The Gold Coast teenager Sam Richards founded his drinkware (杯子) business Bellaforte at 13, producing high-quality reusable and recyclable drinkware.

Sam said one day while delivering drinks to his parents at their backyard pool, he dropped them and broke them all. That was a big disaster. He searched the Internet for crystal-like plastic replacements but couldn’t find anything. That got him thinking he should create some unbreakable plastic cups that look great and can be used by the pool.

After sourcing products and producers, Sam began selling his “beautiful plastic cups” in November, 2019 through Amazon Marketplace. Struggling to balance the demands of school and his company, Sam recently sold the business to Una Brands for $1 million after tough negotiations (谈判), according to Yenti Kushor, a manager of Una Brands. “Sam drove a hard bargain. He knew what he wanted,” Kushor said. “It was clear that he did his research and had the numbers to back it up. He didn’t give up until we met his number. He’s a real inspiration to us and we see huge growth potential (潜力) in Bellaforte.”

“It all started when I went to an Amazon conference at 10 years old to learn how to start up an Amazon business,” Sam wrote on his website. “Do simple things well. Do your research and stick to it,” he advised. “90% of people are too scared to take the first step. Don’t let other people who don’t believe in you drag you down.”

His parents, also businessmen, had offered advice and guidance throughout Sam’s building of his business. “We don’t have high expectations,” his father Phil Richards said. “We’re just happy if he goes to school and has brushed his hair.” Sam aims to go to university and major in business and marketing while thinking up new business ideas.

Joshua williams was five years old when something came into his heart that would change his life and the lives of thousands of others. His journey began with a $20 birthday gift from his grandmother. She said he could use it any way he wanted.

On his way to the mall that morning, the five-year-old began thinking about all the things he could buy with the money. Then, looking out of the car window, Joshua noticed a homeless man standing on the street corner. That moment changed his life forever. Joshua instantly gave the man his $20 bill in the hope that it would make a small difference.

With this gesture, Joshua discovered his life’s calling to help the needy. At just five years old, Joshua knew he would need help in order to make his dream — to wipe out hunger — a reality. He enlisted his family, and soon they were delivering meals to the homeless every Saturday. Joshua began to realize, however, that he needed a “bigger, better and easier way to distribute food.” He and his family came up with the idea to have the homeless community come to a centralized distribution point. On their first distribution day, Joshua and his team of helpers provided more than 300 families with food. They continued distributing groceries this way every month for two years.

With the success of his work, Joshua eventually created the Joshua’s Heart Foundation to continue his mission of feeding the homeless. Now, several years later, his foundation continues to provide food and cooking classes for needy families.

Joshua and his team have helped feed over 20,000 people over the past eight years and they’re still working to increase that number. Each bag of groceries represents a brighter day in the lives of these individuals and families, and it all began with one young person who saw a need and decided to make a difference.

In the winter of 1985, my hometown, Buffalo, experienced a blizzard (暴风雪)— not an uncommon occurrence for the region. But this was a big one, and the city’s mayor, Jimmy Griffin, was at pains to persuade people to stop trying to go about their business as conditions worsened. He urged Buffalonians to “relax, stay inside, and grab a six-pack of beer,” which must be the best advice in an emergency situation.

There’s something cartoonish about the threat of a blizzard, in which nature’s anger assumes a fluffy (蓬松的) form and tries to kill you. It’s meteorologically (气象学上) similar to getting attacked by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. And yet, it does kill, through car accidents and heart attacks and other misadventures, usually involving people trying, unwisely, to do something.

Mr. Griffin, therefore known as Jimmy Six-Pack, understood this. The Snow Gods reserve special hatred for those who don’t respect their ability to bring human activity to a standstill. The snow cares not for your deadlines or your happy hour plans. It wants only to fall on the ground and lie there. And it wants you to too.

Needless to say, you should. A snowstorm rewards indolence and punishes busy bees, which is only one of the many reasons why it’s the best natural disaster.

Time has partly buried my childhood memories of Buffalo’s mighty blizzard of 1985, but I still recall the great drifts (雪堆) that climbed over houses, the spectacle of a world made surprisingly new. It’s a vision that often comes back to my mind every now and then, as we face the terrible prospect that a climate changed by human appetites — the future winters, damp and snow-less, may well await us. So let us all now pause, perhaps over a six-pack, and bear witness as the climate changes us.