered，renewable，sustainable resources，” she says．

9 . Omar Vazquez grew up in poverty on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. He watched his single mother struggle to put food on the table, and today the memory inspires him to help those in need. When an invasive (入侵的) seaweed called sargassum showed up on Mexico’s Caribbean beaches, Omar looked past the matter of it all and saw an opportunity to help others.

Sargassum is not dangerous, but it has an unpleasant smell and can become so thick that it keeps people from entering the water. Mexico has experienced record-setting amounts of the seaweed in recent years, and it has made its way to Florida’s beaches as well. Experts say there could be as much as 100 tons of sargassum blocking Mexican shorelines in 2023.

With tourism dollars at risk, officials and locals alike were eager to remove the seaweed, but only Omar saw its true potential. The professional gardener organized a beach cleanup that provided jobs for about 300 local families, but he knew there was more to do. Since people’s attitude towards the seaweed reminded him of his own life experiences, he decided to become an agent (推动者) for change.

When sargassum started arriving, everyone was complaining. “I wanted to make something good out of something everyone saw as bad,” Omar explained.

In 2018, Omar found a way to turn sargassum into building blocks that he calls Sargablock. He creates these blocks by mixing 40% sargassum with other materials like clay, then putting them in a block-forming machine and baking them in the sun for days. The end result is an organic, sustainable, and ecologically friendly building material that experts say could last for 120 years.

To date, Omar’s company, Bluegreen Mexico, has used 700 tons of sargassum to build low-income housing for those in need. Omar said he would take on more projects, and donate more houses to single mothers like his own mom.