Sri Nihal Tammana, age 13, of Edison, New Jersey, was named a winner of the 2022 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. The Barron Prize annually honors 25 outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive impact on people, their communities, and the environment.

Nihal founded Recycle My Battery to promote and facilitate the recycling of used batteries. His nonprofit places free battery recycling bins(箱子)and educates young people and adults about battery recycling. In just three years he has built a team of more than 250 student volunteers across the globe who have recycled nearly 200,000 batteries and educated millions of people. Nihal learned at age 10 that 15 billion batteries are thrown away each year and that most end up in landfills(垃圾填埋地)where they pollute groundwater, harm the ecosystem, and can cause catastrophic fires. Inspired to tackle the problem, he began collecting used batteries from his community. He put them in free recycling bins at stores like Staples until he was told he was bringing too many and had to stop.

Undeterred, he reached out for help from Call2Recycle, the largest battery recycling nonprofit in North America. Call2Recycle agreed to assist and provided recycling bins for free, which were placed in schools, libraries, and other public places. Nihal’s organization now operates across the U.S. and is expanding to other countries including Canada, Switzerland, and India. “Earth gives us so much — oxygen, food, water — everything! So it’s important that we give something back when we can,” says Nihal.

The Barron Prize was founded in 2001 by author T. A. Barron. “Nothing is more inspiring than stories about heroic people who have truly made a difference to the world,” says T. A. Barron. “And we need our heroes today more than ever. Not celebrities, but heroes — people whose character can inspire us all. That is the purpose of the Barron Prize: to shine the spotlight on these amazing young people so that their stories will inspire others.”

Work starts early on White Gate Farm in East Lyme, Connecticut. By 7 a. m., farm manager Dan Wood was at the East Lyme Post Office dropping off a box of fresh produce that later in the day would be delivered by mail to Chelsea Gubbins, who lives across town.

White Gate Farm is a member of Farmers Post, a pilot programme that enables smallholder farms across eastern Connecticut to ship fresh produce and other farm products to local households through the United States Postal Service (USPS). Farmers Post takes advantage of a USPS programme called Connect Local that allows small businesses to offer same-day and next-day delivery at a fixed low cost.

Food remains in the fields because either market prices are too low or the cost of the workforce is too high, or because the size and shape of the produce make it unattractive to stores. Each year, around 10 million tons of crops never get harvested, causing about 16% of total US food loss and waste.

“Food that is wasted has a much larger influence than just the loss of the food itself,” says Julia Kurnik, senior director of Innovation Start-ups at WWF. “Everything that went into growing it goes out the window as well—the water, the land, and the energy. And as the food breaks down, it produces greenhouse gases. The bad effects amplify greatly.”

Besides reducing food waste, selling farm products directly to local customers cuts down on the cross-country shipping of food grown in California or elsewhere. This reduces the so-called food miles that researchers believe cause about 6% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Fruits and vegetables, which are often transported out of season and require refrigeration, produce lots of greenhouse gases between farms and people’s plates.

Wood understands that Farmers Post can help to end that waste. “Farming is kind of like cooking for a big group.” he says. “This is helping us get right on the money, using almost 100% of what we grow and harvest.”

The Impossible Burger is a burger that tastes exactly like beef, but it was made using vegetables and science. There are many kinds of “veggie burgers” for vegetarians (素食者)，but this one is made for meat lovers. The company that makes this burger, Impossible Foods，wants to change the food that people eat to reduce climate change.

Scientist Celeste works on the flavor (风味) and texture (纹理) of the burger. She looks for the key points of beef its flavor, smell and look. Then those points are copied using plant based ingredients (成分)，which make the burger look and taste like blood and give it a meaty texture.

The Impossible Burger has the same nutrition as beef, without the unhealthy parts. In fact, taste, nutrition and reducing climate change were all equally important when creating the burger.

Cows are actually terrible for the environment. They need lots of land and water, and they create greenhouse gases. However, an Impossible Burger uses 95% less land, 75% less water, and creates 85-87% less greenhouse gases than a beef burger.

That's why this burger was made for meat lovers. The goal is for them to eat less meat in order to protect environment. At the same time they can still eat delicious burgers that taste like real meat.

Want to try the Impossible Burger? It can be found in Texas, Nevada, California and New York. Below are some restaurants serving it in L. A. and New York City.