1 . Most old, disused airports are usually torn down to make way for shiny new developments, although at huge cost, but not Tegel airport, in Berlin, Germany. The deserted 580 acres will be turned into an eco-friendly living neighborhood land, in Tegel Project that officials hope will become the blueprint for future disused airports.

After the airport was closed down a number of years ago, following the building of a newer and modern version nearby, developers began dreaming up the ambitious 5 million square meter Tegel Project. Those behind the project hope it will address housing shortages, pollution and other ban living problems. It will provide at least 5,000 homes for more than 10,000 people.

The entire project is all about being energy-efficient: vertical gardens (垂直花园) on apartment blocks, which is one way to keep buildings cool without costly air conditioning. Every rooftop is also going to be fitted with solar panels which will provide electricity. Sponge City technology, such as rain gardens, will help the city absorb as much water as possible.

Although turning an airport into a neighborhood isn’t common, it’s not the first time it’s happened. When Denver’s main airport moved to a new location, developers made the most out of the old airport and converted the space into a residential community with important locations like hospitals, schools, and supermarkets easily reached on foot.

Next to the new development in Germany’s former Tegel airport will be a commercial zone. The Urban Technology Republic is aimed at tech companies that will be encouraged to open offices in the development, as well as a large city park that will stretch across half of the urban tech space. There will also be a campus for the Berliner Hochschule fur Technik University. Construction is due to begin in 2023, with the first areas opening by 2027.

2 . When scientists talk about recent extinctions, birds and mammals (哺乳动物) get most of the attention. But the first global analysis of its kind finds it is twice as many plants that have disappeared as birds, mammals, and amphibians (两栖动物) combined.

Researchers reviewed published research, international databases, and museum specimens such as grasses from Madagascar, finding that 571 plants species have gone extinct in the past 250 years. One reason why the total is higher than that of the well-studied animals is that there are simply more species of plants. Looking at percentages, the situation is worse for mammals and birds. An estimated 5% of those species have gone extinct, compared with 0.2% of plants.

The loss includes the Chile sandalwood tree in the South Pacific, which was cut down for its fragrant (芳香的) wood. It was last seen on Robinson Crusoe Island in 1908. The extinction rates among plants have been highest for trees and shrubs on islands, which often have species that occur nowhere else, and in regions with rich diversity, especially the tropics and in Mediterranean climates.

Just a few years later, the world lost the banded Trinity (Thismia americana), a leafless plant that grew entirely underground except for its flowers. Most species of this kind of plant grow in rainforests, but this plant was first described in 1912 in a sandy wetland in Chicago, Illinois, and was wiped out by development.

According to the team’s report in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the total of 571 extinct plant species is four times higher than the official listing kept by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Even so, it is probably still an underestimate (低估), as less is known about the status of plants in Africa and South America than on other continents. Many of these species may disappear, too. A major review of the status of global biodiversity recently estimated that more than a million species, including 14% of plant and animal diversity, are threatened with extinction.

3 . Finding low-cost sustainable building materials is important for the environment and in providing access to affordable housing. Researchers have created a composite (复合的) building material by replacing sand in building materials with a common, non-degradable (不可降解的) waste product: used disposable diapers (一次性尿布).

Driven by a desire to solve Indonesia’s significant population growth and demand for low-cost housing, researchers looked for a way of maintaining the benefits of building materials but making it more environmentally friendly and cheaper to produce. Building material samples containing different proportions (比例) of disposable diaper waste were tested. Then the researchers calculated the maximum amount of sand that could be replaced with diaper waste, finding that up to 8% of the sand could be replaced to safely construct a house with 36 square meters. 10% of the sand could be replaced in a three-story house and 27% in a single- story house. In terms of the materials used to create partition walls (隔断墙), the researchers said they could replace up to 40% of sand.

“This research has concluded that adding used diapers to building materials does not significantly weaken its strength, ” the team stated. “It proves using diapers to create composite materials is feasible, particularly concerning the development of environmentally friendly and cost-effective materials. ”

Indonesia is ranked sixth globally for disposable diaper usage. Many used diapers are thrown away in the country’s rivers and waterways, causing pollution. In 2019, the total waste in Indonesia was 29. 21 million tons. This figure rose to 32. 76 million tons in 2020.

However, the researchers know the current limitations of using waste diapers as a construction material. For one thing, it would require engagement with waste treatment facilities to collect used diapers from households and deal with them. Secondly, machines that cut up the used diapers would be needed on a large scale.

Nonetheless, the research highlights the potential for using non-degradable waste, addressing sustainability issues and providing low-cost housing.

My family lives by the Pacific Ocean, and my son, Ryan, has always loved marine animals. When he was three, Ryan came to the recycling center with me. He had fun     1     (feed) cans and bottles into the machine, especially once he realized that the more we recycled, the     2     (little) they would end up as litter on the beach. When I let him keep the $3 we got back for the returns, he was even more     3     (excite).

The next day, Ryan announced he was starting a recycling business: Ryan’s Recycling. He and my wife delivered trash bags to each of     4     houses on our street and asked our neighbors to save their cans and bottles     5    him. The neighbors also asked their friends to save     6     (they) bottles. Ryan, now 10, has 300     7     (customer). An average weekend includes a dozen pickups and three trips to the recycling center. So far, Ryan     8     (keep) 770,000 cans and bottles off the beach and out of the ocean.

