Most people think that a first aider’s only job is to save lives. But two Idaho firefighters just proved there’s more to the job, when they stuck around to help after rescuing a man who went into cardiac arrest (心脏停跳).

Last Friday, first responders from Kootenai County, Idaho were sent to save a local man who had fallen down while mowing his lawn and went into cardiac arrest. “I listen to the police scanner sometimes and I heard his street over the radio and the dispatcher(调度员)was talking about someone having an attack,” said neighbor Chris Beaty. “It was a guy who lives directly across the street from me.”

Beaty ran over and stayed with the man until help arrived. “They transported him to the hospital and the fire truck left behind,” said Beaty, who expected the rest of the first responders to leave shortly after. But he was left astonished by what a couple of firemen did next. “They actually took the mower and finished mowing this guy’s lawn,” Beaty said. “I said, ‘Hey, I can do that,’ and they said, ‘No, this is what we do.’ They finished the lawn and then put the lawn mower away and went on their way.”

“It’s part of the public service we provide. It’s our duty to take care of an incident. If there is time to go the extra mile and help someone one what could be the worst day of their lives, we should,” said Kootenai representative fire chief, Dan Ryan. “They were super caring and went above and beyond,” Beaty said. “They weren’t there to punch a time clock. They were there to serve the community. They didn’t have to do that but they did. They genuinely care and that was awesome to see.”

In China, in order to ease the pressure on parents’ wallets, education is free until children reach the age of about 15. So why is it that more than half of a typical family’s spending goes on education? The answer is cramming classes: a financial burden so great that it is often said to discourage couples from having children at all. Now officials are doing their part. It appears to relieve the pressure on people’s wallets.

But parents are not sure whether it will work. As many of them see it, cramming is not optional. Exams for entry to senior high schools are fiercely competitive. Then comes the dreaded Gaokao: the university-entrance exam on which a child’s future depends. No wonder the industry’s growth has been rapid. One firm, Zuoyebang (“help with homework”) says it offers live-streaming classes to more than 170m active users each month.

But officials are worried about its social impact. The birth rate is the lowest in decades and China is ageing fast. They also say that school children are overstressed. Urban pupils attend cramming classes for more than 10 hours a week, according to Deloitte, an accountancy firm.

While as the People’s Daily, an official newspaper, reported this month, the market for such services is in “endless chaos”. It listed problems ranging from misleading advertising to high prices and the use of unqualified teachers.

Government’s new regulations of clamping down on cram schools sent shivers through the industry. New Oriental, one of China’s biggest cramming companies, saw its share price on the New York Stock Exchange drop below $8, from a high of more than $19 in February. On June 9th the education ministry said a new government department would be set up to oversee such businesses, including both online courses and lessons in the classroom. There is also a widespread speculation, including in state media, that the new rules will impose limits on when firms can offer classes. They may, for example, prohibit classes after a certain time in the evening, during the summer holidays or at weekends.

Some analysts think the government may have another motive. Many of the companies belong to China’s tech giants, including Alibaba and Tencent, which have already attracted government’s attention for dominating markets and expanding into finance and other areas. Targeting the cramming business could be another way of breaking their wings. Parents wonder whether they will benefit. Some are concerned that the new rules will leave them with no choice but to use private tutors, which could prove even more costly.

Eradajere Oleita thinks she may have a partial solution for two of American’s persistent problems: garbage and poverty. It’s called the Chip Bag Project. The 26-year-old student and environmentalist from Detroit is asking a favor of local snack lovers: Rather than toss your empty chip bags into the trash, donate them so she can turn them into sleeping bags for the homeless.

Chip eaters drop off their empty bags from Doritos, Lay’s, and other favorites at two locations in Detroit: a print shop and a clothing store, where Oleita and her volunteer helpers collect them. After they sanitize the chip bags in soapy hot water, they slice them open, lay them flat, and iron them together. They use padding and liners from old coats to line the insides.

It takes about four hours to sew a sleeping bag, and each takes around 150 to 300 chip bags, depending on whether they’re single-serve or family size. The result is a sleeping bag that is “waterproof, lightweight, and easy to carry around,” Oleita told the Detroit News.

Since its start in 2020, the Chip Bag Project has collected more than 800,000 chip bags and, as of last December, created 110 sleeping bags. Sure, it would be simpler to raise the money to buy new sleeping bags. But that’s only half the goal for Oleita — whose family moved to the United States from Nigeria a decade ago with the hope of attaining a better life — and her fellow volunteers. “They are dedicated to making an impact not only socially, but environmentally,” she says.

And, of course, there’s the symbolism of salvaging bags that would otherwise land in the trash and using them to help the homeless. It’s a powerful reminder that environmental injustice and poverty often go hand in hand. As Oleita told the media: “I think it’s time to show connections between all of these issues.”