The Palace Museum is becoming waste-free as the 720,000-square-meter structure has managed     1     (reduce) the number of rubbish bins to 110 sets in areas open to the public. This is a decrease from 310 sets     2     (record) in January 2020, when a zero-waste campaign     3     (launch), said the museum.

While protecting features of the six-century-old historical relic, the action also helps visitors and tourists get into     4     habit of creating less waste. Up to now, four types of rubbish bins have been equipped following Beijing’s regulations on the management of household waste. Cleaning staff also check them to make sure all rubbish is     5     (correct) sorted, which is later transported to different destinations for disposal (处理). The museum also recycled more than 32,000 plastic     6     (bottle) to make cultural and creative products between June 2021 and October 2023,     7     (mean) a reduction in carbon emission by 931 kilograms.

By launching the campaign, the Palace Museum is taking a careful, science-based way to waste management. The target is to minimize the production of waste     8     needs to be buried or burned and bring the amount of such waste as close     9     zero as possible.

So far, about 3,000 museum staff members, 40,000 tourist guides, and 21 million visitors     10     (participate) in the campaign.

2 . Plastic straws (吸管) have been a major problem in global discussions of environmental damage. Maybe because of their small size, the production cost of straws is low. In many countries, straws are offered freely after buying soft drinks. Therefore, plastic straws are one of the most used plastics and pollutants in the world.

The plastic straw is light and small. Due to their small size, plastic straws are often eaten by sea animals. Environmentalists have shown that the death of many sea animals is caused by eating plastic straws. The other damaging characteristic of plastic straws is that they are made of materials which cannot degrade. That means the materials cannot be changed into small harmless ones.

The most effective way of dealing with the environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is the reuse or banning (禁止) the use of plastic straws. Being plastics, the straws can be made into new items. Many organizations around the world change used straws into new products. In Africa, local communities collect used plastic straws and use them to make mats and bags. Another way of dealing with environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is placing a ban on their production and use. Experts advise governments to ban using plastic straws to save the environment. A few countries in the world, such as Rwanda, Macedonia, China, Kenya, have already banned the use of plastic bags and are expected to include plastic straws to save the environment. A few countries in the world, such as Rwanda, Macedonia, China, Kenya, have already banned the use of plastic bags and are expected to include plastic straws and bottles. But it will be a long way to do this effectively.

There are few environmentally friendly and biodegradable products to take the place of plastic straws. These products include paper straws and bamboo straws. However, such straws are usually expensive as their production cost is high. It’s still a question whether they can entirely take the place of plastic straws.

4 . In the old days, when you had to drive to a movie theater or to a video store to get some entertainment, it was easy to see how your actions could have an impact on the environment. You were hopping into your car, driving across town, and using gas all the way.

But now that we’re used to staying at home and streaming movies, we might feel better about ourselves. After all, we’re just picking up our phones or maybe turning on the TV. You’re welcome, Mother Nature.

“Not so fast,” says a recent report from the French-based Shift Project. Watching a half-hour show would lead to 3.5 pounds of CO₂ emissions. That’s like driving 3.9 miles. According to “Climate Crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video,” digital technologies are responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and that energy use is increasing by 9% a year. Stored in data centers, videos are transferred to our terminals such as computers, smart phones, etc. via networks: all these processes require electricity whose production consumes resources and usually involves CO₂ emissions.

In the European Union, the Eureca project lead scientist, Rabih Bashroush, calculated that 5 billion downloads and streams of the song “Despacito” consumed as much electricity as the countries of Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic used in a single year.

Streaming is only expected to increase as we become more attached to our devices. Online video use is expected to account for 80% of all internet traffic in five years according to CISCO. By then, about 60% of the world’s population will be online.

You’re probubly not going to give up your streaming services, but there are things you can do to help lessen the impact of your online use.

Here are some tips:

Disable autoplay for video on social media.

Stream over Wi-Fi, not mobile networks.

