My wife isn’t a cat person. So when our daughter Flora started asking for a cat several years ago, my wife politely refused her requests and we didn’t give it a second thought. Flora, though, shares some of my wife’s persistence, so she continued to ask for a cat repeatedly for several years.

Then a couple of things happened that made us take a closer look at things. When we went to Flora’s parent-teacher conferences, the teacher first handed us an essay about how my daughter wanted a cat, and then an imaginary story about where she would like to go on vacation: Catville.

It was then that my wife and I came to the realization that our daughter wasn’t just messing around here. And it was time for us to break down. But before we brought our new cat home, my wife sternly warned us that she was not going to be the one to take care of or clean up after the cat. Flora was going to take full responsibility. Fine, my daughter said.

We welcomed our mini family member into the house right around Christmas. We named her Goldy. When we got her, she peed everywhere. But other than that, she was perfect. My tough-talking wife gradually fell in love with Goldy. And Goldy fell in love with her. Of course, it’s not just my wife who loves Goldy. We all do.

There are so many things about that cat that absolutely brighten our life, highlighted by how she nearly bursts with affection when we come home or wake up in the morning. From the moment Goldy came into our house, it seemed unreasonable that we didn’t have a cat before then. We should have settled down to the decision much earlier.

Tariq Qaiser, an architect, is trying to protect mangroves (红树林). The trees could save Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, sitting on the Arabian Sea, from climate disaster. He comes to Bundal Island several times a week to document the illegal cutting of mangrove trees. Very often, “you can’t hear a single bird because the chain saws are so loud. The trees are cut down illegally for firewood,” he says, shaking his head. Besides, developers clear the mangroves to make room for new buildings.

Karachi has a hot climate, and its concrete buildings and paved roads make it even hotter. Offshore, there are islands where mangroves grow. They could be the key to slowing climate change. Mangrove forests pull carbon dioxide out of the air, holding four times as much of the planet-warming gas as other forests can. They support diverse ecosystems. As sea levels rise with global warming, the trees could play a big role in protecting coastal cities like Karachi from flooding. Karachi’s mangroves are disappearing. But its numbers are rising in other parts of Pakistan. With replanting efforts, the country has tripled (三倍于) its mangrove coverage over the past 30 years.

Qaiser’s work may have worked. Recently, a court in Karachi declared Bundal Island’s mangroves to be protected forests. But unforested parts of the island remain unprotected, and developers want to build there. City officials say this could provide much-needed housing and bring in billions of dollars. They claim that some of that money could be used to plant mangroves in other parts of Pakistan.

Ecologist Rafiul Haq appreciates Qaiser’s “extraordinary work” educating the public about mangroves. But he wishes Qaiser would look at the bigger picture. Only 7% of Pakistan’s mangroves are in Karachi, Haq says. He thinks it’s wrong “to focus on the losses in 7% of the country while ignoring the success in 93%” of it. But Qaiser believes it’s important to protect every bit.

Over the last two decades (十年), the Earth has seen an increase in vegetation (植被) and China and India are leading the increase in greening on land. The result comes mostly from tree planting programs in China and intensive agriculture(集约农业) in both countries.

Researchers from Boston University found that global green area has increased by 5% since the early 2000s, an area equal to the size of Amazon rainforest. Among the increased area, China and India contribute to about 33%, especially China, with 25% itself. China’s great contribution came mostly from its programs to protect and expand forests, which is about 42%. These programs were developed in an effort to reduce the effect of desertification, air pollution and climate change.

Another 32% of the greening change in China, and 82% in India, resulted from intensive agriculture of food crops. The land area used to grow crops in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet both countries have greatly increased the total green area and food production in order to feed large populations. The lead author Chi Chen of Boston University said,

“That is a surprising finding, since it is generally believed that land degradation(退化) in populous countries is usually more serious.”

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, saw a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it,” However, the researchers rang bells as well. They pointed out that the gain did not necessarily fill up the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions like Brazil and Indonesia.