2 . Common water plant could provide a green energy source. Scientists have figured out how to get large amounts of oil from duckweed, one of nature’s fastest-growing water plants. Transferring such plant oil into biodiesel (生物柴油) for transportation and heating could be a big part of a more sustainable future.

For a new study, researchers genetically engineered duckweed plants to produce seven times more oil per acre than soybeans. John Shanklin, a biochemist says further research could double the engineered duckweed’s oil output in the next few years.

Unlike fossil fuels, which form underground, biofuels can be refreshed faster than they are used. Fuels made from new and used vegetable oils, animal fat and seaweed can have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels do, but there has been a recent negative view against them. This is partly because so many crops now go into energy production rather than food; biofuels take up more than 100 million acres of the world’s agricultural land.

Duckweed, common on every continent but Antarctica, is among the world’s most productive plants, and the researchers suggest it could be a game-changing renewable energy source for three key reasons. First, it grows readily in water, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops for agricultural land. Second, duckweed can grow fast in agricultural pollution released into the water. Third, Shanklin and his team found a way to avoid a major biotechnological barrier: For the new study, Shanklin says, the researchers added an oil-producing gene, “turning it on like a light switch”by introducing a particular molecule (分子) only when the plant had finished growing. Shanklin says, “If it replicates (复制) in other species-and there’s no reason to think that it would not — this can solve one of our biggest issues, which is how we can make more oil in more plants without negatively affecting growth.”

To expand production to industrial levels, scientists will need to design and produce large-scale bases for growing engineered plants and obtaining oil — a challenge, Shanklin says, because duckweed is a non-mainstream crop without much existing infrastructure (基础设施).

3 . From the lush green hill you can see Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, in the distance. Populations of deer, rabbits and turtle live here. The air is stinky and the only signs that we are standing above a 24-metre (79 feet) deep landfill are the methane gas pipes rising from the grass.

Ljubljana is the first European capital to commit to going zero-waste. But fifteen years ago, all of its refuse went straight to landfill. “And that is expensive,” says Nina Sankovic of Voka Snaga, the city’s waste management company. “It takes up space and you’ re throwing away resources.”

So the city decided to change course.

It began in 2002 with separate collection of paper, glass and packaging in Roadside container stands. Four years later the city began collecting biodegradable waste door to door; separate collection of biowaste is set to become mandatory across Europe in 2023, but Ljubljana was nearly two decades ahead of the curve.

In 2013, every doorstep in the city received bins for packaging and paper waste. And, most controversially, scheduled collections of the residual waste were cut by half-forcing people to separate their rubbish more efficiently.

The results have been impressive. In 2008, the city recycled only 29.3% of its waste and was lagging behind the rest of Europe. Today that figure is 68%, and its landfill receives almost 80% less rubbish, putting it at the top of there cycling leader board of EU capitals. The Slovenian capital now produces only 115kg of residual waste per capital annually(the European city with the lowest figure is the much smaller Treviso, Italy, at 59kg).

4 . Lithium (锂) is called “white gold” for good reason. The metal’s value has been growing rapidly over the last several years, mainly because it is an essential material of lithium-ion batteries, which play an important part in several key sustainable technologies, e. g. electric cars.

As ocean waves, wind and solar power have grown into major players in the energy industry, lithium has also become key to building a future free of petrol. But getting lithium comes at a huge cost. As with most metals, its mining is damaging. It often works like this: Briny water, containing lithium and other metals, is pumped to the surface from underground. Then it sits in pools to allow the water to evaporate, leaving the rest behind as poisonous matter. Workers use chemical reactions to remove the lithium from that, making it into powder which is then packaged and shipped to the buyers around the world. Any accident that releases mine matter into surrounding communities or the groundwater supply could have damaging long-term impacts.

Indigenous (原住民) communities often bear the result of the damage, and political leaders have paid little attention to their concerns. In Arizona, for example, an expanding lithium mine is threatening the Hualapai Tribe’s historical sites. And for politicians who have promised to work with native peoples to deal with it, mining lithium and other precious metals is putting them into a dilemma: How do you ensure the availability of materials which are essential to the future while protecting indigenous people’ rights?

