2 . A handful of old mobile phones lay in a grey bucket. These outdated devices, which are about to be chopped into thousands of pieces, will be given a second life as recycled e-waste. But many phones won't.

According to the latest estimates, the world gets rid of approximately 50 million tonnes of waste annually. E-waste is full of dangerous materials that can cause damage to human health and the environment if not managed properly. But only 20 percent of global e-waste is recycled.The rest ends up in landfill, or burned—or is not recycled at all.

And yet,Switzerland is a good example of how to deal with the growing environmental issue. The country collects and recycles roughly 7S percent of this discarded material. This is thanks to a strong voluntary take-back system, where consumers can take e-waste to a reclining collection point or any electronic shop retailer（零售商）. A recycling station can be found within at most 300 meters from any residential area. Everyone gets involved. Switzerland's e-waste system is unique and can't be easily copied-due to a strong recycling culture within the country.

However, Switzerland faces the same global challenges as every nation.The built-in lithium batteries（锂电池）aren't easy to take out. The only way to remove these potentially dangerous components is with a bar and hammer. This poses a significant risk to those handling the goods. As such, producers need to be more transparent(信息透明的) and show more clearly where the harmful substances are, and how they can be removed.

Once the battery is removed, e-waste is sorted into different component parts—-metals, plastics and other materials. Roughly 70 percent of the device can be recycled. The material that cannot be recycled is used for other purposes like construction material or is burned to generate energy. Mobile phones—from a material perspective (角度), from a value perspective，and also from an environmental impact perspective -are very important.

For the past 15 years, Switzerland has been actively encouraging and supporting electrical waste disposal practices. They are happy to share their knowledge, experience, lessons learned, and they are happy if other people pick up on it.

3 . The world has a plastic problem—and it is increasing.    1    . But in the meantime, here are five things you can do to reduce plastic waste now.

1. Quit using plastic bags. Instead, take your own reusable shopping bag to the store. People use a trillion plastic bags worldwide every year. About 10 percent are used in the United States alone. That’s almost one bag per American per day.    2    .In 1993, Denmark was the first country to place a tax (税) on plastic bags. Today, other countries either make customers pay for plastic bags or have banned them completely.

2. Skip the straw. Today, around 8.3 billion plastic straws pollute the world’s beaches.    3    . In 2018, Seattle became the first major U.S. city to ban plastic straws, and many other cities are set to follow its example.

3. Don’t use plastic bottles. Buy a reusable bottle and fill it with any type of beverage you like.    4    Globally, however, people still buy nearly a million plastic bottles every minute.

4. Avoid plastic packaging. Buy bar soap instead of liquid soap in plastic containers. Don’t buy fruit or vegetables in plastic packaging. In the United Kingdom, leaders are calling for supermarkets to have plastic-free areas. They also want to tax plastic take-out containers.

5. Recycle. We can’t recycle all plastic items, but it is possible to recycle most bottles and milk or juice cartons. Today, Norway recycles 97 percent of its plastic bottle.    5    

4 . The measurable threat to the environment has been worsened by the spread of COVID-19 that increases the need for plastic protective equipment. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Millions of tons of greenhouse gas are released from the development of these resources and plastic production and burning.

The end life of plastic is just worrisome. Less than 10% of the plastic produced has been recycled. Even more of it has been burned. But the vast majority of plastic has been buried inland, and it is increasingly polluting the environment. We hear mostly about ocean plastic and the harm done to sea creatures that mistake plastic bags and bits for food. But microplastic is even more worrisome. Plastic doesn't break down biologically but instead breaks down into tiny particles（a very small piece of something）, which have been found in every corner of the planet, on land and in the air, in drinking water and food sources.

Yet the public has not given this global environmental disaster the attention it requires. Instead, they have viewed single-use plastic—which makes up about 40% of plastic used each year—as a litter issue that can be solved through better recycling and waste management. That attitude must change because the recent global breakdown of the market for recycling has made it clear that it has never been, nor ever will be, able to keep up with plastic trash use.

California has been the forerunner of plastic waste reduction—it was the first state to ban single-use plastic bags and may be the first state to transform the way goods are packaged. The state also came close to passing an act which would have required that products sold in plastic packaging in the state have a proven recycling rate of 75% by 2032. California, though influential, can't solve this crisis alone. The US has long been producing a great amount of plastic trash and it should engage in reducing the use of plastic as well.

5 . Jake Oldershaw and his daughter Mollie from Birmingham, Britain have asthma (哮喘). Mollie, 11, has required hospital treatment several times while Jake Says he always finds breathing more difficult when there is heavy traffic. Air quality has an enormous impact on their lives and both noticed a marked improvement during the spring lockdown because of the epidemic (疫情). Jake said, “During lockdown there was a noticeable difference in air quality. I didn't suffer any asthmatic attacks during that period. These days you can feel the effects.”

However, under current COVID-19 restrictions in the UK this winter, many people probably will have to work from home. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) says while emissions (排放) have dropped this year because we've been travelling less and doing less, the expected use of gas boilers to provide heating and hot water could rise by more than half.

