1 . New York has become the most recent state to ban the sale of some animals in pet stores. A new law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul bans the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits in retail shops. The new law encourages pet stores to work with animal rescue groups and shelters to make space for rescued animals that are available for adoption.

California was the first state to pass a retail ban in 2017. Maryland followed in 2018 and a statewide ban in Illinois went into effect in February. Maine and Washington passed laws that ban the sales in new pet stores. Now, more than 300 cities and counties throughout the United States have passed pet-sale bans. There are at least 10,000 commercial pet stores in the country, and fewer than 3,000 of them are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the estimates from the Humane Society of the United States.

In these commercial pet stores, animals are usually kept in dirty, crowded cages with limited access to medical care and human interaction. They often don’t get enough to eat or drink, have little protection from cold or heat; and don’t have a separate place to go to the bathroom. Many animals raised in the commercial pet stores go on to have physical and emotional problems.

Although conditions are often horrible, commercial pet stores are usually legal unless authorities are called in to close those with extremely inhumane (不人道的) conditions. “Dogs, cats, and rabbits across New York deserve loving homes and humane treatment,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “I’m proud to sign this law, which will make meaningful steps to cut down on bad treatment and protect the welfare of animals across the state.” However, some pet store owners have argued that the law will cause a large quantity of pet stores in New York to close.

2 . Among the constant adjustive education standards and requirements, it’s important to ask a question: exactly what do we want in a high school graduate?

Some people think the goal is to enter college and earn a bachelor’s degree. Others find that interpretation too narrow, preferring that young people leave school with the skills to move into living-wage jobs. But one thing many people can embrace is that high school graduates are skilled in basic math and English.

A proposed law, House Bill 1308,could ruin that goal. Students must do the following things to get a diploma: earn 24 credits of coursework; complete a High School and Beyond Plan matching those courses; meet one requirement of a series of “graduation pathways”. The problem is that these pathways don’t work for all kids.

In large part, that’s because they guide students toward college standards. Last year, after surveying nearly 1,000 students, researchers discovered that 18% of students said they were “not good” at math, and 33% said they were poor test-takers. For them, the current pathways are a barrier because of their emphasis on these skills.

The new pathway is instead focused on performance. It would allow kids to create a presentation—say an exhibit or report — demonstrating mastery of two core subjects, but not necessarily math or English. When the bill came up for discussion, over 350 people showed their support, because it’s possible that through the performance pathway, a student could create a project emphasizing mastery in “fine arts” and “health and fitness”. Rep. Sharon favors the proposal. In a hearing, she spoke of her granddaughter, who wrote and self-published a novel while still in school, to illustrate the kind of project is workable. While Tafona Ervin worries that the lack of emphasis on math and English could lead students to graduate without solid skills.

If the purpose of education is to ensure that young people are prepared to pursue a fulfilling life, finishing school uncertain of one’s abilities in math and English weakens education’s goal.

4 . We’ve all been there, trying our best to do our bit to help save the planet, when a really essential item that you had to order online arrives in such an unbelievable amount of packaging that it makes you feel like it’s an unprepared game of passing the parcel.

It’s made even worse by the fact that some of the packaging can’t be recycled. In fact, 10 million tonnes of packaging waste are produced in the UK every year. A lot of this ends up in landfill, two-thirds of which could have instead been recovered.

The good news, however, is that how packaging waste is managed is in for a BIG shake-up in line with the “polluter pays principle”. By placing the main point of duty to pay on brand owners, they will be encouraged to choose more sustainable packaging options which are recyclable and reusable as much as possible. Otherwise, they will have to pay higher fees.

This is a system known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) — meaning that those who have control over packaging design decisions will be encouraged to do the right thing for the planet at the beginning and consider what happens at the end of the packaging’s life from the start.

What this means is that instead of local authorities picking up the bill for household waste management, companies will have instead to pay for managing your household packaging waste as well as the form businesses, and they will be met with the associated little costs too.

And, as an added bonus, the new EPR laws on packaging will also mean that producers are required to put clear mandatory (强制性的) labelling on packaging, for example, this could be “RECYCLE” or “DO NOT RECYCLE”. Of course, we hope that the “DO NOT RECYCLE” category labelling is the minority. It is aimed that by 2030, 78% of packaging will be recycled in the UK.

