“Plogging” is a new fitness trend (趋势). It is a combination of “jogging” and the Swedish phrase “plocka upp”, meaning “pick up”. It encourages people to stop while out on jogs to pick up litter. 【小题1】.

Started in Sweden around 2016, plogging is now going global. 【小题2】To advocate plogging, Swedish fitness app Lifesum allows people to record their plogging lime and track their plogging activity as part of the workout choices. According to the app, a typical user will bum 288 calories in 30 minutes of plogging, which is more or less the same as what’s burned off while jogging.

Like other fitness trends, there are plenty of plogging pictures and videos online. 【小题3】 Ploggers take plastic bags along with them so they can store the collected litter they find along their route (路线). Many ploggers are surprised to see just how much trash is in parks and along running trails. They even show off their bags of trash online.

Plogging is a great way to encourage people to make a difference in their local environment. 【小题4】All you need for it is a bag for trash and it empowers everyone to help create cleaner, greener and more beautiful communities.

【小题5】 Anyone can do it. You can do it by yourself, with n friend or even in a large group. And it is a challenge you can truly feel good about. Why not give it a go?

The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world’s agricultural industries experience constant water shortages .

Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配) are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.

This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation(灌溉). In Texas, farmers’ overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.

Saudi Arabia’s attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.

One New Year’s Day, ecologist Rob Wolton came up with an unusual resolution—to spend the next 12 months studying a hedge(树篱) 40 metres from his house in the middle of Devon. He wanted to make a list of every plant, animal and fungus(真菌)that used it. After a year of observations he had found 2, 000 species—far more than he imagined. Wolton says he enjoyed it hugely and his findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that hedges should not be overlooked.

“There is increasing recognition that much of the wildlife finds shelter in the hedges. But they’re much more than just wildlife passages—they are really important as habitats in their own right,” he says. The European commission’s Joint Research Centre recently argued that as the climate crisis worsens, hedges are expected to play more roles as they move in response to environmental change. Their deep roots help sequester carbon(固碳), and they also reduce the likelihood of flooding downstream, suck nutrients and pollutants out of water, and prevent soil loss. Alongside these functions, there is a cultural benefit to hedges too—I think lots of us who live in England think of the hedge landscape as being quite typical, says Wolton.

After the Second World War many hedges were removed to create more productive land. Only about one in three hedges in England are in good condition, according to the most recent research done in 2017.

The main issues are hedges being cut too severely and too frequently, which leads to loss of wildlife and gaps. A squirrel, for example, will turnaround if there is a gap of five metres. New hedges are being planted with single species, instead of many, which decrease the wildlife they can support.

It’s hard to say if interest in hedges will translate into action on a national scale，and much depends on what landscape features Environmental Land Management scheme.