Ryan is saving the refund money to buy a truck and hopes to expand his business     9     he grows up. Recycling allows us     10     (spend) time together and do some good to the ocean’s animals.

5 . When it comes to the ocean, you may think of a visit to the beach, whales or coral reefs. To me, I think the ocean is out of expanse of deep dark water and it is filled with life and mystery and opportunity.

Whatever you think of, the ocean is much more. It is a complex physical, chemical and biological system that takes up 70% of our planet. What we do know is that the ocean is an important part of our life support system on the planet. It produces at least 50% of the oxygen that we breathe. It also regulates temperature for the planet.

Without the ocean, the poles would be unbearably cold and the equator would be unbearably hot. And it would be a lot harder to live on earth. Now we consider saving the ocean from plastic, from oil spills or from overfishing. But really, we should be thinking about how the ocean is saving us. It is saving us from the climate change that we are creating. Basically, what we need to do is think about not how to save the ocean, but instead how the ocean can actually help us in this fight against climate change.

Already, the ocean is absorbing 25 to 30% of the CO2 that we release into the atmosphere. It is the world’s largest carbon sink. It has also absorbed 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. So it is basically helping to keep the planet habitable. When we think about climate action, climate strategies and climate plans, we often overlook the ocean and leave it out because somehow we think that saving the ocean is something else we have to do, not a core part of our climate strategy.

That’s what has to change because the ocean is a core part of our climate system, and so it has to be a core part of our climate solutions.

7 . Climate change is a growing threat and many businesses are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. According to Forbes, going green isn’t just good for the planet and it’s also good for businesses because 80% of customers respect eco-friendly businesses!

One of the best ways to make the change to environmentally friendly business practices is to listen to the experts. They can tell you which changes are the most influential and which are unimportant.

If you want to create a more energy-saving office, look at your lighting. First, replace your incandescent bulbs (白炽灯) with energy-saving bulbs. Though they may cost a bit more, they use less energy while they burn and they last longer, which will save you money in the long run. Second, don’t leave your lights on after hours. Many businesses leave their offices and parking garages lit after everyone has clocked out and gone home for the day or even the weekend. It’s time to start flipping all of those light switches before you head out!

When you have a long-distance business, consider limiting your travel, including your car travel and in particular your plane travel as much as possible. Keep in mind that train travel is a more environmentally friendly way to get around. The most ideal (理想的) choice is to hold virtual meetings, because there are tons of free or low-cost online resources that make video meeting a breeze (轻而易举的事) and you can start closing deals right from your own office without spending days on the trip.

We’ve provided a few ideas for eco-friendly business practices that can be achieved in a short amount of time. However, if you want to get serious about environmental friendliness, you’ll need to set some long-term goals.

8 . The beautiful blue whale is the largest animal in the sea and can weigh as much as 200 tons. Blue whales, like so many of the species, have been considered seriously endangered but a new Antarctic survey shows an obvious increase in numbers. This is certainly something to celebrate.

The 21-day 2020 survey led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), shows that blue whales and other whale species are making a comeback in the cold Antarctic waters. The survey marked the end of a three-year wild water project off South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic.

The survey included 40 researchers from nine countries. It took place in the most heavily hunted waters in the world where 176,000 whales were caught in around 60 years of hunting operations from shore stations on the island and from factory whaling ships. The researchers have spotted 55 whales in 36 sightings already in 2020 in a location where only one whale was spotted in 2018. The scientists were able to recognize the whales acoustically (声学上) through their songs — blue whales are also the loudest animals on Earth.

The new survey is extremely important because South Georgia’s waters are a major krill (磷虾) feeding area for different whale species. In all, BAS estimated that 2000 whales of different species now spend the summer in South Georgia before heading north to breed. “After three years of surveys, we are excited to see so many whales visiting South Georgia to feed again,” whale project leader Jennifer Jackson said.

With increased awareness and protection efforts, species on land and in the sea can be preserved and their numbers can increase. We may not be able to restore all of the biodiversity (生物多样性) that once existed, but we can preserve what remains.

9 . In 2011, organizations in England called on the citizens to reduce the amount of meat eaten on Fridays. 28% of people adjusted their dietary habits in various ways. Some gave up meat on Fridays, while others reduced it.

A new study from the University of Cambridge aimed to look at the consequences of behavioral change from people within a society and how these consequences bring in potentially large environmental benefits over time has assessed the impact of this shift, estimating that over the past decade, 55,000 tonnes of annual carbon emissions were saved.

The 28% of people said they changed their habits; of these, 55% reduced meat consumption on Fridays, and 41% stopped eating meat on Fridays. The 72% of people who did not change dietary habits attributed it to preferring to choose their own foods.

Using further data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), researchers could tell that people in the UK eat an average of 100 grams of meat daily, and the average high-protein, non-meat-eater (who eats fish and cheese) contributes one third of the greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram that a meat-eater does.

Thus, making a conservative assumption that citizens who adapted their diet switched to high protein non-meat meals on Fridays, the researchers estimated that this equated to approximately 875,000 fewer meat meals a week, which saved 1,070 tonnes of carbon, or 55,000 tonnes over a year.

There are some concerns about the implementation(实施) of meatless Fridays leading to further reduction of fish stocks, as fish is a common substitute for red meat. The researchers say, however, that this need not be a concern; there was no increase in fish consumption over the past decade, nor did meat consumption go up on other days to make up for its absence on Fridays. Furthermore, there are many more meat substitutes available now than in the past, offering more options.