Carbon dioxide isn’t just a greenhouse gas that’s thinning the atmosphere, but it’s also causing a popular food to lose its nutritional value over time, which will have a major impact on more than 2 billion people worldwide.

According to a recent study conducted in a joint effort by researchers in Japan, China, Australian, and the United States, higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contribute to the decline of protein（蛋白质）and other key vitamins in rice. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, looked at 18 different agriculture sites in China and Japan over four years and found that the crops exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide were overall less nutritious than those that were not.

“Many basic crops are impacted by the rise of carbon dioxide with respect to things like protein concentration and iron and zinc,” says Lewis Ziska, a co-author and research plant physiologist at the US Department of Agriculture. The research explains that the exposed rice contained 10 percent less protein,8 percent less iron, and 5 percent less zinc, while amounts of B1,B2 and B5 vitamins also declined. And increased levels of carbon dioxide doesn’t just have a negative effect on rice, but other food staples（主食）including wheat and potatoes also face serious consequences when exposed to higher levels.

While this certainly impacts many people worldwide, it follows that the people that would suffer the most would be those that consume the most rice, which, as the study also found, also happen to be those who live in the poorest countries.

Additional studies are now underway and researchers are trying to solve this problem by looking at the different types of each crop in hopes of finding the types that react the least, or not at all, to high levels of carbon dioxide.

Until then, what can you do? For starters, you can try to eat a variety of foods and get your vitamins and proteins from various sources. Then to help with the larger problem of global warming and climate change, you can make simple lifestyle changes such as hang drying clothes, walking to work, and turning off the lights when you’re not home.

Ranchers(农场主) and environmental advocates haven’t always seen eye to eye, but the differences between the two aren’t as extreme any more, as more and more ranchers have come around to the understanding that taking good care of the land supports both economic stability and environmental health.

“For some, ranching was pursued in the past with an emphasis on raising beef at the expense of everything else,” says Bill Bryan of the Montana—based Rural Landscape Institute in a recent Christian Science Monitor. “As a matter of necessity, the old way of ranching is giving way to a new pattern. Raising animals for the dinner table isn’t an activity that has to be at odds with the environment.”

According to the nonprofit World Wildlife Fund (WWF), grazing (放牧)—when done right—is key to maintaining biological diversity and ecosystem health across the Northern Great Plains, across 183-million-acre expanse of rangelands spanning five US states and two Canadian provinces.

This vast landscape evolved in harmony with large herbivores (食草动物), such as bison and elk, and must be grazed in order to remain healthy, reports WWF, which works with hundreds of ranchers across the region as part of its Sustainable Ranching Initiative. “Without grazing, woody vegetation, such as juniper and cedar creeps in and kills plants that threatened species, such as grassland birds, need to survive.”

Not surprisingly, many of the ranchers that are following in the forebears’ footsteps have been using what we now call “sustainable ranching practices” for decades already. One example is rotational (轮流的) grazing, that is moving cattle herds more frequently to different pastures(牧场), so they don’t overgraze any one particular patch of land.

A newer “best practice” involves depositing a quarter to half inch of cattle wastes on grazed land to kick-start the soil chemistry below while also absorbing significant amounts of methane (沼气)—the most potent greenhouse gas—before it can head for the atmosphere. This technique is now becoming more commonplace as today’s ranchers care about reducing their carbon footprints like no generation before them.

Nine milu deer babies were born in Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve in April, after 27 deer were relocated in September from two reserves in Nanhaizi, Beijing, and Dafeng, Jiangsu Province.

The milu deer have been brought back from the edge of complete extinction in China since the mid-1980s. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration launched the ambitious conservation program in 2019 to expand the habitat of the species. Experts came to the Daqing nature reserve for inspection, and an area with plenty of food and water was chosen to release (放养) the deer.

For Ma, who works at the Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve’s management station, it is a new responsibility, but he remains undiscouraged by challenges. He consults experts to understand the species better. According to his observations, the two groups of animals from Nanhaizi and Dafeng are getting along well, and even integrating into one close community. Ma keeps a record of the reserve’s ecological conditions. He has noticed that the plant cover has increased, thanks to the national protection policy and plenty of rainfall in recent years.

“The milu originally lived in the wetlands along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. This is the first time they have been released in a cold mountainous region, where the winter temperature can drop to -30℃,” says Khorintavan, head of the nature reserve. “The staff had built winter shelters, but the deer never went there. The milu deer have a thick coat, which keeps them warm.” he adds. “The task ahead is to see how well the babies adapt to the new environment.”

The gold and iron mines in the mountains were shut down long ago. Locals are aware of the importance of wildlife conservation, which has enhanced the confidence of experts.

“The birth of babies means that the Daqing Mountain National Nature Reserve is a suitable habitat for the milu deer. It is a reference for us to better develop more potential habitats,” says Guo Qingyun, associate research fellow at the Beijing Milu Ecological Research Center in Nanhaizi.