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.

The endangered pandas in Qinling Mountains might face a new threat: the loss of their food—bamboo, which makes up 99% of their meals.

Adult pandas spend most part of the day eating bamboo and have to take in at least 40 pounds a day to stay healthy. However, a new study published in Nature and Climate Change warned that they may soon find their food gone because most of the bamboo in Qinling Mountains might disappear by the end of the century as a result of rising temperature worldwide.

A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied the effects of climate change on the bamboo in Qinling Mountains. They have found that bamboo is very sensitive to climate changes. “80% to 100% of the bamboo would be gone if the average temperature increases 3.5 degrees worldwide by the end of the century.” said Liu Jianguo, one of the reports’ authors. He added, “This is how much the temperature would rise by 2100 even if all countries will keep their promises in the Paris Agreement. But you know what is happening around the world.”

In recent years, China has been trying its best to protect the endangered pandas by setting up more and bigger natural reserves. “But it is far from being enough and the endangered pandas need cooperation from the rest of the world, because their future is not just in the hands of the Chinese,” said Shirley Martin from World Wildlife Fund.

The Qinling Mountains are home to about 360 pandas. That is about a quarter of the China’s wild panda population. In addition, about 435 are living in research centers and zoos in China.

A new government report has some bad news about sea levels on the U.S. coastline. 【小题1】 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and six other agencies created the report.

“The sea level rise is upon us,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean service. 【小题2】 “That’s because the United States coasts are home to a lot of economic activity and 40 percent of the U.S. population,” LeBoeuf explained.

【小题3】 “The greatest rise in the U.S. will be on the Gulf of Mexico and East Coast. The West Coast and Hawaii will be below the average,” said William Sweet, who is the report’s lead writer. The report predicts 0.6 meters of sea level rise in St. Petersburg, Florida. But the study predicts just 0.36 meters in Los Angeles, California.

Cities, such as Annapolis, Maryland, and Miami Beach, Florida, already experience a few minor floods every year during high tides, but those will be replaced by several “moderate (中等的)” floods a year by about 2050. “Higher sea levels mean more floods,” Sweet said, “【小题4】 And many of our major metropolitan (大都市的) areas on the East Coast are going to be increasingly at risk.”

Climate change is the major cause of the sea level rise. 【小题5】 To avoid the potential consequences of the sea level rise, great efforts should be made to reduce the negative effects of climate change.