An Italian firm has invented what seems to be the perfect tool for stopping plastic waste from reaching the ocean through a river.

They had to check a lot of boxes. The device had to allow boats to pass without effort, while being able to run 24/7 with no impact on the river ecosystem. The result is River Cleaning, a 100% low-cost and low-impact solution.

Anchored (固定) to the bed at the bottom of the river, River Cleaning is made up of a series of floating devices, positioned diagonally (对角线地) on the course of the river; thus positioned, they can collect incoming plastic waste and transport it to the river bank for storage. Passing boats need only go straight through them at a low speed, after which their anchor lines will pull them back into place.

The River Cleaning system collects energy directly from the river current. It does not produce any type of waste. It is designed to have zero impact on the ecosystem. It only does good!

They can be adjusted to collect different kinds of waste, such as tiny particles (微粒), larger items like plastic bottles, and even oil, and some studies have shown River Cleaning can collect 85% of all waste passing by them.

Most people know of the scope of plastic pollution in the ocean, but it’s not as common to know that much of this waste comes from rivers — 80%, at least. Most of that 80% comes from just 100 of the world’s largest waterways. Running through big cities like Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, the rivers funnel (使流经狭窄空间) waste into global ocean currents that lead plastic to clump together (聚集) in areas of the high seas.

River Cleaning became the first product of its kind to demonstrate that the system preserves the river environment while respecting the well-being of native species.

It’s a sweet moment, as a chimp reaches up to kiss his mother’s face. The touching photo was taken by the famous conservationist and activist Jane Goodall in 1993 in Gombe National Park in northwest Tanzania where she has studied chimpanzees for more than six decades.

The image is part of Vital Impacts consisting of a group of 100 photographers. The women-led non-profit was founded by award-winning photographer Ami Vitale and visual journalist Eileen Mignoni. They are selling fine arts images, most of which focus on wildlife and nature, with earnings benefiting conservation organizations including Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots program.

“Our purpose is to use photography to create awareness and understanding; to help us see that the survival of the planet is closely connected with our own survival. As photographers, we have a huge opportunity to inform and influence change, but pressing the shutter (快门) is just the start,” Vitale said.

“For an image to have significance, it needs to reach people. To this end, we are working to get the photographs of Vital Impacts photographers and our students into high-profile media and exhibitions around the world.”

The organization gives special attention to photographers who are committed to the planet. Funds will be used to support global conservation and environmental initiatives and the group will offer two $20,000 environmental storytelling awards.

Vital Impacts has raised more than $1.5 million from the sale of fine art prints since the organization was set up in late 2021. Some of its profits were donated to the organization Direct Relief, which shipped more than 1,400 tons of medical supplies value d at $545 million to support 351 healthcare equipment in disaster zones. Other profits were able to provide fuel and vehicle assistance to support wildlife corridors (廊道), a monitoring program, and the restoration of the Snake River in the Pacific Northwest.

“We are here because of charcoal (木炭),” announced Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan at a conference in Dar es Salaam, as she unveiled ambitious new plans to boost clean energy use within the country by up to 90% over ten years.

According to new data, the total emissions(排放) from household food consumption account for the equivalent of 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. A household’s carbon footprint related to food consumption is largely driven by its cookstoves and fuels used for cooking. Along with Tanzania, one-third of the global population relies on biomass—wood, charcoal, or animal dung(粪便) for household cooking.

Burning charcoal and these other “dirty” cooking fuels indoors generates black powder, and household air pollution that is responsible for premature deaths and illnesses. In addition, women and children may spend up to 20 hours per week in collecting firewood and four hours per day cooking over traditional stoves—opportunity costs that may come at the expense of school attendance or work and hobby interests. The costs will only increase as forest degradation forces women and children farther afield to find firewood to cook and warm their homes.

These significant health and climate impacts of household cooking help explain the motivation for countries like Tanzania to come up with aggressive plans to stop using dirty cookstoves and fuels.

There are a wide variety of technological solutions and concerted donor campaigns to facilitate the switch to cleaner cooking, but the reality is that total investments in the clean cooking sector are still far short of the estimated $ 10 billion per year.

Barriers can and should be removed through thoughtful, context-specific policies. Leaders and policymakers in Sharm EI Sheikh should follow Tanzania’s example and commit to effective policies that will develop innovative and locally appropriate technologies and fuels, and secure long -term funding to ensure universal clean cooking access by 2030.