2 . We’ve heard many stories of individuals across the world who’ve adopted a zero-waste lifestyle. However, it’s much less often that we come across an entire community that is trying to become waste-free. The residents of Kamikastsu, Japan, take recycling so ________ that they actually hope to become the nation’s first zero-waste community.

Kamikatsu has no ________ trucks, so residents need to compost (制成堆肥) their kitchen waste at home. They also have to wash and sort the rest of their trash into 34 different categories. They would then bring it to the recycling center themselves where workers make sure that the waste goes into the correct bins. It apparently took some time for the residents to   ________ this rule, but they eventually managed to adapt to the dramatic changes and are now seeing them as normal.

Reuse is highly ________ in Kamikatsu. There is a local kuru-kuru shop where residents can ________ new things with used items at no extra cost. And the kuru-kuru factory employs women to make bags, clothes, and stuffed dolls out of ________ items. Businesses are also encouraged to participate in responsible waste management. The town has a zero-waste brewery (啤酒厂) housed in a building constructed of reused materials.

With a population of just over 1,700, Kamikatsu ________ about 80 percent of its trash and only 20 percent goes to landfills (垃圾填埋场). You could say that the town is very ________ to achieving its goal. They’ve ________ their old practice of dumping trash into open fires after declaring their zero-waste ambition in 2003.

All the recycling facilities in Kamikatsu are managed by a Zero Waste Academy. It also regularly hosts groups of local schoolchildren, ________ them on the benefits of a zero-waste lifestyle. Every year, the Academy receives around 2,500 visitors from all around the world, all of them eager to learn more about zero-waste and how Kamikatsu has managed to implement its principles in such a short period of time.

3 . Mountain regions are not just playgrounds for the richer citizens on the planet, however. The disappearing snows of Mount Kilimanjaro are a worrying sign that nowhere is safe from the adverse effects of human actions. The United Nations has identified three main areas that need to be addressed to ensure the future safety of the world’s mountains. These are: the protection of mountain ecosystems, the encouragement of peace and stability in mountain regions, and assistance for mountain people to maintain their ways of life.

From the busy cities of India to the farmlands of California, more than half the world’s population is dependent on mountains for their fresh water supply. Global warming, deforestation, mining and heavy farming seriously damage breakable mountain ecosystems and put vital fresh water sources at risk.

Mountain regions host a large proportion of the world’s wars. From Afghanistan to the Balkans and the Andes to many parts of Africa, territorial(领土的) and drug related conflicts have damaging effects on the local environment and the lives of the local people. Fighting makes essential tasks such as farming impossible. Land mines make large areas of potential farming ground unusable. Also schools, roads, bridges and other important infrastructure(基础设施) are left in ruins.

Mountain people are among the poorest, least represented groups on the earth. They face many hardships and each day can be, “a test of survival”. Damage to mountain ecosystems worsens their situation and leaves them even more unprotected to disease and ‘natural’ disasters such as floods and landslides. It’s been recommended that forest profit should be reinvested in mountain communities and the people living there should be given a stronger political voice. Their fate is in many ways directly connected with that of people living at sea level.

There is an old motto for visitors to the countryside which advises them to leave nothing but footprints. It is still as relevant today as it always was. Unfortunately, the size of our footprints seems to be getting larger.