2 . As ice melts in West Antarctica the ground beneath is quickly rising---a process that could prevent the catastrophic(灾难性的) collapse of ice sheets, according to researchers.

A study published in the journal Science provides a glimmer(一丝;一线) of hope for a region affected by climate change. In recent years, several studies have warned the ice sheet, which contributes to a quarter of melted ice worldwide annually, is very easy to break up. Scientists fear even slightly melting could cause global sea levels to rise by 3 meters.

Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark set out to answer how the bedrock underneath the ice sheet of West Antarctica behaves as the ice melts. To study the land, the team analyzed data collected by high-precision GPS equipment positioned on remote rock formations in West Antarctica, which measured movements of the land down to the millimeter over a 10-year period.

“After a heroic effort to install and maintain the network of sensors in one of the least accessible places on the planet, the team has been rewarded with incredibly valuable data, which tell an incredible story about the Barth,” wrote Valentina Barletta.

The team found that the Earth was pushing the bedrock to rise faster than expected. In 2014, the surface rose by 41 millimeters: four to five times quicker than predicted. In 100 years, the land could be up to 10 meters higher than it is currently.

It is hoped that as the ice melts, the Earth's crust(地壳) will bounce back much faster than previously expected. In turn, this could stabilize what the researchers described as the "catastrophic collapse" of the ice sheet.

Barletta told Newsweek the ice sheet will never be stable if global warming becomes too extreme. “Reducing the greenhouse gas will give the ice sheet a better chance of survival because that would allow some known and unknown feedback(反馈) to create better conditions for the ice,” she said.

3 . Scientists are aksing: What is the best way to fight climate change? A new study says: Plant many trees; one trillion trees, maybe more. Swiss scientists say there is enough room for that many trees. In their report in the journal Science, they say there is enough space on the earth, which could cover nine million square kilometers, an area the size of the United States.

Trees take carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）out of the air, and in return, put oxygen back into the air. The study estimated that over a long period of time, the trees could take in almost 750 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That is about as much carbon as humans have put into the atmosphere in the past 25 years. What is so bad about carbon dioxide? The gas traps heat, causing temperatures to rise.

Much of the gain from planting trees will come quickly because trees remove more carbon from the air when they are younger, the researchers said. The place that has the best possibility for removing the most carbon is the tropics—the area close to the equator. This method would also have the lowest cost, says the study co-author Thomas Crowther, a climate change ecologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. This is by far, the cheapest and the most effective climate change solution, he said. The six nations with the most room for new trees are Russia, the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil and China.

Before his study, Crowther thought that there were other more effective ways to fight climate change besides cutting emissions（排放）. For example, people could change their diets by no longer eating meat. But, he said, tree planting is far more effective because trees remove so much carbon dioxide from the air.

5 . A day in the clouds

The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short hike(徒步旅行)from camp. To our left, snow-covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. On the plain(平原) in front of us, we can just make out a herd of graceful animals. This is why we stay here.

Tibetan antelopes live mainly on the plains of Tibet. Watching them move slowly across the green grass, I'm struck by their beauty. I'm also reminded of the danger they are in. They are being hunted, illegally, for their valuable fur.

My guide is Zhaxi, a villager from Changtang. He works at the Changtang Nationa Nature Reserve(保护区) . The reserve is a safe place for the animals and plants of northwestern Tibet. To Zhaxi, protecting(保护)the wildlife is a way of life. "We're not trying to save the animals." he says. "Actually, we're trying to save ourselves."

In the 1980s and 1990s the population of Tibetan antelopes dropped by more than 50 Percent. Hunters were shooting antelopes to make money. Their Living places were becoming smaller as new roads and railways were built.

In order to save Tibetan antelopes, the Chinese government placed them under national protection. Zhaxi and Volunteers watched over the antelopes day and night to keep them safe from attacks. Bridges and gates were added to let the antelopes move easily and keep them safe from cars and trains.

The measures were effective. The antelope population has recovered and in June 2015, the Tibetan antelope was removed from the endangered species list(濒危物种名单). The government, however, does not intend to stop the protection programmes, since the threats(威胁) to the Tibetan antelope have not yet disappeared. Only when we learn to exist in harmony with nature can we stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet.

