The Greek historian Herodotus is said to have made one of the earliest lists of Seven Wonders of the World. These were man-made structures, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. More recent times saw natural alternatives to these wonders of classical architecture proposed: waterfalls, mountains, canyons, reefs. Dramatic landscapes, features and wildlife, and the pleasure and excitement they offer to visitors, are basics of tourism.

As environmental consciousness has risen, attitudes to such sightseeing have changed. Yes, it is exciting to visit remote forests or spot rare species. But travelling to distant destinations is carbon-intensive (碳密集的) when flights or long road journeys are involved, and conservation can be made more difficult as well as assisted by sightseers. There is a balance to be struck, and some governments and businesses around the world try to increase the benefits while reducing the harm. Colombia, for example, recently introduced laws aimed at promoting sustainable tourism. Based on this, its economy got prosperous (繁荣的) as well as the tourism.

Most of us understand better than ever that there are costs as well as benefits associated with exploring. One of the commitments made by an environmental campaign launched last month, “The Jump”, is to “holiday local”, taking short flights once every 3 years and long flights very rarely. Fortunately, the UK’s 15 national parks, 86 areas of outstanding natural beauty, and countless other landscapes that are without formal status, but still beloved, mean that there is no shortage of special places for domestic nature tourists to visit, while a lot of European beauty spots are accessible by rail.

One recent survey found that Windsor Great Park and Kew have become Britain’s most popular attractions. Visitor numbers at wildlife trusts are high, with waiting lists for beaver-spotting. Some companies that formerly ran foreign trips have adapted to the pandemic by taking people to watch dolphins and other marine life off British coasts instead.

As we face an environmental emergency that grows ever more dangerous, it is essential to develop appreciation for nature that surrounds us. In a small way, holiday outings to watch dragonflies, kingfishers or seals, or be surrounded by trees that are coming into leaf, could help us to focus on what matters.

It’s just past 7 a. m. on a February morning in Maya Bay, several weeks after authorities reopened what is one of Thailand’s most popular tourist attractions to the world for the first time since June 2018 following a massive restoration program.

In the hours to follow, a slow but steady flow of tourists becomes in great numbers as dozens of tourists make their way to the white-sand beach, phones at the ready as they take photos. Swimming is not allowed, though visitors can take a few steps in. It’s disappointing, but a huge improvement over what visitors once experienced here.

Maya Bay is located in a Thailand’s national park. The destination was made famous by the 2000 film The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. As the film’s popularity grew, so did tourists’ desire to visit the location where much of it was shot —Maya Bay.

“Around 40 years ago, Maya Bay was already a tourism destination, but mainly for Thai tourists because you didn’t have speedboats at that time,” says Thon, a marine biologist and professor who requested authorities to close the bay four years ago. Over the years, the number of tourists rose from less than 1, 000 to as many as 7, 000 or 8, 000 visitors a day at its peak. On average, around 5, 000 people entered the bay each day.

In 2018, the Thai government closed the bay and began to restore the damaged ecosystem. Since then, Thon and a team of fellow marine experts and volunteers have replanted over 30, 000 pieces of coral, much of it grown off the coast of a nearby island. Meanwhile, the wildlife also returned and has been growing. “Only three months after we closed the bay, the blacktip sharks came back and gave birth… so there are a lot of things happening in Maya Bay.”

As the world struggles to deal with the climate crisis, some companies are working to remove polluting carbon dioxide from the air. 【小题1】 But two US companies have recently made important progress.

Scientists say large amounts of CO₂ must be removed from the CO₂ atmosphere and stored. 【小题2】 But there’s so much CO2 in the atmosphere that just planting trees and protecting forests won’t solve the problem. And, when plants and trees die, the carbon they’ve stored gets released again.

That means humans need to come up with ways of removing carbon from the air and storing it. This is called Direct Air Capture(DAC). The science of removing carbon from the air is challenging, and it’s still pretty new. 【小题3】 So one puzzle for these companies is how to remove carbon without creating more pollution.

A company called Heirloom has just opened the first DAC plant in the United States. The company heats up the limestone to separate out the CO₂, which is concrete. The process is extremely expensive. 【小题4】 That’s a tiny amount compared to how much carbon needs to be removed from the atmosphere, but the company says it hopes to remove a billion tons per year by 2035.

【小题5】 Some people worry that it will take too long for DAC technology to become powerful enough to make a difference. Others worry that focusing on removing carbon could take attention away from more important climate actions, like switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy. But experts say the decision isn’t to do one or the other. The world needs to end fossil fuel use and pull carbon out of the air.