2 . For more than 60 years, the soft drink Sprite has come packaged in iconic (标志性的) green bottles. Now, that time has come to an end. Starting Aug. 1, the Coca-Cola Co., which produces Sprite, will package the lemon-lime drink in clear plastic bottles in North America, the company announced Wednesday.

By bottling Sprite in clear plastic, Coca-Cola says, the bottles will be able to be recycled more times. One goal, the company says, is to increase the supply of recycled plastic that the company can then use to make future bottles. “Taking colours out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, the CEO of a plastic recycling company working with Coca-Cola.

Sprite’s green plastic bottles were already recyclable. But coloured plastic bottles are typically separated from clear plastic bottles during the recycling process in order to keep the recycled plastic from becoming discoloured, Coca-Cola said. The green Sprite bottles were more often recycled into things like clothes and carpeting, which are more difficult to recycle again.

Environmental organizations say the problem with Sprite bottles is not only the colour, but the material: single-use plastic. “Coca-Cola’s recent announcement is another greenwashing attempt from one of the world’s worst plastic polluters,” said Kate Melges, who leads the Plastics Project at Greenpeace, “We are in the midst of a massive (巨大的) plastic pollution crisis. This is not a useful practice.”

Coca-Cola produces more than 100 billion plastic bottles every year, according to data it provided in 2019, making it one of the world’s largest producers of single-use plastic waste.

Soft drink bottles are usually made of a type of plastic called polyethyleneglycol terephthalate (PET). PET is lightweight, food-safe and recyclable — but like other plastics, PET can take hundreds of years to decompose. “Bottles with recycled content will still be thrown away, sent to landfills, or littered,” said Matt Littlejohn of Oceana, an ocean conservation (保护) organization.

3 . Most environmental pollution comes from humans and their inventions. The electric bulbs are thought to be one of the greatest human inventions of all time. However, too much of a good thing has started to negatively impact the environment. Light pollution, the extreme or inappropriate use of outdoor artificial light, is affecting human health and wildlife behavior. There is a global movement to reduce light pollution, and everyone can help.

Light pollution is a global issue. This became particularly obvious when the World Atlas (地图册)of Night Sky Brightness, a computer-generated map based on thousands of satellite photos, was published in 2016. Vast areas of North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia are glowing with light, while only Siberia, the Sahara, and the Amazon are in total darkness.

Artificial light can wreak havoc on natural body rhythms in both humans and animals. It interrupts sleep and confuses the circadian rhythm(生理节奏)一the internal, twenty-four-hour clock that guides day and night activities and affects physiological processes in nearly all living organisms. One of these processes is the production of the hormone melatonin(褪黑素), which is released when it is dark and is prevented when there is light. An increased amount of light at night lowers melatonin production, which results in lack of sleep, headaches, stress, anxiety, and other health problems. Blue light, in particular, has been shown to reduce levels of melatonin in humans. It is found in cell phones and other computer devices, as well as in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the kinds of bulbs that have become popular at home and in industrial and city lighting due to their low cost and energy efficiency.

Studies show that light pollution is also impacting animal behaviors, such as migration (迁徙)patterns and habitat formation. Because of light pollution, sea turtles guided by moonlight during migration get confused, lose their way, and often die. Large numbers of insects, a primary food source for birds and other animals, are drawn to artificial light and are instantly killed upon contact with light sources. Even animals living under the deep sea may be affected by underwater artificial lighting. One study looked at how animals in sea responded to brightly lit panels put under water off the coast of Wales. Fewer filter feeding animals(滤食性动物), such as the sea squirt(海鞘), made their homes near the lighted panels. This could mean that the artificial light is altering ocean ecosystems.

The good news is that light pollution, unlike many other forms of pollution, is reversible(可逆的)and each one of us can make a difference! Now, many people are taking action to reduce light pollution and bring back the natural night sky. Individuals are urged to use outdoor lighting only when and where it is needed, to make sure outdoor lights are properly shielded (遮挡)and direct light down instead of up into the sky, and to close window blinds, shades, and curtains at night to keep light inside.