1 . 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.

8 . In many ways, life has become far more comfortable and convenient in the past few decades.     1     Here, we look at three of the most serious environmental problems we are currently facing.

Air Pollution

The main cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels by vehicles and power plants. Other human activities, such as construction and the burning of waste, also contribute to air pollution. The effects on our health can be very serious.

You can easily contribute to reducing air pollution by only using a car to make journeys when it’s absolutely necessary.     2    

Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in the temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans. It’s caused by the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere. These trap the Sun’s heat and warm up the planet.

Global warming has already caused a wide range of problems.     3     Countries around the world have faced extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, floods and heat waves.

Overflowing Landfills

Landfills are used for waste disposal (处理) in many countries around the world. However, these landfills are now nearing their limit. When this happens, the chances of dangerous chemicals in the waste entering our water supply increase.

The amount of waste in landfills in China has risen sharply over the last ten years.     4     Some cities, such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, among others, are leading the way and have promised to send “zero waste to landfill!”.

    5     They believe that, although recycling waste is effective, the most effective way of solving the problem of overflowing landfills is to encourage people to take responsibility for reducing the waste they produce themselves.

10 . A Plastic Ocean is a documentary to make you think. Think, and then act. We need to take action on our dependence on plastic. We’ve been producing plastic in huge quantities. Some bottles, shopping bags and toys are made of plastic.     1     What happens to all the rest? This is the question the documentary A Plastic Ocean answers.

The documentary begins with a journey to film the largest animal on the planet, the blue whale. But during the journey, the producers made a shocking discovery of a huge, thick layer of plastic floating in the Indian Ocean.     2     In total, they visited 20 locations around the world during the four years to make the documentary.

In the documentary there are beautiful shots of the seas and marine life.     3     We see how marine species (海洋物种) are being killed by all the plastic we are dumping (倾倒) in the ocean. The message about our use of plastic is painfully obvious.

    4     In the second half, the producers look at what we can do to deal with the problem. They present short-term and long-term solutions. These include avoiding plastic containers and recycling plastic as much as you can. The producers also stress the need for governments to work more on recycling programmes.

We make a shocking amount of plastic. Over 300 million tons of plastic is produced every year, and at least 8 million of it is dumped into the oceans. The results are disastrous, but it isn’t too late to change.     5