7 . Twelve years ago, a young traveler named Rhett Butler from San Francisco, California, visited the Sabah rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. In one area of the rainforest, he watched a bird flying through the trees. The beautiful sight left quite an impression on him. But weeks later, back home, Rhett Butler got the news that trees had been cut down in the area he visited.

That experience led Rhett Butler begin writing a book about rainforests and threats to their existence. But he did not publish the book. Instead, in 1999, he used his research for the book to create a website. The site is Mongabay. Com. His purpose was to inform the public about tropical rainforests. But the subject quickly developed. As a former businessman, he became a respected writer of science and environmental stories.

The popularity of Mongabay. Com attracted advertisers. Small ads on the site pay for its operations. Mongabay.Com has grown and led to other sites. For example, there is a site for children which is called kids. Mongabay.Com. Another one, WildMadangascar.Org, is all about the island nation that Rhett Butler calls his favorite place.

To keep his website going, he travels around the world on several major trips each year. His working tools are a laptop computer, cameras and sometimes diving equipment. He often calls on experts for information. For example, he interviewed Alison Jolly, a top experts on lemurs(狐猴). He interviewed Rodney Jackson, a biologist who established the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

Stories like these have made Mongabay a favorite place on the Internet for researchers, students and teachers. In April, Time.Com named it one of the fifteen top climate and environment websites in the world.

8 . Illegally traded endangered species that escape, forming secondary populations, offer hope to their long-term survival, a study suggests. "This first came to my attention when I read a news story about the seizure of an illegal shipment of 23 yellow crested cockatoos (小葵花凤头鹦鹉),” said Luke Gibson, a college teacher. He learned that the species was critically endangered, which surprised him.

This encouraged Dr. Gibson and his colleague to investigate (调查) how a critically endangered species had become self-sustaining outside of its natural range. They discovered 49 cases of a globally threatened species becoming established as a separate population, which they hadn’t thought of, including the yellow-crested cockatoo in their city.

“This is a species which is primarily threatened by wildlife trade,” he told BBC News. “Poachers (偷猎者) go out into the forest in its native range in eastern Indonesia and capture the bird and then ship them off, usually up to our city where there is a strong demand for pet birds. This is what has fueled the decline of this species in its native range. But it’s really interesting because that same cause also had another effect: some of the people who were keeping this species here accidentally or intentionally released them.” As a result of enough of the birds set free, it allowed a new self-sustaining population to be established in this city.

The government in of Dr. Gibson’s city has made it illegal to capture the species, even though it is a non-native species. Because the city is affluent and relatively well educated, the cases of people breaking the law are extremely rare, explained Dr Gibson, unlike in its native range in Indonesia, where capturing birds form a major source of income.

However, there can be downsides (缺点) to the newly established population of endangered species, such as a limited genetic pool, and suffering from novel diseases. It did also present a possible “very interesting” opportunity for conservationists, Dr. Gibson suggested. This would involve “harvesting” some of the newly established secondary population, which may provide a way to help slow global biodiversity loss.

10 . In 2016, a team of Japanese scientists found bacteria capable of breaking down and “eating” one of the world’s most popular plastics-polyethylene terephthalate(PET). It was valued as a potential breakthrough at the time. But a new discovery came as a team of British scientists examined an enzyme(酶) produced by the Japanese bacteria to find out more about its structure. While operating the structure to better understand how it worked, they accidentally created the changed enzyme that’s even more efficient at breaking down plastic bottles.

The researchers are now working to further improve the enzyme so it can be used on an industrial scale. It’s possible that within the next few years there could be an industrially possible process for turning PET into other substances so it can be recycled.

The ability to scale up the process will be important. Plastic pollution is fast becoming one of the biggest environmental issues of our time. More than 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. Most of these bottles are made from PET，which can take up to1000 years to biodegrade(生物降解), and many are left in the oceans. Over half of global PET waste is not collected for recycling and only 7 percent of bottles are recycled into new bottles.

Some scientists say the breakthrough, though promising, is nowhere near enough to solve our pollution crisis. These enzymes are not abundantly present in nature. So you would need to produce the enzyme first, then add it to the PET plastic to degrade it.”This is likely to be a slow process. If you have gone through the trouble of collecting the PET waste, then there are clearly far better ways to recycle it or burn it for energy,” said Wim, head of the Industrial Biotechnology Center. He suggested the use of commercially available biodegradable bioplastics would still be a better bet.