Mining of the metal is expected to increase greatly in coming years. Over time, that will make electric cars inexpensive and, therefore, more popular.

As environmentally conscious consumers buy electric cars in ever-greater numbers, it’s important to be aware of the dirty process that powers those clean air vehicles.

5 . The first rule of popular science is to reveal the wonder and mystery of the world. For that reason, Sentient (Picador), written by photographer and wildlife film-maker Jackie Higgins, is my pick of the year. According to my interviews with many readers, I select other four newly-published books in 2022.

This book describes how our ancestors hunted and consumed ancient animals such as mammoths, bison, giant camels and many more now-extinct species. The diet of the Clovis peoples of North America was a menu described as “a record of a lost world”. This book explains how our dinners robbed the world of so many large animals. It gives inspiration for how modern humans can be at peace with nature.

In 1999, Mann published a graph showing the rapid post-industrial rise in global temperatures. Two decades later, his book The New Climate War remains convinced that we can prevent climate change. This book sets out a common-sense approach to carbon pricing and a revision of the Green New Deal. Of course, there are still many people who deny that climate change is even happening.

Physicist Kate Greene imagines that she spends four months in a geodesic dome in Hawaii, with five other people, to mimic living in a colony on another planet. The story describes the future of our Earth. Kate makes readers cherish the natural environment. “No sunshine on our skin, and no fresh air in our lungs,” Greene turns the frustrations into a moving story.

The birds were once common across the peninsula. But as development over the last 100 years reduced the habitats on which the bird depends, the species became endangered. Mark Walters travels the state to report on the natural history and the current situation of Florida’s flag ship birds. This book can raise people’s awareness of protecting the birds’ habitats.

6 . Macquarie Island is a tiny island that’s part of Australia. It’s about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island’s been made a world heritage area because it’s so untouched, but this unique environment is under threat from some unwanted visitors.

It all started when seal hunters came to the island in the early 1800s. They brought rabbits with them as a source of food for the journey, and also on board the ships were rats and mice, which made their way onto the island too. They’re being blamed for destroying the homes of marine birds, causing soil loss and ripping up plant cover, as these before-and-after photos show.

So what’s being done about the problem? It starts with a team of helicopters that fly across the island carrying these giant containers. Inside them are poisoned pellets (有毒饲料) which are dropped and spread across the island. For any rabbits that survived the baiting (诱饵) , there’s a plan B. This special team of dogs is being put through a final training. It’ll be their job to track down any remaining rabbits. They have to also learn to behave around the island’s native wildlife. The dogs could be here for years or until the task is complete. The dogs don’t actually kill the rabbits. They find them, then the hunters decide to either catch the rabbits or shoot them.

But the program has received a bit of criticism. Some people argue 25 million dollars is a lot of money to be spending on wiping out rabbits and rodents (啮齿目动物), and in the process, some native birds will be killed because of the baiting.

The reality is the problem isn’t going to be solved overnight. The people running the program say that even if one pair of rabbits is left alive, the whole task will be seen as a failure, which means these guys could be here for a long time, trying to ensure that this precious island remains protected from pests.

7 . What do the following animals have in common? Pandas, rhinoceros, Mexican burrowing snakes, pink pigeons and small tooth sawfish.

They are all endangered animals! Animals become endangered for a variety of reasons. Sadly, humans are behind every one of them!

For centuries, humans have hunted elephants for their tusks, and killed tigers for their beautiful fur, caught fish for food. While we still have elephants, tigers, and fish in the wild, we cannot say the same about many others that have simply died out!

Year 1505 was a dreadful turning point in the natural history of the island of Mauritius — European sailors discovered this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean and brought dogs, pigs, monkeys with them. The arrival of humans and those introduced animal species were bad news for dodo birds. About 50 pounds and flightless, dodo birds did not have any natural enemies until then. They picked fruit fallen from trees and built their nests on the ground. Shortly after humans set foot on Mauritius, however, dodo birds realized that they were in big trouble — men killed them for their meat, and those introduced animal species destroyed their nests and ate their eggs. The effects of excessive hunting and foreign species drove dodo birds to first become much fewer and then die out. The last dodo bird was killed in 1681.

