In a coffee shop, we usually hear someone saying, “Don’t worry; the cup is made of bioplastics!” These items are appearing everywhere, ensuring business owners and consumers feel good about the single-use items they are carrying around. The problem is that there’s a lot of misinformation about bioplastics—and unfortunately, bioplastics aren’t the perfect solution to the problem of plastic people think they are.

“Anytime you add the term ‘bio’ or ‘plant-based’ to a product name or description, people automatically think that makes them good for the planet,” environment expert and consultant Shannon Kenny said. “But unless you have proper equipment to process and recycle these bioplastics, they can be just as harmful to the planet as traditional plastics.” In order for bioplastic items to break down, they need the perfect storm of gases, heat and airflow that is only provided by specific equipment. And since most of us probably don’t have the commercial equipment, we may not know what to do with the products.

Since they look like plastic, people often think they can be recycled, which isn’t true. According to Kenny, “Consumers often dispose of bioplastics in recycling bins, but it messes the whole process up. When bioplastics enter the plastic recycling stream, they’re difficult to identify and separate from the other plastics, which damages the entire recycling process and creates a low-grade recycled plastic.”

So if plastic isn’t great, but bioplastics aren’t either, what should we use? The most sustainable solution in both the short term and the long run, though, is to avoid single-use items. The best choice is to bring your own cup to the coffee shop and your own cutlery to the office to eat your salad or out to dinner at your favorite fast-casual restaurant. And educate others—friends, family, and even your local coffee shop or restaurant owners—that these bioplastics aren’t as “green” as they may appear.

Scientists say only enlarging the world’s nature reserve to help protect plants and animals may be useless. The main reason is that levels of human activity are rising in and around the nature reserves. In fact, recognizing spaces as protected areas is not reducing human activity there.

The researchers found that a lack of money to pay for land conservation（保护）is affecting conservation efforts. And it is a lack of communication between people who live in protected natural areas and outsiders. About 17 percent of the world is within protected areas, including the national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas. Protected areas are important for supporting environments with many different kinds of plants and animals.

The researchers again found increasing human activity in most protected areas in every country. However, they said that human activity appeared to be more of a problem in nations with fewer roads and lower life standards on the Human Development Index（指数）. The index uses information about life length, education and earnings to grade countries on human development.

Across the northern Australia, protected areas often proved effective at slowing human activity when compared with unprotected areas. But in South America, Southeast Asia and African countries, pressure from human activity inside protected areas was higher.

Experts say governments need to provide fund support to help protected areas. Simply recognizing a place as a protected area can’t be the beginning and the end of a conservation effort. Working with local people to take efforts is also important. If they’re not partners in the protected areas, then wildlife conservation is much more difficult.