3 . During a decline in tourism, one national park in Thailand has witnessed a dramatic rise in “visitors” recently. So many are the hermit crabs（寄居蟹）flooding into the otherwise empty beaches of Koh Lanta that shells for them to live in have become in short supply.

The Thai government moved quickly to ease the housing shortage, launching a public appeal for empty shells that netted over 200kg. On December 5 these were distributed around the park in a ceremony.

Hermit crabs rely on shells to protect their soft bodies, moving to larger shells as they grow. On Koh Lanta and the surrounding smaller islands, their rapid increase seems to be a natural phenomenon, rather than directly related to the absence of tourists. But the shortage of shells maybe man-made: pretty ones have long been gathered to be sold as goods. Crabs had begun to make do with potential death-traps such as plastic caps and bottles.

The shell drive was part of a government initiative to “regain the balance of nature”. “I have instructed all national parks to do whatever it takes,” says Varawut Silpa-archa, the minister for natural resources. His inspiration comes from the pause in tourism brought on by COVID-19. A ban on international visitors and the closure of national parks have helped nature recover, bringing endangered leatherback turtles back onto Thai beaches. In the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket, turtles have laid the largest number of eggs for 20 years.

The government has decided to try to copy the short break forced on it by COVID-19 in future. From now on, all national parks will be required to close for a short period during the off season and to limit the number of tourists through a reservation system when they are open. Although such restrictions mean reduced earnings from tourism in the short term, in the longer run more parks may help to keep the tourists coming.

4 . Ant Forest, a green initiative by the world’s leading payment and lifestyle platform Alipay, received the “U.N. Champions of the Earth” award, the UN’s highest environmental honor. It was given to Ant Forest for motivating half a billion people to adopt an eco-friendly and greener lifestyle, greatly contributing to ecological protection with the help of digital technology.

Alipay achieved this by inspiring its users to do environmentally-friendly things, such as walking, using public transportation, going paperless in the office and more to earn “green energy points”. These points can then be used to water and grow their own virtual young trees. After the virtual young trees have grown up on line, Ant Forest will plant real trees somewhere in China.

The number of Ant Forest users has reached 350 million, reducing 3 million tons of carbon dioxide. “Such programs are quite attractive to me. I feel satisfied to see a real tree planted just by doing some simple things such as riding bicycles and buying tickets online,” said an interviewee.

This initiative of Ant Forest is in line with the Chinese government’s strategy of a “Green Economy”. The country is taking aggressive actions in expanding its green coverage. Now, its efforts are paying off, with improved biodiversity and a healthier economic growth. Rare animal species have been spotted and forest parks are now popular attractions of tourism.

The planet is at a critical point which could result in natural disasters. It seems clear that unless governments, businesses and people form a focused team, it’s difficult to stop global warming. Fortunately, Ant Forest shows that it is possible to make joint efforts while relying on digital technology. And more initiatives are using technology to contribute to a sustainable future of the planet.

5 . If we planted a lot more trees in just the right places, they could reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to levels not seen since the 1920s, said study leader Jean Francois Bastin, an ecologist from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. After examining more than 70,000 high-quality satellite photos of trees from all over the planet, ecologists concluded that the earth could support 900 million additional hectares (公顷) of tree cover.

Bastin and his colleagues developed a computer program that estimates how much forested land could be restored both now and in a future warmer world. The team members combed through 78,774 satellite photos of a variety of ecosystems- everywhere from the thick Amazon rainforest to the dry Sahel in Africa-that had been protected from human influence. They counted every tree in every photo to assess the current tree coverage in natural environments. The researchers combined that information with data about the climate, temperature and soil conditions for each ecosystem. Then they taught their program to put it all together to determine how much tree coverage a particular area could support.

The result shows trees currently cover 2.8 billion hectares of land- but they have the potential to populate as much as 4.4 billion hectares. Right now, much of the additional 1.6 billion hectares is being used for agriculture or urban spaces. The researchers took those areas off the table and saw that the earth still has 900 million hectares ready and waiting to be restored with trees an area roughly the size of Brazil. When those trees mature, they could remove 205 gigatonnes (兆吨) of carbon from the atmosphere, the study calculated, That represents about two-thirds of the roughly 300 gigatonnes of atmospheric carbon that can be traced to human actions, they said.

Even if trees are planted in the most mindful way, other actions are still needed to fight climate change, Bastin said.

6 . Darrell Blatchley, a marine biologist and environmentalist based in the Philippine city of Davao, received a call from the Philippines, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (渔业与水产资源局) early Friday morning reporting a death of a young whale.

