Roads and railways have made it easy for people to travel around the UK, but have had the precisely opposite effect for insects. Alongside housing developments, transport infrastructure (基础设施) has separated insect habitats, leaving many pollinators (传粉昆虫) stuck on decreasing islands of biodiversity.

A new conservation project aims to address that by creating a network of wildflower superhighways across the UK. The B-Lines network aims to join the dots between meadow habitats, enabling pollinators and other wildlife to move freely between them. Ten years in the making, the B-Lines initiative was launched by the insect charity Buglife on Tuesday and has already generated interest from unexpected quarters. “After the launch, some house builders rang up asking how they could include the network into house building, so it could have a really positive effect,” said Buglife’s Paul Hetherington.

Buglife has spent the last decade mapping potential routes for the insect superhighway. Hetherington said the proposed highway could give the UK’s weak insects a boost and a route out of habitats that become too hot due to the climate crisis and it can make a huge difference in easing declines. “The things that have really hammered pollinators are habitat loss, loss of connectivity of habitat, climate change and pesticides—this deals with everything except pesticides,” said Hetherington.

The B-lines network is not just a concept. Pilot sections have already been completed, including the South Wales B-Lines near Cardiff. “Since that was done, there have been recordings of one of our rarest bees in Cardiff town centre, which shows this connectivity can work,” said Hetherington. And in Norwich, Buglife has been working with Network Rail to plant wildflowers along the track. Anyone living along the proposed route can get involved in the project. All they need to do is let their lawns grow, or even just create a small herb garden, which Hetherington likened to creating a “motorway service station for bees”.

Sorting out your wardrobe(衣柜) as winter approaches? As we store away our spring and summer clothes to make room for big woolly jumpers and thick layers to survive the colder weather, there might be a few items of clothing that deserve a better home so the love you previously had for them can continue on. Luckily, the Camden Chilly TRAID Off might be able to help…plus there’s a cold, refreshing beer in it for you.

Here to help avoid those pre-loved clothes going to landfill, Camden Town Brewery has partnered with clothes waste charity TRAID for the launch of its Camden Chilly TRAID Off. The nationwide tour allows consumers to exchange their pre-loved clothes for a can of Camden’s new winter seasonal: Chilly, Cold IPA—so you can do your bit to save clothes from going to landfill and be rewarded with a refreshing drink in the process. And today’s the day for Londoners looking to exchange pre-loved clothes for free beers—so take that box of clothes you’ve been meaning to donate to the local charity shop, and head on down to the van(面包车).

Touring Manchester, Leeds and London from November 15-17, Camden and TRAID will be stationing their van at the heart of each city, ready for consumers to come down and donate any unworn or pre-loved clothing this Chilly season. Encouraging consumers to shop more sustainably this winter, the Camden Chilly TRAID Off aims to freeze out waste, while giving people good beer for a good cause.

Research from TRAID has found that 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in landfill every year in the UK—of which it is estimated 40% is in reusable condition. Camden is encouraging British people to take another look at the estimated 1.6 billion pieces of unworn clothing in their wardrobes this winter and think about how we shop as we head towards the festive period.

Imagine an area 34 times the size of Manhattan. Now imagine it covered ankle-deep in plastic waste—a total of about 19 billion pounds of garbage. 【小题1】.

“We’re being overwhelmed(淹没) by our waste,”said Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineer who led the 2015 study that determined this astonishing number. 【小题2】, unless something is done to stop the tide of garbage.

Plastic—a widely-used material—has in many ways been a benefit to humans but it has also caused a growing problem. Today, plastics are the No.1 type of garbage found in the sea. Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit that organizes an annual coastal cleanup event worldwide, said plastic waste makes up around 85 percent of the garbage collected from beaches and oceans.

Ocean Conservancy says plastics are believed to threaten(威胁)at least 600 different wildlife species(物种). 【小题3】; a growing body of evidence suggests humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. A research suggests some plastics could be poisonous to humans, and could potentially increase the risk of health problems.

【小题4】. At the Economist World Ocean Summit this week, ten nations announced to reduce plastic sea liter as part of UN Environment's CleanSeas campaign. 【小题5】Corporations also have a role, as do individuals. We can start by thinking twice before using single-use plastic products—and when we do use them, we should take care to properly throw them off or recycle.