1 . Margot doesn’t have a garbage can. It doesn’t need one because Margot simply doesn’t cause anything to get thrown away. The restaurant doesn’t allow any type of single use plastic. Margot, which opened last year, is one of the small but growing restaurants around the world aiming to avoid not only food leftovers, but also any garbage.

“Food waste has been increasing as an issue for restaurants over the last 10 years,” says Calvin Brown. He runs the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Based in the United Kingdom, the organization helps food business become more environmentally responsible. He says that food waste contributes to releasing the greenhouse gas, so there is strong motivation to reduce waste and help the environment.

In the USA, food waste and packing account for nearly half of the material sent to landfills. Restaurants from McDonald’s to Starbucks are addressing this issue with “no straw Mondays” and limits on single-serving plastic, but a handful of restaurateurs are trying to get rid of rubbish entirely. There’s also economic case to be made for waste reduction. One study shows that restaurants save seven dollars for every dollar invested in anti- waste methods.

Avoiding food waste is the first and perhaps most obvious challenge for sustainable restaurants. Doug McMaster, chef at Silo in London, only serves a set menu. This removes the worry that one particular item won’t sell well, and will spoil in the refrigerator. Compost (堆肥) is a necessity as well. Nolla (meaning “zero” in Finnish) in Helsinki, Finland is giving compost to its suppliers as well as its diners. Nolla also has food- tracking software more commonly used among corporate food service companies to keep track of what sells and what rots.

Sometimes restaurants call themselves environmentally friendly, but they might just be using the label. Calvin offers some pointers on what to look for to make sure a restaurant is truly committed to sustainability.

3 . Innovation has pretty much finished with car tires (轮胎) right, I mean, what’s left to change? How about the whole “air” part?

Michelin Company’s attempt to tackle tire rubbish around the world witnessed them roll out puncture-proof “airless” tires, which they say should help reduce the 18% of all world tires that are abandoned early due to punctures (轮胎漏气). Deserted tires arc a huge worldwide waste problem — the US produces 260 million abandoned tires per year, many of which end up in landfills or on the sides of the freeway where they release harmful gases and microplastic pollutants as they break down.

Michelin Company's Unique Puncture Proof Tire System or “UPTIS” is designed using 46% recycled material, and made from a plastic matrix (母体) mixed with glass fibers that provide a flexible outer layer with a strong inner one. “The truly distinctive structure of the Michelin UPTIS prototype (原型), or its “strangeness” as we have often heard it called, really attracted the eye of many visitors and left a lasting impression on them,” stated Cyrille Roget, Michelin Group Technical and Scientific Communications Director. “It was an unusual experience for us, and our greatest satisfaction came at the end of the demonstration when our passengers, who were undoubtedly a little alert (警觉) at first, said they felt no difference compared with conventional tires.”

Michelin Company believes airless tires will improve everyone's lives. Maintenance (保养) costs for company’s vehicle fleets will be less expensive, and inexperienced car owners won’t accidentally ruin their rubbers when driving them because they are over-or under-inflated (充气). Although they are still in development stage and using at a large scale within years is unlikely to be available, Michelin Company is not in the least doubtful about their tires’ future.

5 . Zologial Sociey of London(ZSL), which runs London Zoo, brought together 16 scientists from different organizations to make a full “heath heck” on 215 miles of the Thames. The results of the first-ever State of the Thames Report have been shown to the public and there’s both good and bad news for London’s main waterway.

First up, since the Thames was pronounced “biologically(生物学地)dead” in1957, the number of animals and plants growing in and around the river has increased greatly. Natural habitats(栖息地)are also on the increase, some of which can help in the fight against climate(气候)change.

It’s not all good news though—like everywhere else, the Thames is influenced by climate change, mainly through changes in water temperature and sea levels. The Thames is increasing in temperature at an average(平均数)of 0. 2℃ each year, changing the natural environment.

Water levels are also rising in the Thames—at Silvertown. There has been an average increase of 4. 26 mm per year since 1990, which makes London more likely to be flooded.

As with pretty much everywhere on Earth, the Thames needs climate change to be stopped in order to make itself a living river in the future.

The Environment Agency has put together the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan which sets out a long-term plan for dealing with the influence of rising sea levels for the rest of this century, in order to protect London from floods.

James Brand, Thames Estuary 2100 Advisor at the Environment Agency said, “We are glad to support the State of the Thames Report. If we are going to stop climate change, nature needs to be at the heart of our activities, both in slowing the pace of future change and dealing with the changes that we are already seeing.”

6 . China’s second national botanical (植物学的) garden, South China National Botanical Garden, was set up in Guangzhou on July 11th, 2022.

With a total of 319 hectares of core functional area planned, the new national botanical garden was built based on South China Botanical Garden. It spans Guangzhou and Zhaoqing, two cities in Guangdong Province.

