1 . The Last Straw?

Every second, the world uses 160,000 plastic bags — that is a total of over five trillion per year. Up to 99 percent of these plastic bags hang around for at least 1,000 years and pollute Earth. And yet, plastic bags are hardly a necessity in our lives. Of all the changes we could make to create a more sustainable lifestyle, a total ban on plastic bags should be simple.

At the beginning of 2021, Shanghai put in effect a ban on all plastic bags in shopping malls and supermarkets, as well as a ban on non-degradable plastics in many other areas. Over the years, individuals and companies have worked to replace plastic items, such as cups and straws, with paper ones.     1    .

Customers complain that paper straws often become soft and break before they can finish their hot drinks. Experts, however, have repeatedly stressed plastic substitutes (替代品) are not the ultimate solution, and that our consumption habits need a bigger change.

In college, one of my environmental science professors promoted a type of waste-free living. She carried around a small glass jar with her, and in it was all her trash she collected for the entire year. She was able to do this by bringing her own cup to Starbucks, her own bags to the shops, and never buying anything that came wrapped in plastic. Her food waste also became compost.     2    .

Plastic bags are incredibly easy to forget about when they become increasingly common.     3    . Once they are in the trash, we take it for granted that they are someone else’s problem. The sad fact is that plastic bags break down into microplastics which then get mixed into the air, soil and water, and eventually end up in plants, animals, and our very own human bodies. So what are you going to do about them?

Using renewables seems to cut carbon more than nuclear. Nations that embraced renewable forms of energy have significantly cut their carbon emissions, but     1     pursuing nuclear power have failed to do so, researchers have found.

Nuclear and renewables are seen as two key ways for governments to decarbonize(去碳), but the question of   whether one is more effective for dealing with climate change     2     (not address) fully. With several countries on the brink of deciding whether    3     (back) new nuclear power plants to meet their carbon targets, the answer to this question matters

To find out, Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex and his colleagues looked at carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and GDP over 25 years. They found that in 117 countries that had been using renewables, CO2 emissions per capita(人均地)dropped from 0.69 tonnes(公吨)on average between 1990 and 2004 to 0.61 tonnes between 2000 and 2014 and     4     these latter figures included a further six countries.

During the same periods, however, the 30 countries that had been using nuclear power largely stayed flat, shifting from an average 0.52 tonnes of Co2 emissions per capita to 0.51. The two groups of countries overlap because some fall into both. Renewables included wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass energy. “If you’re focusing on    5     we can do to reduce emissions in the next 15 years,     6     (pursue) renewables instead of nuclear,” says Sovacool.

The reason    7     the results is not clear — the analysis found a connection, not a causation—but Sovacool has ideas. Nuclear power is restricted due to agreements     8     (limit) the spread of nuclear weapons     9     material from reactors (核反应堆) can be used to make bombs. Renewables are not, enabling more countries to learn from one another, such as Germany benefiting from Chinese economies of scale on solar. Other reasons for this    10     be that renewables are cheaper and quicker to build and more socially acceptable, says Sovacool.

Food delivery apps are changing the way we eat

It’s raining, it’s dinnertime, and the fridge is nearly empty. Years ago, we made do; today, we order food through our phones. Within twenty minutes, we get whatever it was we were craving, we’re warm and dry, and there’s not a single dish to wash afterward.

Food delivery apps have altered the     1     of how eat, particularly in big cities. The industry is a complex machine; there’s Meituan, Ele.me, Hema…the list goes on. These companies are     2     and changing at a rapid rate, bringing on the rise of virtual restaurants and ghost kitchens, and customers who will never step inside a brick-and-mortar shop（实体店）.

Of course, these apps bring all types of cuisines around the city to our fingertips, but it comes at a cost. And one of the real environmental     3     lies in all that plastic and excess food.

In the US alone, packaging accounts for 30 percent of municipal solid waste. In 2017, that meant 80.1 million tons. Food delivery systems are likely     4     this huge number to rise. Durable materials like the plastics serveware is made from, are difficulty to     5     of.

Restaurant delivery is a global phenomenon – as is the impact on the environment. Meituan, one of the leading Chinese delivery platforms, delivered 6.4 billion food orders in 2018. It is estimated that China     6     1.6 million tons of packaging waste(containers, utensils, plastic bags) in 2017, nine times more than in 2015.

In the EU, University of Manchester researchers estimate, over two billion single-use takeaway containers are used every year. Most of those are not     7    . According to the European Commission, packaging, which includes plastic utensils, plates, and straws, make up 70% of all     8     pollution found in European seas.

Plastic bans,     9     packaging materials, and other efforts to cut down on waste are on the rise. Food delivery apps should, too, do their part to raise awareness for plastic pollution and     10     the gap between food waste and hunger.