In 1985, Charlie Burrell inherited(继承)a piece of land in West Sussex, England, which is 3, 500 acres. It had been in his family for more than 200 years. As it was a failing farm, he and his wife, Isabella Tree, were all set to run a traditional farm, but soon realized the costs far outweighed the profits. The land wasn’t suitable for growing crops anymore.

So, in 2001, the couple decided to try something else—an experiment in “rewilding”, or restoring environments to their natural state. They reintroduced native species, including Tamworth pigs, Exmoor ponies, longhorn cattle, and deer. Then they took out all the fences and let the animals wander freely.

In the following years, the land went through an incredible change. The once neat fields were covered with bushes, creating habitats where new plant and animal species could grow.

Now it’s home to many different creatures, including two rare species of bats, nightingales, peregrine falcons, white storks, and even turtle doves, whose numbers have dropped by 98 percent in the UK over the last few decades!

“We were living in a biological desert. Now, ecologists are blown away all the time by just the amount of life here,”Isabella said. “It shows the potential that this kind of project has for changing trends of biodiversity decline.

What’s more, the land is now profitable! Charlie and Isabella offer multiple services there, including walking tours, safaris, photography classes, and rewilding workshops. They also sell meat to control their large animal populations, and even allow visitors to spend a night outside in the tents they set up.

What a promising outcome! This is amazing news for conservationists and shows that our planet can be returned to its natural glory, if only we let it. Now, it’s a beautiful reminder of how ecosystems can be restored by letting Mother Nature take the control.

Saving the environment is a hot topic right now, and most companies are thinking of ways to “go green”, that is, to reduce pollution and save electricity. 【小题1】

How do you reduce energy use in your home? 【小题2】 “Green” houses look similar to the houses we live in today, with a few noticeable differences. They have solar panels(嵌板) on the roofs or have some kind of wind power to produce their own electricity. On sunny or windy days when the house is not used, power is produced and stored in batteries(电池) for later use at night. 【小题3】

One of the main reasons that we use so much power in our homes is to heat or cool them. “Green” houses are very well insulated(隔热的), keeping the temperature inside fixed. 【小题4】

【小题5】 This way, they can reduce the burden(负担) on the environment for raw materials(原材料).

The Children’s Climate Prize (CCP) was started by the Swedish company Telge Energi. It’s been given every year since 2016 to teens who have made “extraordinary efforts” to improve life on the planet now and in the future. Here are some of CCP finalists this year:

Reshma Kosaraju, a 15-year-old girl from Saratoga, California, the USA. She built her deep learning model by using weather information like temperature, humidity, wind speed, and how dry the soil is. Her model can predict where and when forest fires are most likely to happen. She hopes to turn her program into an app that’ll be useful to firefighters.

Fernanda Barros, a 16 year old girl from Pará, Brazil. She helped start the group Fridays For Future Amazonia (FFFA), which is working to protect Brazil’s Amazon rainforest that is seriously threatened. Fernanda says, “We have the science, we have team effort, and we won’t stop!”

Anjali Sharma, a 17-year-old girl from Melbourne, Australia. She was named a finalist for taking Australia’s Environment Minister to court in an attempt to stop a coal mine from being expanded. The case resulted in the court saying that the government had a “duty of care” to protect young people.

Lesein Mutunkei, a 17-year-old boy from Nairobi, Kenya. His project is called Trees For Goals, which encourages soccer teams to plant 11 trees for every goal scored. Already, over 1, 500 trees have been planted, and Lesein is working to spread the idea further. He’d really like to get the soccer group FIFA to back the idea.