It should be one of the main goals in today’s society to reduce plastic consumption. Though many believe recycling will solve the problem, and continue using plastic, it’s actually the opposite. In 2013, 254 million tonnes of trash was produced in the U.S. alone, and only around 30% was recycled. This means the rest ended up in a landfill and will stay there for up to 1000 years.

Now Asian countries, including Vietnam and Thailand, are looking for new ideas to avoid plastic. One of those ideas was a new, eco-friendly way to pack their goods by avoiding plastic packaging. One of Perfect Homes Chiangmai’s team members noticed a creative way to reduce plastic that a supermarket called Rimping Supermarket was using. Little did he know that people all around the world would absolutely love this idea. “I just entered to get a few items while we were waiting to sign some contracts with our lawyer, who was delayed. When I noticed the vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and simply liked the idea. So I took a few pictures and posted them online,” he said.

With more than 3.5 million views and over 17 thousand shares, the idea became something people can encourage more supermarkets to implement (实施).

Some have noticed that not everything on the shelves is completely plastic-free to which the supermarket responded that they are taking one step at a time, but it’s not that easy. Many products come to the supermarkets pre-packaged and many companies are interested in wrapping their produce in plastic since it is the cheapest and the easiest option.

It’s now up to the shoppers to show the supermarket which they prefer. If everyone opts for the banana leaf packaging, they will probably stop stocking the items in plastic.

Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the results would be harmful.

The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news.

Insects are indeed on the path to dying out, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decrease, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decrease. Pesticides(杀虫剂), in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant reasons. “Unless we convert our ways of producing food, insects will go down the path of dying out in a few decades.”

What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators(捕食者) of those animals would go hungry ns well. The ecosystem(生态系统)would be thrown off balance.

“If insect species losses cannot be stopped, this will have harmful effects for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind, said Sanchez-Bayo. once of the authors of the review. The first step to stop this process is “to build a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Sanchez-Bayo suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”

On January 22nd, 2021, China said it has established a new monitoring and research center for greenhouse gases and carbon neutrality(碳中和) in order to contribute more to fighting climate change. The official announcement of the Monitoring and Assessment Center for GHGs and Carbon Neutrality (温室气体及碳中和检测评估中心), located in Beijing, was made by the China Meteorological Administration. It is expected to play a vital role in providing both technical and scientific support for researchers. The center will gather top scientists in the field from both home and abroad. Apart from providing ways to achieve carbon neutrality, it will also be helpful to make technological breakthroughs in the next three to five years.

The center is tasked with creating a system to evaluate the effectiveness of the country’s efforts to fight climate change. The recruitment (招募) of staff members is expected to be finished in the next two months. A scientific steering committee will also be started in April to guide the center’s operation.

China is determined to peak(达到峰值) its carbon dioxide emissions(排放) before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. One of the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic is that humankind must pursue a green development path and green lifestyle. China will lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by more than 65 percent from the 2005 level and increase its share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 percent. By 2030, China will also increase its forest stock by 6 billion cubic meters from the 2005 level, and bring its total installed capacity (装机容量) of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts.

The establishment of the center proves China’s determination to pursue a green development road. It’s a concrete action that China has taken to fight the climate challenge. Carbon neutrality, or a net-zero carbon footprint, means reading a balance between carbon emissions and removing pollutants through carbon sinks and other offset (补偿).

China has sped up research and development of equipment to monitor greenhouse gases and carbon neutrality and achieved encouraging results. However, there is still a long way to go to reach the top world standard.