Heating accounts for nearly 37% of the UK's total carbon emissions. Modelling by the ECIU suggests a 56% increase in boiler usage this winter resulting in a 12% increase in emissions of carbon. The ECIU says that's enough to offset the last two years' worth of progress on reducing traffic emissions.

Jess Ralston, author of the analysis for the ECIU, said, “Working from home and having increased gas use in the home could be really critical for air pollution and also climate change. The way we heat our homes needs to change if we are to get to net zero by 2050.”

Jess Ralston said, “The increase in pollution from gas boilers expected this winter provides a graphic illustration (图解) of their forgotten role in air pollution. And it is a role set to continue without practical policies to decarbonize home heating. ”

The government is set to publish its Heat and Buildings Decarbonisation Strategy in a few weeks which is expected to give details on plans to try to switch British homes to cleaner sources of heat.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of Earth’s greatest     1     (nature) wonders. It’s the largest system of coral reefs in the world. The colorful underwater habitat provides food and shelter for many sea animals. But in 2018, scientists flying over the reef     2     (shock) by what they saw.

“Where you expected     3     (see) colorful healthy corals, what you saw was just white,” says scientist Mark Eakin. What the scientists saw is a condition called coral bleaching. It’s a warning sign that the reef is     4     serious trouble. Experts say     5     is rising ocean temperatures that are mostly to blame. Coral reefs look like plants, but they’re actually tiny animals that live together in huge groups. Corals get their nutrients from tiny plant-like living things called algae. The algae live inside corals and give them their color. But when the ocean gets too warm, corals release the algae. As     6     result, the corals get bleached white. Scientists say that bleaching is becoming more widespread as oceans get     7     (warm). Some corals can recover from bleaching as the water     8     (cool) in winter, but that is getting less likely as winter ocean temperatures rise too.

Reefs worldwide suffer from    9     (pollute), overfishing, and other dangers,     10     scientists say climate change is the biggest threat. They predict that nearly 90 percent of all reefs will disappear by 2050.

8 . The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles （EVs） in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility （多用途的）vehicles （SUVs） continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second," said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency （JEA）,

Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions （排放）from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion Lons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. "While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking," says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.

There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won't be deterred by slightly higher taxes. "There are now some electric SUVs available, but 1 hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market," says Peters.

Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn't a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.

9 . Masks that helped save lives during the Covid-19 pandemic （疫情）are proving a deadly risk for wildlife, with birds and sea creatures trapped in many facial coverings in animal habitats.

Single-use masks have been found on the ground, waterways and beaches worldwide since countries required （heir use in public places to slow the pandemic's spread. Worn once, the thin protective materials can take hundreds of years to break down. "Face masks aren't going away any time soon-but when we throw them away, these items can harm the environment and the animals who share our planet," Ashley from anima! rights group PETA said.

Monkeys have been found playing with used masks in the hills outside Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. And in an incident in Britain, a seagull was saved in Chelmsford after its legs got caught in an abandoned mask for a week.

However, the biggest influence is in the water. More than 1.5 billion masks made their way into the world's oceans last year, accounting for around 6200 extra tons of ocean plastic pollution, according to environmental group OceansAsia. “Masks and gloves are particularly problematic for sea creatures," says George Leonard, chief scientist from NGO. "When those plastics break down in the environment, they form smaller and smaller particles （颗粒）.Those particles then enter the food chain and influence the entire ecosystem,“ he added.

Campaigners have urged people to deal with masks properly after using them. OceansAsia has also called on governments to increase punishment for littering and encourage the use of washable masks.

10 . As our boat moves quickly up and down in a windy ice-filled small bay, I try to judge the health condition of the polar bear (北极熊)in front of me. We are in Franz Josef Land, a remote part of Russia between the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

While offshore bears follow the sea ice, hunting seals (海豹)on ice all year round, bears that live by the sea spend their summers on land and are forced to search for whatever they can find. Relying on low-calorie meals such as the eggs of nesting seabirds, it is harder for these bears to pack on the pounds. Researchers recently found that offshore bears around the Barents Sea are some of the most polluted animals on Earth. This is a direct consequence of the seals they feed on.

Over a period of 14 years' study, Heli Routti from the Norwegian Polar Institute found that offshore female bears were in a better health, having greater body weight, than female bears by the sea, but on average their levels of pollutants called PFASs are 33 percent higher.

PFASs are used to make industrial products which are poisonous and degrade (降解)very slowly. These pollutants find their way to the Arctic through air, where they fall in snow and gradually add up in the ice. As the ice melts every summer, the PFASs go into the water, where they enter the food chain. They eventually make their way into the fat that keeps seals warm and from there into the bears that eat them.

During my 15 days in Franz Josef Land, I saw five bears, all living by the sea. Each looked relatively healthy. There are signs that these bears are dealing with the global-warming-caused ice loss relatively well. “The bears, so far, seem to be handling the sea ice loss,” says Andrew Derocher at the University of Alberta, who worked with Routti on the study, “But I'm sure that's going to change if the speed of ice loss increases sharply in the area.”