1 . Young students can, and do, make a big difference. As an educator, you have the opportunity to spark (触发) a passion in students that will drive them to do their part to take care of the Earth. Here are activities you could add to your lesson plans to inspire your students on Earth Day:

Make signs for school and at home

Sometimes we just need a little reminder to help us change our habits. Have students think about what they can do at school and at home to help the environment and how they can encourage others to change their habits.

Make a video or presentation urging others to take action

Students can make a bigger impact if they influence others to do their part to protect the environment. Putting together a video or presentation also helps them internalize the material itself — they need to understand it before they can explain it to others. Presentations can be given in the classroom or even to the whole school. Eventually, they may be able to present their lessons and research at a local conference.

Show them examples of other students making a real difference

It's important for students to see examples of young environmentalists so they know they don't need to wait until they're older to make a difference. Learning about the work these young people are doing can give your students new ideas for how to protect the environment. It can open the door of possibilities for how to think about finding solutions to problems they can help solve.

Earth Day isn't just on April 22. It's every day. How will you celebrate Earth Day and help students make a difference year-round?

2 . Researchers have discovered a unique group of polar bears who’ve survived in the absence of sea ice: by hunting from the ice that breaks off glaciers (冰川). The bears live in southeast Greenland and are a genetically(基因地) distinct subpopulation, which suggests they’ve been separated from other polar bears for around 200 years, according to a paper published this week in Science.

“The findings show us how some polar bears might survive under climate change. but I don’t think glacier habitat is going to support huge numbers of polar bears,” said Kristin Laidre, a polar research scientist at the University of Washington. “There’s just not enough of it. We still expect to see large declines in polar bears across the Arctic under climate change.”

When temporary ice sheets form on the ocean during each fall’s freeze, the bears walk across it in search of food, often by sitting next to gaps in the ice and waiting for seals to come up for air. When the ice melts (融化) in spring, polar bears typically survive between 100 and 180 days without food until the ice forms again. As temperatures rise, however, that period is becoming longer, which is harming the bears and pushing them toward starvation. The bears living in southeast Greenland go even longer without sea ice—around 250 days. But they’ve been able to continue bunting during that period by using large pieces of ice that break off from glaciers into the water.

There are roughly 26, 000 polar bears remaining across the globe. Though the southeast Greenland bears have adapted to surviving in their surroundings, rising temperatures may ultimately cause their glacial ice to shrink, too. As Steve Armstrup, a scientist with Polar Bears International says, the study “is not some kind of effective rescue for polar bears”. While the southeast Greenland bears are able to hunt through glacial ice today, he says, “In the future, that will change unless we arrest the rise of global greenhouse gases.”

4 . Greenhouse-gas emissions have produced the planet more than 1°C (1.8°F) warmer than it was in the pre-industrial days. Its atmosphere is producing heavy weather in ways both predicted and surprising. And, with emissions continuing, it will get worse.

Unfortunately, 2021 will probably be one of the 21st century’s coolest years. If temperatures rise by 3°C above pre-industrial levels in the coming decades — as they might even if everyone manages to honour today’s firm promises — large parts of the tropics risk becoming too hot for outdoor work. Coral reefs and the livelihood that depend on them will disappear and the Amazon rainforest will become a ghost of itself. Severe harvest failures will be commonplace. Ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland will shrink (缩小) past the point of no return, promising sea rises measured not in millimetres, as today’s are, but in metres.

Six years ago, in Paris, the countries of the world committed themselves to avoiding the worst of that nightmare by removing greenhouse-gas emissions quickly enough to hold the temperature rise below 2°C. Their progress towards that end remains seriously inadequate. Yet even if their efforts increased dramatically enough to meet the 2°C goal, it would not stop forests from burning today; prairies (草原) would still dry out tomorrow, rivers break their banks and mountain glaciers disappear.

Cutting emissions is thus not enough. The world also urgently needs to invest in adapting to the changing climate. The good news is that adaptation makes political sense. People can clearly see the need for it. When a country invests in flood defenses, it benefits its own citizens above all others — there is no free-rider problem, as there could be for emissions reduction. So All the governments should make a broader move to increase investment in adaptation. More such efforts are vital.

7 . Animals deserve to live a safe and healthy life as much as humans do.     1     Some people try to get profit from everything and sometimes animals become victims. It is vital that we take action to protect animals. Below are some simple ways in which we can all contribute towards the protection of endangered animals.

Spread awareness. One way to protect endangered animals is to create awareness about them.     2     Having seminars (研讨会) is another way of creating awareness. Also, familiarize people around you with the importance of the animals in your surroundings. Our routine activities directly or indirectly influence their lifestyle.

Drive carefully in forest areas. It is important to watch the road when you are going through roads in forest areas. Many animals die while trying to cross the road because people do not pay attention to them.     3    

Avoid plastic items. Do you know what happens to a plastic bag thrown into a river?     4     Plastic is a big threat to wildlife. And we have to reduce the overconsumption of life-threatening products to protect the endangered species. Prevent plastic items such as bags and containers. Shop in a handmade woven bag and recycle the boxes.

    5     As a volunteer, you can offer support to animal rescue teams in your area. Such organizations are always short of funds and are looking for animal lovers to support the cause. Spending a portion of your daily or weekly schedule is one step towards saving wildlife and protecting endangered species.

10 . Latin America’s first renewable fuel-powered, trash-trapping wheel is cleaning one of Panama’s dirtiest rivers. A local environmental group led the effort.

The wheel is powered by water and sun energy. It pulls waste out of the Juan Diaz River. Most of the waste comes from the capital area of Panama City, where about 2 million people live. Thousands of kilograms of rubbish flow down the river into the ocean each year.

Robert Getman is the leader of the project. “Cleaning beaches is good,” he said, “but it is more effective and cheaper to trap rubbish in rivers because when it reaches the ocean, the environmental and economic cost becomes too high.”

The environmental group Marea Verde created the wheel, which is named Wanda Diaz, in late September. By the middle of October, Wanda had gathered 28. 6 cubic meters of plastic bottles from the water.

The Juan Diaz River is one of the most polluted in Panama. Waste systems in the area are poor, and land development is not well supervised. The river also passes through Panama City, one of Central America’s largest cities.

Over five years, Marea Verde projects have slowed the spread of rubbish along Panama’s rivers and coastline. Earlier, the group introduced its “Barrier or Trash”technology, a floating device. It caught more than 100 metric tons of waste in the Matias Hernandez River between 2019 and 2020.

“We want to raise awareness that we can prevent the death of this very important river,”said Marea Verde member Sandy Watemberg. She expressed her hope that the wheel will help. But she also pointed to the need for those who use single-use plastics to rethink their behavior. “The most important thing is to achieve a change in habits,” she said.