Twelve years ago, a young traveler named Rhett Butler from San Francisco, California, visited the Sabah rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. In one area of the rainforest, he watched a bird flying through the trees. The beautiful sight left quite an impression on him. But weeks later, back home, Rhett Butler got the news that trees had been cut down in the area he visited.

That experience led Rhett Butler begin writing a book about rainforests and threats to their existence. But he did not publish the book. Instead, in 1999, he used his research for the book to create a website. The site is Mongabay. Com. His purpose was to inform the public about tropical rainforests. But the subject quickly developed. As a former businessman, he became a respected writer of science and environmental stories.

The popularity of Mongabay. Com attracted advertisers. Small ads on the site pay for its operations. Mongabay.Com has grown and led to other sites. For example, there is a site for children which is called kids. Mongabay.Com. Another one, WildMadangascar.Org, is all about the island nation that Rhett Butler calls his favorite place.

To keep his website going, he travels around the world on several major trips each year. His working tools are a laptop computer, cameras and sometimes diving equipment. He often calls on experts for information. For example, he interviewed Alison Jolly, a top experts on lemurs(狐猴). He interviewed Rodney Jackson, a biologist who established the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

Stories like these have made Mongabay a favorite place on the Internet for researchers, students and teachers. In April, Time.Com named it one of the fifteen top climate and environment websites in the world.

A highly expected project to get plastic out of the massive pool of ocean debris (碎片) is ready to begin its first period from Alameda, California. The creators of the project, called the Ocean Cleanup, say their system can remove 90 percent of the plastic in the ocean by 2040.

It’s those larger pieces that the cleanup system will stop. The system features a 600-meter-long line of unmoored booms (未停泊的水栅) that act as an artificial shoreline traveling with the wind, waves and ocean currents while rounding up plastic debris. Beneath the surface, the booms drag a 3-meter-long skirt, through which only the tiniest bits of plastic can escape. Currents will naturally push the line of booms into a U-shape, herding plastic particles (颗粒) so they’re easier to collect.

The booms are also tricked out with solar-powered lights, anti-collision (防冲撞) systems and satellite positioning to avoid ships and help project scientists keep track of the system’s location. Periodically, support ships will cart the collected plastic bits back to land for recycling.

The launch of “System 001” will be a test for the first of a planned fleet of about 60 such systems. Once launched, System 001 will undergo two weeks of field testing off the California coast, Lebreton says. If all goes well, it will head to the North Pacific, arriving within five weeks of the launch date. “We’re hoping to bring the first plastic back before the end of the year,” he says.

The Ocean Cleanup representatives say their project is meant to work consistently with such upstream measures. “Even while trying to change human behaviors, it’s still worth trying to remove whatever is already out there floating near the surface. The whole point is that we want to try to collect as much as possible,” Lebreton says.

Whatever the result of this deployment, some experts trying to tackle the plastic trash problem applaud the Ocean Cleanup for raising awareness around the issue.

Hello, everyone! I’ve just come back from a wonderful trip to Tibet. Snow-covered mountains disappear into clouds that seem almost close enough to touch. It was so beautiful there that 【小题1】 . The scenery was so impressive and the air was so fresh and clean. Watching animals move slowly across the green grass, 【小题2】 . Attracted by its fascinating scenery, more and more visitors have crowded into the place. In order to protect it, 【小题3】 . However, cans, paper and plastic bags are still being thrown away by many tour groups. That’s to say, 【小题4】 . I worry about the effect this will have on the local wildlife. 【小题5】 We should all think about this question. Only when we learn to exist in harmony with nature can live a peaceful life.