How to limit your environmental impact while travelling

Travelling unlocks a world of endless possibilities and adventures, allowing us to hike through breathtaking landscapes, encounter kangaroos and deer in their natural habitat, and witness the power of volcanoes. 【小题1】 Increased plastic waste and noise pollution can damage ecosystems. Thankfully, there are ways to limit our impact on the environment.

Try to travel by land instead of air. While air travel can often be quicker, it is typically one of the most polluting forms of transport. 【小题2】 For example, if you’re heading to Las Vegas from Los Angeles, driving for around four hours emits (排放) around 75% less CO₂ compared to the one-hour flight (provided you have several friends with you).

【小题3】 A typical hotel uses about 73,000 gallons of water per year. As laundering towels (洗熨毛巾) is an energy-and-water-consuming process, many hotels often put up signs asking you to re-use your towels. By doing so, you’ll reduce your environmental impact.

Make the most of safe tap water (自来水). Drinking tap water may come as a shock to many travelers. But when you’re in countries where tap water is safe to consume, avoid bottled options. Not only are they more expensive, but they have a higher level of pollution compared to treated tap water. 【小题4】

Respect the local environment. When visiting different destinations, we should recognize the importance of protecting the natural beauty. We mustn’t throw rubbish everywhere. 【小题5】 Additionally, supporting local conservation (保护) efforts, such as participating in community-led clean-up projects, can make a positive impact on the local environment.

“Will they be bothered ( 打扰) by our presence?”; “They’re so big and look so dangerous. How are we going to feel once we’re in the water?” These are just some of the questions in our minds before cameraman Nick Porter and I set out to film whale sharks, the largest living fish, off the coast of Qatar.

I have always been passionate about wildlife. When I was a child, I wanted to be a marine biologist (海洋生物学家) but somehow ended up becoming a reporter. Now I am in Qatar and finally I have a chance to tell the story of the rich wildlife of Qatar, including the whale sharks.

After long and careful planning, we start the two-hour trip out to sea. Finally, we see them. There are hundreds. More and more of the harmless giants ( 巨物) surface with their mouths wide open as they skim (掠过) the top of the sea.

It’s time to join them. Nick and I jump into the water. Neither of us is nervous. I notice one and swim towards it, forgetting that Nick still doesn’t have fins on his feet, so he can’t really swim as fast as I can. But right now, I just want to be close to this unbelievable animal.

So I end up alone, next to a huge whale shark — huge compared with me, at least. This one is probably six or seven metres long, but they can get much bigger. There is so much to take in. Being so close for the first time, I get quite emotional.

Nick has now gotten his fins, and we swim together. He is filming and is as excited as I am.

After two hours, we return to the boat. Everyone is on a high. Whale sharks are endangered — unsurprisingly, mostly by human activities. They need more protection. The more people know about the beauty we have a privilege (荣幸) to host, the more we will want to protect it. It’s a privilege we should all work together to protect.

At a large forest park in eastern Beijing, 11 birds on the state -level protection list were recently released, which owed to Beijing’s big step in wildlife protection.

These birds had recovered after the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center rescued and took care of them. “We will speed up our efforts to push the establishment of district-level wildlife rescue centers to guard the health of wildlife,” said Mr. Du, director of the center. The center was set up in 2001 and built a wildlife rescue base in the capital’s Shunyi District in 2005. Staff at the base have rescued and rehabilitated over 30,000 wild animals in total.

Wildlife protection has been strengthened in Beijing in recent years. On June 1, the city’s newly adopted regulation (法规) on wildlife protection took effect, introducing stricter and more concrete measures to protect the environment and wildlife. For example, the regulation states clearly that Beijing bans hunting throughout the year, compared with the previous regulation which bans hunting during the periods of March to May and September to November each year. The new regulation also gives more serious punishment for illegal hunters.

After years of monitoring, the species and quantity of wild animals in Beijing are continuously increasing, with the number of terrestrial spinal wild animals (陆地脊椎野生动物) growing from 461 species in 1994 to more than 500. The habitat of the endangered bird has expanded from Fangshan District to the whole city.

“The enforcement of the new regulation marked a new stage in Beijing’s wildlife protection work,” said Mr. Du.“We will step up the publicity of the regulation and raise citizens’ awareness of wildlife protection,” Du said. “In our protection of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands. we take into full consideration the requirements of ecological corridor construction (生态走廊建设), food- chain construction and wildlife and their habitat protection.”