Over the last 50 years, the environmental movement has become so closely associated with the color green that it’s almost impossible to see a green poster, label or recycling bag without thinking about our plane’s future. But though that connection is the product of a very recent crisis, its origins go back some way. We have identified green with nature and its processes for thousands of years. Indeed, the very word “green” comes from the ancient Proto-Indo-European word ghre, meaning “grow”.

The human species has a special biological bond with green. Unlike most mammals, which are red-green color blind, we developed a third cone cell. This additional photoreceptor (光感受器) enabled our ancestors to spot ripe red and yellow fruits against the green ones, and to distinguish different green leaves from each other. In daylight conditions, human eyes are more sensitive to green than any other colors.

All over the world, people shared feelings with nature through green materials. Jade, for instance, was used to make objects that would guarantee a successful harvest. The Maya buried their leaders with jade masks for this reason. The ancient Egyptians, who were farming the banks of the Nile from about 8000 BC, identified their crops with green. Their term for the color was wadj, which also meant flourish (繁荣). Egyptian painters often described their god of agriculture, Osiris, as a bright green being.

While the future of our planet remains uncertain, many scientists are convinced that leaves will prove to be a decisive weapon in our battle against climate change. This is as it should be. After all, for early farmers waiting for schools to emerge from the soil and for modern-day activists determined to bring about a sustainable future, green was, and is, a color of hope—after a long cold winter or a drought-ridden summer, the arrival of green will signal a new beginning.

Two inventors, Simon Jorritsma and Anne Koudstaal, had an unusual idea — what if you recycled plastic and turned it into a road? Now the world’s first plastic bike path has been created to test their idea.

The Netherlands is famous for being bike-friendly, and the city of Zwolle has just gone a little bit further. On September 11, 2018, the city opened a 100-foot bike path made of recycled plastic. The path is not 100% recycled plastic, but the group that created it, PlasticRoad, hopes future paths and roads will be.

Most roads in the world today are made with asphalt — a black mixture that creates a lot of pollution. Asphalt is heavy to move and must be heated when people are making a road. Using asphalt to make roads takes a lot of energy.

The group says their way of making roads is better in many ways than asphalt roads. It creates their road in pieces in a factory, which are light and easy to move around. To make the road, a special truck simply drives along and lays down the pieces. This makes it much faster to make than an asphalt road. Their road will last three times as long as an asphalt road. And if part of it breaks, it is easy to take out the broken part and replace it. The broken part can then be recycled once more and turned into a new piece again. The plastic road is hollow (空心的) below the surface, allowing rainwater to flow away. The hollow area also makes it easy to run pipes under the road.

Many people think this is a creative way to recycle plastic, but some are worried. One of the biggest concerns is what will happen to the bits of plastic that break off as the path is being used. After all, the world is facing a major issue with microplastics. Some people think plastic roads will create more.

The planet is in trouble, and a gas-car ban just might help. But how will it affect you? Cars are not small investments. They make a big impact on our wallets — but also on the environment. That’s why when California announced a gas-car ban in August arid other states suggested they’d follow suit, there was a mixed response. Sure, reducing our use of gas by choosing more eco-friendly cars could slow climate change and help everyone live more sustainably, not to mention save money on gas in the long run. But what would happen to people’s cars? Would they have to buy an expensive new electric vehicle right now?

Well, let’s set a few things straight first: This isn’t a full-on ban. People living in or visiting California will still be able to drive gas cars, as well as buy and register used internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles, well after the law takes effect. But in a little over a decade, residents will not be allowed to register new gas-burning cars. It will take more than a decade for the ban to take effect fully — 2035, to be exact.

Why is California banning gas cars? It’s all about the environment. More than half of California’s carbon pollution comes from the transportation sector, and eliminating ICE vehicles is a critical first step in, addressing the climate crisis. California has seen the impact of climate change firsthand in the form of natural disasters such as floods, mudslides, record-breaking droughts and extreme wildfires — all of which have increased in frequency and intensity in recent years.

However, new rules and laws can be fearsome, and hard to carry out at first. For example, electric vehicles (EVs) also don’t get as many miles per charge, making them difficult for long-distance trips and states with few charging stations. Related to that, the country needs more public charging stations. But, of course, the biggest barrier to more people getting excited about electric vehicles is price, which is currently higher than traditional vehicles due to their expensive batteries.

Still, Rauch is hopeful. “As someone who is focused on the health benefits of reducing pollution, I see the benefits as vastly outweighing the challenges,” she says. “At the end of the day, who doesn’t want their children and grandchildren to breathe clean air?”