2 . Mass public participation in afforestation efforts takes root. Zheng Jinran and Yuan Hui report from Chifeng, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

In the Tengger Desert last month, yellow sand danced on the breeze and a profusion of sweetvetch（甜豆）swung its green leaves.

"In summer, you can see an amazing flower ocean when the plants bloom with their small pink, yellow or purplish petals," said Liang Cunxin, from Alshaa Left Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

"The enduring vitality of such plants on the barren land is astonishing," said the 53-year-old, whose family lived in the area for decades but was forced to relocate in 2007 as a result of desert encroachment.

"The government encouraged us to plant saxaul and little-leaf pea shrubs, which are commonly used to fix dunes in deserts, but the survival rate was unsatisfactory so we switched to this plant, and it has worked," he said.

The Tengger covers about 43,000 square kilometers in Inner Mongolia and Gansu province, making it China's fourth-largest arid area.

More than 2 million sweetvetch shrubs have been planted since 2017, and the hardy perennial has gradually covered more than 33 sq km of desert, Liang added.

Like Liang's family and their peers, about 400 million people from 30 provinces and regions have been affected by desertification, which by 2019 had covered a combined area of 1.68 million sq km, or 17.58 percent of China's total land area, according to data from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Two Toronto entrepreneurs (企业家) are on a mission to change the way you get your coffee to go. Scott Morrison and Ryan Dyment,     1     are co-founders of Dream Zero, have been working to bring reusable food and beverage (饮料) containers to the Canadian market for the past four years.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Dream Zero supplied street festivals and corporate events with reusable cups to cut down on plastic waste. But when everything shut down and all of their 2020 events were canceled, they realized they had to come up with another idea.

That’s when they discovered Muuse, an app-based reusable cup program     2     originated in Singapore and was being used in Hong Kong and Jakarta. Morrison and Dyment realized this could be an ideal fit for Canadians     3     care about plastics, waste, and convenience. After making a deal with the app’s founders, Muuse was launched in Toronto in February 2021.

In a phone conversation, Morrison explained how Muuse works. After a free 30-day trial, users can purchase a monthly membership for $5 and ask for a Muuse cup when they enter participating cafes. Morrison said, “The barista (咖啡馆招待员) shows the bottom of the cup,     4     is where the QR code (二维码) is, and scans it. Then he fills the coffee order, puts it up on the bar, and the user takes it. Once they’re done, the user can return it to any participating cafes by scanning the bottom of the cup again, and then scanning the QR     5     is located on the return bin.”

When asked what appeal an in-house reusable cup program has for customers     6     could just bring their own at no extra cost, Morrison pointed out that cups are easy to forget and inconvenient to carry around. He mentioned a running group of people     7     visit a farmer’s market in Toronto every Saturday. They’re now faithful Muuse members.

The conch (海螺) is       1     (wide) considered to be the national dish of the Bahamas. Queen conch is one of important food materials and can live for 30 years.

Conches can be very     2     (expense) in the U.S. and other places. But it is so common in the Bahamas     3     it can often be found in meals costing     4    (little) than two     5     (five) of the population in rural (农村的) parts of the Bahamas eats conches weekly. The country of about 400,000 is home     6     9,000 conch fishers-around two percent of the population. This number appears to be holding steady even as conches decrease (减少) in number. For many fishers here, fishing is both a family tradition     7     a path to middle class life. The meat of the conch     8     (be) worth millions of dollars per year, and it also helps increase tourism to     9     islands.

The conch is one example of the threat (威胁) overfishing presents to traditional foods around the world. Similar problems     10     (see) in Senegal now, where overfishing has taken away white grouper. The fish has long been the basis for the national dish of thieboudienne.

7 . Anna Devolld likes bees, butterflies, ladybugs, hummingbirds and even bats. The 17-year-old prize winner is now helping small things to make a difference. Many TV programs and newspapers have featured her about her efforts to introduce the vital role pollinators (授粉者) play. You might say she’s been busy as a bee. She has created and helped plant over 2,000 free Pollinator Packs, each containing six different pollinator-friendly seedlings (幼苗). She also regularly visits local classrooms to teach students about pollinators and to help them plant their own Pollinator Packs.