The South China National Botanical Garden aims to strengthen the conservation, scientific research and knowledge broadcasting of tropical (热带的) and subtropical (亚热带的) plants. The garden has three research centers, two national-level field stations and three key laboratories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. There are 17, 168 protected plants, 643 rare and endangered plants, and 337 national key wild protected plants in the garden at present.

The garden will participate in plant diversity protection both in China and the world and achieve the conservation goal of 20, 000 species. Meanwhile, it aims to play a world-leading role in collection and storage of living plants, among which 6, 000 species are economic plants.

Besides, 95 percent of rare and endangered plants in South China will be effectively protected, thus to provide plant resources for green development.

China is one of the countries in the world with the richest biodiversity, having more than 37, 000 known species of higher plants, accounting for about one tenth of the world’s total.

The South China National Botanical Garden, together with the national botanical garden in Beijing, has formed a system of collection and complete the retention of wild plant groups, which is helpful to maintain the country’s plant diversity.

7 . A tree-planting initiative in Kenya has seen over 30,000 trees being planted. The Green Generation Initiative is a Kenyan charity that has been planting trees to counter climate change and the reduction in forest in the East African nation since 2016.

Founded by climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti when she was fifteen years old, the initiative’s primary focus is on developing young climate activists through environmental education in schools and addressing food insecurity in the region through planting fruit trees. Since its foundation, over 30,000 trees have been planted in Kenya, while thousands of school children have not just planted trees but adopted them to ensure that young people learn the importance of acting as a guardian over the health of the environment. The trees have recorded a survival rate of over 98 percent, as they remain tended to from young trees to maturity.

Speaking to world leaders at the recent United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Elizabeth issued a serious warning on the threat of climate change. Over two million of Kenyans are facing climate related starvation. In 2025, half of the world’s population will be facing water shortage. The climate crisis will displace 80 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Elizabeth said, “I have been doing what I can. Inspired by the great Wangari Maathai, I founded a tree growing initiative that enhances food security for young Kenyans.” So far, they have grown 30,000 fruit trees to maturity, providing desperately needed nutrition for thousands of children. “Every day we see that when we look after the trees, they look after us. We are the adults on this Earth right now, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the children have food and water,” she added.

8 . Scientists have found something strange has been happening among sensitive bird species in the Brazilian Amazon in recent years. Not only were the birds declining in number, but their bodies were also shrinking in size. “We found that size was not only shrinking for those sensitive species-it was declining for everyone, “said researcher Vitek Jirinec of Louisiana State University. Jirinec’s findingsare contained in a new study published in the journal Science Advances last Friday.

The study examined 77 species over a 40-year period, during which time the rainforest had become warmer. It found they were rapidly evolving perhaps because smaller birds remove heat more efficiently as they have more surface area in relation to volume. Brian Weeks of the University of Michigan explained it this way: “You could imagine lots of little ice cubes in a glass of water, as opposed to one big ice cube, and the little ice cubes melt faster because smaller things have larger surface area-to-volume ratios(比)，so they exchange heat more quickly. “Weeks didn’t work on this particular study, but he did research the size of more than50 species of migratory (迁徙的) birds in North America a few years back. He too found that nearly all of them were shrinking decade by decade.

The two studies strengthen the idea that birds all over the planet, migratory or not, may be changing shape due to a warming climate. Weeks said these sorts of changes should concern all of us. “All around the world, people depend on natural systems. Complete natural systems provide more economic benefits to humanity than the entirety of the world’s GDP, so they matter to you whether or not you know it, Weeks said. Jirinec thought the timing of his paper’s publication could not be more fitting. The study came out on the same day as the conclusion of the UN climate change conference in Glasgow. So those results really stressed the common consequences of the actions for the planet.

9 . When the monthly electricity bill came home, parents always couldn’t believe their eyes, as the amount was much more than needed.     1     Here are some tips for parents to educate their children on how to save energy.

Switch off the lights. Assign one day in a week for a “turn off” practice, for a few hours. Tell the kids the significance of using less electricity and how it impacts the environment.     2    

Use energy-efficient transportation. When parents and their children are out on vacation, have a cycling outing. When the whole family rides bicycles together, it not only serves as a great bonding exercise, but it also teaches the children about eco-friendly transportation options.     3    

Play a game.     4     Engage them in a game instead. Ask the little ones to walk around the house with pen and paper, and make a note of all the equipment that consumes energy. Let them suggest what measures can be taken within the home to reduce consumption of electricity and go green. Parents can stick small notes near these appliances to give them interesting information on conservation.

    5     Create a theatre-like experience at home on a Sunday and gather everyone in the family, especially the kids, to watch an informative film about environmental issues or climate change. If parents have slightly older children, they can discuss the film and ask them what they think.