A culture’s values can be mirrored by its humour. Humour has been evaluated by many great minds such as Thomas Hobbes, who disliked humour, and thought laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from sudden thought of feeling far better than others. He thought humour to be a negative quality of human narrow-mindedness.

However, Mordechai Gordon, PhD of Education, insists that humour allows us to view the world from an angle that is amusing rather than serious. I agree with Gordon. Learning to look at the world through humour is important.

In the United States, every four years an election occurs. Without humour as a way to express their feelings, how would Americans be willing to support the election? Television shows like The Daily Show have become important parts of American culture. They are affecting the masses by unconsciously inputting politics into their minds. They make politics fun.

Of course, politics is only one type of humour. Social humour helps people through the twists and turns of the human condition. American pop culture promotes an unhealthy self-image. On the topic of self-image, Hari Kondabolu stands out. He has a joke about the popular musical group The Pussycat Dolls, describing their hit song Don’t Cha as a negative representation of women. He points out the obvious offence in American culture.

A study from Loyola University Maryland has shown that humour is one determining factor in selecting a partner. Among other things, people look for an outstanding funny bone in a potential partner.

Of course, humour is not always used for good purposes. Humour can be linked to vulgarity (粗俗) and racism, but, like everything else, it has the potential to unite human beings by allowing us to laugh at ourselves, our failures and our connections with one another.

Though life may seem tough and depressing at times, all I have to do is look in the mirror at my increased wrinkles (皱纹) to know that there is comedy out there that even Chaplin wasn’t aware of. With that in mind, remember to laugh with humanity.

The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles (EVs) in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility (多用途的) vehicles (SUVs) continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second,” said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency (JEA).

Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions (排放) from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion tons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the   switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. “While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking,” says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.

There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won’t be deterred by slightly higher taxes. “There are now some electric SUVs available, but I hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market,” says Peters.

Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn’t a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.

In February, Japan appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as the country’s first Minister of Loneliness to address the issue of isolation for the growing number of the population who live alone.

Loneliness has been a long-standing issue in Japan. Half a million people in the country live a solitary(独身的) life. They are known as hikikomori – “those who withdraw from all social contact and often don’t leave their houses for years at a time”, according to the BBC.

“In Japanese strict social norms(行为规范), high expectations from parents and a culture of shame make Japanese society a fertile ground for feelings of inadequacy.” Takahiro Kato, who studies and treats hikikomori, told the BBC.

But the pandemic has only worsened the effects of this lifestyle. According to figures released by the National Police Agency, in 2020 Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. A total of 20,919 people took their own lives, 750 more than the previous year. The majority of them were single women and students.

Before the pandemic(疫情), most people who live alone had a fairly normal routine: a full day of work, dining with friends afterward, then going home. But the pandemic forced them to stay indoors, reducing the few chances they had to socialize.

Sakamoto hopes to deal with the issue of increased feelings of isolation. At a news conference on Feb 12, he said that he hopes to “carry out activities to prevent social loneliness and isolation and to protect ties between people”.

After all, just as UK poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”