When my friend suggested going to the thrift shop, instantly I thought “I hope no one I know sees me”. It was the same when my cousin commented on my new furniture and Japanese fine-bone-china bowls and asked where I got them. They were from the local thrift shop but instead I said “from the antique shop”.

Many people in my Greek-Cypriot community would despise me if I said I shopped at the thrift shop. They may pity me, consider me poor, a failure. Immigrants sacrificed their families and homes for a better life. Buying a house and having enough money to live comfortably, to educate your children and see them also live comfortably, are a big part of the immigrant dream. But has this dream made us materialistic at the cost of our own planet?

Our love for purchasing the latest trendy clothes or furniture, then donating them when we are tired of them has become normal. I was once like this. But after watching the documentary The True Cost I learned donated clothes that don’t get sold are sent to developing nations, many of them ending up in landfills (垃圾填埋地). In addition, your new dress requires electricity and materials to make. But if you buy a second-hand dress, that’s one less dress in a landfill and one less new dress to be made.

A friend introduced me to the thrift shop only a few years ago. My first item was a dress she gifted me. It was lovely and I loved it. Nobody could tell it was second-hand. This opened me up to purchasing more second-hand high quality branded clothes. Once I dropped in on a friend and was impressed by how she decorated her apartment. “It’s all second-hand.” she said. I couldn’t believe it. The truth is a lot of things sold at the thrift shop are in new or almost new condition. That’s when I made the decision to only buy second—hand things.

Selling second-hand things isn’t anything new but what the planet needs is more buyers. There is so much excess production in the world. So stop feeling ashamed, and let’s get shopping.

Against the supposition that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.

This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.

This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.

Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone(臭氧)levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.

“We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.

If there’s one thing the UK is really good at, it’s saving its butterflies. The Butterfly Conservation program in the UK is the world’s largest conservation organization dedicated to saving rare and endangered insects. And recently, thanks to the efforts of UK farmers, the country’s rarest butterfly, the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, has been saved.

Ten years ago, if you were in the UK, you could only find this species in the North York Moors and the southern Lake District. The population of this butterfly experienced a significant drop of nearly 46% in the 90s and 00s which made it the rarest species in the UK at the time. However, thanks to the Butterfly Conservation organization and the efforts of many landowners, things are looking up.

Back in 2011, the Butterfly Conservation launched the Dukes on the Edge program that focused on restoring 23 hectares of habitat, providing management advice for more than 147 sites where the Duke butterflies are found, and getting over 1, 000 volunteers to help carry the conservation effort. Both local citizens and land owners joined the program, and as a result, the population of this species has grown by 25% in the last decade.

The recovery of the Duke was solidified when a butterfly enthusiast found the largest single colony in the UK. Located quietly on the hills of a dairy farm, the colony was the result of the efforts of a farmer who has proudly been supporting the habitat for over two decades. The good news is that the Duke butterfly is no longer the UK’s rarest, and the Butterfly Conservation organization continues to save dying species at maximum speed. They even convinced the UK government to include butterflies and moths as formal biodiversity indicators.