As a teenager, Anna worried about the little things that keep our world beautiful and our orchards (果园) producing food. Anna’s solution is to increase habitats that attract pollinators and to educate the next generation about the importance of creating pollinator-friendly spaces. Her first project was creating activities and coloring books for kids to help them understand how important pollinators are to our planet. Next, she created Pollinator Packs: plants that attract bees and other pollinators to your garden. It wasn’t long before she was part of community councils encouraging the planting of pollinators in communities and roadside hallways. She now serves on her local government’s environmental advisory commission.

“One out of every three bites of food we take is dependent on pollinators,” Anna tells us. “Sadly, every one of these creatures is declining at an alarming rate.” We all can make a difference. As Anna says, “Find something you are passionate about, no matter how small, and see how you can change the world.”

So, the next time you take a bite out of a delicious apple or peach, or even better, enjoy your favorite fruit in a home-baked pie, think about all the little creatures that made it happen. Then think about Anna and how one teenage girl is making sure millions of pollinators are happy and productive.

8 . For some people, walking outdoors is a great way to exercise. What may not be so great is seeing the trash(垃圾) all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging!(运动+环保).

“Plogging” began in Sweden. The name combine the Swedish words “plocka” which mean picking up litter and the word “jogging” which means running slowly. A Swedish man named Erik Ahlstrom, started the movement in 2016. He says he became concerned about the amount of the trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work. So, he took matters into his own hands. He began picking up the trash.

Plogging, by that term, may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for many years. Take Jeff Horowitz,for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington, D.C. He says that he would often pick up the trash while running outside. He even turned it into a game; he would try to pick up the trash without stopping.

Plogging is not only exercise but also community service. As Julie Lawson explains, it can also build closer social connections in a community. Lawson works at Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Clean City. “When the street look bad and it’s dirty, you’re going to feel bad about the community. So if we’re all doing our part and picking the trash up, it’s very easy to help beautify it and build those social connections.”

Plogging can be fun, too. When Dana Allen goes plogging around Washington D.C., she invites her friends. And they make a day of it. “Sometimes we get groups together on a Saturday or Sunday. We go for a run. We pick up some garbage. Then we’ll actually go for brunch after.” Although Allen enjoys plogging, she says she does not do it all the time. When she is training for a serious marathon race, the trash has to wait.

Cities around the world now hold plogging events. The goal is to spread the idea that littering is not acceptable. We hope one day there will not be a need for plogging.

Green School in Uruguay

Francesco Fassina(Ecologist and Volunteer)

Michael Reynolds (Architect)

Alicia Alvarez (School Director)

Danila Mendez (Mother of a student)

Narrator : A sunny winter’s day is great news for these Uruguayan children. As pupils of South America’s first sustainable school, they study in a building heated only using solar panels. On top of the normal school programme, they learn about recycling, energy saving,and growing their own food

Francesco Fassina: The school is an autonomous building in the sense that it isn’t connected to any energy infrastructure for water or anything. It’s sustainable in the way it functions; totally autonomous and it works thanks to its connection with nature—the sun and the rain.

Narrator : The building was funded by a local NGO and a detergent company, and designed by US architect Michael Reynolds, a self-professed “garbage warrior” who's devoted his career to building self-sufficient structures out of recyclable material.

Michael Reynolds: People called me an idiot, uh, building with garbage, what a fool, you’re a disgrace to the architectural community, uh, you know. I was trying to contain sewage and treat it and do all of these things that architects didn’ t do

Narrator : The 39 students, so me just starting pre-school and others in their final year before university learn it’s possible to live in a building that produces no waste. NGO volunteers organise regular workshops on sustainability for pupils and teachers too.

Alicia Alvarez: Little by little, we`re becoming qualified. In fact were being trained by them. We`re being trained to learn how the school works. How to maintain it so that the systems don’t deteriorate.

Narrator : Some of the children have even started educating their parents

Danila Mendez: Every day, we walk here, and he finds glass in the sand or plastic or something and he picks it up. He says. “T`m keeping this to throw it away.” He doesn’t leave it there. He picks it up and he throws it away in the right place.

Narrator : For these little garbage warriors, saving the planet has become an integral part of their homework.