A recent study finds that the dirt on the ground is likely to worsen climate change. Researchers have shown that warmer temperatures are heating the soil, which is causing microbes (微生物) to become more active and release more of the soil’s carbon into the atmosphere. These soil changes can potentially contribute to even higher temperatures.

Scientists studied device readings, soil measurements, plant growth details and satellite observations from around the world. Their work is the most complete study on the subject.

They found a sharp increase in carbon released into the atmosphere by bacteria and fungi (真菌) in soil from 1990 to 2014. Researchers explain that the carbon comes from the dead plants and leaves the microbes eat. As temperatures rise, the microbes eat more. And the more they eat, the more carbon can be made into carbon dioxide and released into the atmosphere.

This uncontrolled cycle speeds up and intensifies climate change. Overall, soil releases about nine times more carbon than human activities. But that is part of a natural cycle: the amount of carbon released into the air is about equal to the carbon oceans and plants take in.

However, carbon released from fossil fuel causes an imbalance. Burning coal, oil and natural gas puts more carbon into the atmosphere than nature can take in. The additional carbon heats the air and soil. And as the air and soil get hotter, the earth will release more carbon than it has been holding.

If something isn’t done, we are really in trouble. Proper soil conservation can help keep more carbon in soil. Conservation methods include avoiding turning the soil, covering off-season crops and leaving crop deposits on the ground.

If you live in Shanghai, you might have to take a “lesson” in sorting garbage (垃圾分类), as the city recently introduced new garbage-sorting rules.

It’s   now   required that   people   should   sort   garbage   into   four   groups,   namely   recyclable, harmful, dry and wet waste. However, if people fail to sort their garbage properly, they can be fined up to 200 yuan.

More cities are introducing similar rules, following the practice in Shanghai. By the end of 2020, garbage-sorting systems will have been built in 46 major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shenzhen, reported People’s Daily.

According to a study by the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, over 90 percent of the public believe that garbage sorting is important for the protection of the environment.

However, garbage sorting is still a big problem in China. Only 30 percent of participants(参加者) said they think they are adequately sorting their garbage, the study noted.

According to Xinhua News Agency, it’s partly because many people lack the willingness to sort their own waste. In the past, some garbage rules didn’t give clear fines for people who failed to sort garbage.

“It’s a must to have a legal guarantee (法律保障) to support garbage sorting,” Liu Jianguo, a professor from Tsinghua University, told China Daily.

Liu Xinyu, a researcher of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily that the importance of the new rules in Shanghai is to change the past voluntary action into compulsory action for everyone.

Besides China, many other foreign countries have also introduced garbage-sorting rules. In Japan, waste sorting has become a basic survival skill, reported Xinhua. There is a fixed time to deal with each kind of garbage and littering can result in high fines and being sentenced in prison.

In Germany too, people are asked to sort waste into specific groups, reported HuffPost. For example, in Berlin, people have yellow dustbins for plastic and metals and blue dustbins for paper and cardboard.