Humans and animals have always competed for land and other natural resources. We clear an area of a forest for farming. We cut down trees and use wood to build beautiful houses. We build reservoirs to make sure that we have enough water to use. At the same time that we are trying to make our life comfortable, we destroy the habitats of wild animals.

More than once we have seen on television that rescue workers are trying their best to save seabirds in spilled oil. More than once we have heard about how emissions of carbon dioxide (二氧化碳的排放) and other gases have raised the earth's temperature and caused global warming. Pollution has a serious and long lasting effect. If we choose to do nothing and continue to pollute our planet Earth, our next generations will have to face an Earth without birds singing and beasts roaring.

March 12th is China's annually National Tree-planting Day. On this day, millions of Chinese, from all walks of life, will put their works at hands aside for     1     moment, take shovels and buckets as well as saplings, and trek out to green up their hometowns.

First     2    (create) by the US agriculturist Sterling Morton in 1872, Tree-planting Day was set in order to inspire people's passions for planting and protecting trees, and     3    (protect) and improve the     4    (nature) environment on which people depend on for their living.

China's Tree-planting Day could date back     5     a proposal made by Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), a great China revolution leader, to Beiyang Government (1915-1927) in 1915 and then regulation was     6    (formal) publicized that Tomb-sweeping Festival (April 5th)     7    (adopt) as Tree-planting Day. However, April 5th was a late time for tree-planting in Southern China and so it was changed to March 12th by the Nanjing National Government (1927-1949) in order to memorize Sun Yat-sen,     8     passed away on March 12th.

In February 1979, the 5th National People's Congress of People Republic of China made a     9    (resolve) that March 12th would be taken as Chinese Tree-Planting Day, requiring the whole country to carry out tree-planting     10    (activity) on this day and support the construction of forestry.

9 . All animals exist in a network, connected and supported by each other. That’s why our global focus today should be on saving animals from extinction. By doing so, we are certainly keeping an ecological balance.     1     .

Support companies that promote environmental protection

When shopping either from your local or online stores, go for those companies with eco- friendly things. Whether looking for shoes, toys, bags or others, you can choose reusable products.     2     .

Avoid harmful pesticides

Harmful pesticides have resulted in much animal loss. They might be good for killing pests.     3     . The chemicals enter into the soil and last a long time, thus endangering native wildlife species. Worse, they spread throughout the food, causing damage to other large animals.

    4    

Don’t buy things made of horns, ivory and others that endanger animals. This saves the animals and their habitats. Even when traveling, be careful when buying souvenirs. Some could have been made from endangered animal products like ivory. It’s important to research the product before you can make the decision to buy.

Drive carefully

This is one of the easiest things you can do to join in animal protection.     5     . This will help reduce the road danger to endangered wildlife. Reducing car speed can reduce the animal accidents as much as possible.

10 . Elephant lover Sun Xiao wrote a children’s book Samburu, I’m Back, which is a way for Sun to explain knowledge about the elephants themselves. The book was published last year and became bestsellers.     1     Most of them were mothers, saying that their children cried and were moved by the emotional bond between the baby elephants and their mother.

Sun says he has loved animals since childhood.     2     He watched, shocked, as an adult elephant from a circus stood stock still, seemingly ignoring the pain，as its keeper beat it again and again with a stick after they had finished their performance. From then on, Sun made up his mind to help the poor animals.

    3     Besides, he tried to raise public awareness about the urgent need to protect them from the poachers (偷猎者). He adopted all kinds of methods, such as posting hundreds of articles he wrote on social websites, sharing photos he took of elephants and writing children’s storybooks featuring elephants.

Sun is a witness to the story told in his book Samburu, I'm Back. He was, at the time, in Kenya working for Save the Elephants, a UK-registered charity based in Nairobi. In Kenya, he and his peers found two baby elephants heading toward the dangerous area where their mother was killed.     4     Finally, they had to use a tranquilizer (镇静剂) gun and transport them to an elephant shelter.

Sun stayed in Kenya with the STE for three months to watch elephants closely for his research.     5     He says that a good elephant watcher can remember the names of hundreds of elephants and will recognize each of them on sight. As long as they know which is which, they are able to understand the interactions and relations between different groups.