Watch on the smallest screen you can.

Don’t use high-definition (高清) video on devices.

7 . Most environmental pollution on Earth comes from humans and their inventions, such as cars or plastic. Today, car emissions(排放物) area major source of air pollution leading to climate change, and plastics fill our ocean, creating a significant health issue to marine(海洋的) animals.

And what about the electric light, thought to be one of the greatest human inventions of all time? Electric light can be a beautiful thing, guiding us home when the sun goes down，keeping us safe and making our homes bright. However, like carbon dioxide emissions and plastic, too much of a good thing has started to impact the environment. Light pollution, the inappropriate use of outdoor light, is affecting human health, wildlife behavior and our ability to observe stars.

Light pollution is a global issue. This became obvious when the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, a computer-generated map based on thousands of satellite photos, was published in 2016. Available online for viewing, the map shows how and where our globe is lit up at night. Vast areas of North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia are glowing(发光) with light, while only the most remote regions on Earth(Greenland, Central African Republic and Niue) are in total darkness. Some of the most light-polluted countries in the world are Singapore, Qatar, and Kuwait.

Sky glow is the brightening of the night sky, mostly over cities, due to the electric lights of cars, street lamps, offices, factories, outdoor advertising, and buildings, turning night into day for people who work and play long after sunset.

People living in cities with high levels of sky glow have a hard time seeing more than a handful of stars at night. Astronomers are particularly concerned with sky glow pollution as it reduces their ability to view stars.

More than 80 percent of the world’s population, and 99 percent of Americans and Europeans, live under sky glow.

Japan said     1     Tuesday that it had decided to     2     (gradual) release tons of treated wastewater from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant (福岛第一核电站) into the ocean,     3     (describe) it as the best solution for dealing with the leftovers (残留物) from the Fukushima nuclear accident, one of the     4     (serious) in the world.

The decision ends years of debate over how to deal with the water,     5     is enough to fill more than 500. Olympic-sized swimming pools. “The Japanese government ignores concerns and strong opposition     6     at home and abroad. Such     7     irresponsible act not only directly harms the interests of the people in Japan’s neighboring countries,     8     threatens the global marine environment and international public health     9     (secure),” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said,

Greenpeace criticized Japan’s plan and said there are other solutions that should     10     (consider). “Rather than using the best available technology to store and process the water over the long term, they have chosen the cheapest solution, dumping the water into the Pacific Ocean.” the group said.

Japan’s decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea has reduced the confidence of Chinese travelers     1     (want) to visit the country, and is expected to deliver a “heavy blow” to Japan’s tourism industry in the long term, experts and academics said.

Ignoring regional and international concerns about the safety of its decision, Japan began releasing     2     (treat) radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean on Aug 24.

As one of the major sources of tourists to Japan, China announced on Aug 10 that group tours     3     (start) again to the country, along with 77 other overseas destinations.

Travel portal Trip.com Group said that as of Aug 17 searches for group tours to Japan exceeded     4     for Thailand and Singapore — the traditional top choices for Chinese travelers. Travel agencies and industry insiders had also forecast that Japan would see a sharp increase of Chinese travelers for the     5     (nation) Day holiday.

Trip.com said that as of Aug 17, bookings to Japan for the holiday had seen     6     five-fold month-on-month increase.     7    , news about the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water has raised concerns among Chinese travelers heading to Japan,     8     (especial) regarding their personal health and food safety.

Xu Xiaolei, Chief Brand Officer of CYTS Tours Holding Co in Beijing, said that the company had seen routine changes in bookings and     9     (cancellation) for travel to Japan. Nevertheless, he warned that travelers may be taking a “wait and see” approach ahead of the holiday. “Many travelers to Japan want to enjoy the seafood. Japan’s discharge of nuclear-contaminated water may have a greater influence     10     these young travelers,” he said. “We will adjust our tour products to cater for our clients’ needs and follow-up the situation in Japan.”