5 . Known as a “living fossil”, the Chinese sturgeon(中华鲟)is a very precious species. It is believed to have lived alongside the dinosaurs more than 140 million years ago. Although dinosaurs are long since gone, the Chinese sturgeon still exists. However, the species has been listed as ‘‘Critically Endangered’’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species．

On May 14,Shanghai legislators(立法机构)passed a new law protecting the Chinese sturgeon, emphasizing “regional cooperation”, according to China Daily. “This is the first local legislation in the country to protect one endangered fish,” said Ding Wei, director of the legislative affairs committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress.

Taken effect on June 6, the regulation urges cooperation in law enforcement(实施), scientific research and rescue of the species between Shanghai and other provinces and regions in the Yangtze River basin, according to People’s Daily．

The need for collaborative efforts is due to the living habitat of the Chinese sturgeon. As an anadromous(溯河产卵的)species, it mainly lives in the Yangtze River and depends on the Vangtze estuary(河口)for migration.

The protection of the Chinese sturgeon is urgent. China began the artificial breeding and release of the fish in 1984. However, very few of the fanned fish have survived in the wild, the number of which is less than 1000, according to a report by the Shanghai Observer.

Whether this species can be preserved depends on the natural population. “If the natural population is not well protected, the Chinese sturgeon is in danger of extinction.” Li Furong, vice chairperson of the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, said in the report.

Since Jan 1 of this year, a 10-year fishing ban on key areas of the Yangtze River basin has been issued, covering 332 nature reserves, which includes Shanghai’s Chinese sturgeon nature reserve．

6 . Germany’s top court has ruled that parts of the country’s 2019 climate (气候) action law must be changed because they don’t do a good job of protecting young people. The result is a big victory for the nine young people who started the law suing (诉讼).

The court suing stresses an important part of the climate change: The change will impact greatly on young people far more than the adults. That’s because the effects of earth warming will become more serious over time. As young people become adults, they’ll be left to deal with many problems that today’s adults have ignored. The government’s failure to plan carefully was putting their future lives in danger.

In 2019, Germany passed a new law, promising that the country would be carbon neutral (碳中和) by 2050. The law made a detailed plan of action until 2030. But the law didn’t have any specific rules or plans for climate actions that would be taken between 2031 and 2050.

Last Thursday, the judges of Germany’s highest court agreed with the young people. They said that not taking climate action made the basic rights of young people to a good future in danger.

The young people had challenged the government’s law in four specific areas. The judges didn’t agree with all of the challenges. But having the court support even a part of their case is seen as a big victory. Neubauer is one of the young people who sued. She works with the climate action group Fridays For Future. Ms. Neubauer said, “Climate protection is our basic right. This is a huge win for the climate movement. It changes a lot.”

The court has given the German government until the end of 2022 to fix the law. The climate law will now need to have a much more detailed plan for the actions that will be taken after 2030 to cut Germany’s pollution, allowing it to become carbon neutral by 2050. Germany’s government has said that it will quickly begin working to make the needed changes.

7 . France is getting tough with food waste with great determination.A new law has been passed in the country that will ban grocery stores over 4, 305 square feet from throwing away unsold food.If it's still safe to eat, the food must be donated to charity; if not, it goes to farmers for use as animal feed or compost(肥料).

Supermarkets will no longer be allowed to destroy unsold food intentionally in order to prevent people from eating it.There are many people who search for food in the garbage cans behind stores, wanting to take advantage of the perfectly edible(可食用)food that gets thrown away on a daily basis; and yet some stores try to stop this, either by locking the garbage cans or pouring bleach(漂白剂)into them, a practice that Guillaume Garot, the former French food minister who proposed the new bill, describes as“scandalous.”

Food waste is a global problem, with an estimated 24 percent of calories produced for human consumption never getting eaten.Most of this waste happens at the final consumption stage.It is reported that“the average French person throws out 20 to 30 kilograms of food a year—7kg of which is still in its wrapping.”American shoppers throw away about one-fifth of everything they buy at the grocery store, according to a fascinating new documentary called“Just Eat It”.

The supermarkets aren’t happy about the new law because their food waste represents only 5 to 11 percent of the 7.1 million tons of food wasted annually in France.By contrast, restaurants waste 15 percent and consumers 67 percent.“The law is wrong in both target and intention, ”argues Jacques Creyssel, head of the distribution organization for big supermarkets.“Big stores are already important food donors.”

Despite this, France’s new law is a move in the right direction.Wasting food absolutely needs to become a socially immoral thing to do—much like throwing garbage on the ground.If law is what’s needed to get people thinking about conservation and edibility, then it's not a bad thing.