When the necropsy (尸检) was performed, Blatchley told NPR, he was not prepared for the amount of plastic they found in the whale’s stomach. “It was full of plastic nothing but nonstop plastic.” he said “It was filled to the point that its stomach was as hard as a baseball.” That means that this animal has been suffering not for days or weeks but for months or even a year or more,” Blatchley added.

Blatchley is the founder and owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum, a natural history museum in Davao. In the coming days, the museum will display all the items found in the whale’s system. Blatchley and his team work with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and other organizations to assist in rescue and recovery of marine animals.

“Within the last 10 years, we have recovered 61 whales and dolphins just within the Davao Gulf,” he said. “Of them, 57 have died due to man whether they took plastic or fishing nets or other waste, or gotten caught in pollution — and four were pregnant.”

Blatchley said he hoped that the latest incident would launch the issue of plastic pollution in the Philippines and across the globe. “If we keep going this way, it will be more uncommon to see an animal die of natural causes than it is to see an animal die of plastic,” he said.

7 . Blue Planet II’s latest episode focuses on how plastic is having a disastrous effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, the oceans are drowning in plastic.

Though it seems now that the world couldn’t possibly function without plastics, consumer plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s;   the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining in popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.

We put all these plastics into the environment and we still don’t really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

And it’s not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning to the same degree as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don’t have to remake our planet energy system.

This is not a problem where we don’t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose (处理) of it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag----when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.

8 . At long last, Stefano Boeri Architects’ brilliant Bosco Verticale towers are finally completed. The “world’s first vertical forest” consists of a fantastic pair of costly towers that add nearly 2.5 acres of lush vegetation to the sky line of Milan, a city notorious (声名狼藉的) for its air pollution.     1     Like a pair of green lungs, its forested appearance of 21,000 plants will absorb CO₂, control noise pollution, lessen the urban heat island effect, and create oxygen and favorable micro-climates.

The Bosco Verticale mixed-use towers are constructed with a $2.5 billion public-private investment as part of the re-development of Milan’s Porta Nuova district. The towers, measuring 260 feet and 367 feet, house 800 trees between 9 and 30 feet tall, over 4,000 shrubs (灌木) and 15,000 ground cover plants. Bosco Verticale is created with LEED Gold Certification (绿色建筑黄金认证) in mind.     2    

The buildings shrub have welcomed their first residents.     3     A fast-growing bird population has already begun to nest in Bosco Verticale’s rich leaves, of which over a hundred different species of trees and shrubs are represented.     4    

The superstructure is also selected for the world famous International Highrise Building Award as one of the five most beautiful and original high-rises in the world that is completed.     5    

9 . Do you ever wonder why trees begin to bud (发芽) earlier in some cities? Scientists finally found the answer but it’s not very pleasant. New science suggests a relationship between light pollution and the timing when trees produce buds, which signals the arrival of the spring season.

Light pollution is defined by the Lighting Research Center as the unwanted consequence of outdoor lighting such as street lights. Excessive (过多的) man-made light at night results in disturbed natural cycles, and also prevents the observation of stars and planets at night. But its effect on the environment goes beyond that.

By studying some trees, researchers found out that trees that are more exposed to artificial lighting at night bud up to 7.5 days earlier than those at the natural nighttime setting. And they found out that light had a more significant effect than temperature when the buds came out. The early budding may cause problems for insects, which feed on leaves, and the birds which then feed on them in turn. Professor Richard, who helped lead the research, explained that more than the budding of trees, the study implies the danger to the balance of the ecosystem. “At the moment, caterpillars (毛毛虫) are timed to hatch to make the most of the opportunities to feed on freshly budded leaves, and birds hatch in time to feed on the young caterpillar,” he said.

Migratory (迁徙的) birds are also negatively affected by light pollution. The glare might confuse them and make them lose their flying sense. The phenomenon might explain why some birds accidentally knock into buildings.

Such results stress the need to pursue studies that aim to measure the effect of light pollution. If the issue were left to continue, it is estimated that by 2100, spring would begin almost a full month earlier than it does today.

10 . TUVALU, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it fears it will be swallowed up by the sea. Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu’s nine little islands is more than five meters above sea level, Salt water is already entering the country’s drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable.    1    .

    2    . Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24 cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest point in the city, floodedd about nine times a year, Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu’s rising sea level is caused by global warming.The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degrees over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.Warmer weather makes glaciersmelt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10－25 cm in the last 100 years.    3    .

Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO₂. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer. Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes.    4    .

    5    , the sea will swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with “climate refugees” looking for somewhere to live.