A start-up company backed by tech giants IBM and Microsoft plans to build thousands of artificial reefs across the globe to fight climate change by restoring coral reef (珊瑚礁) ecosystems.

The Reef Company plans to have its first reefs in the water by December 2022, and is encouraging more companies to fund reefs to offset (抵消) their carbon footprint. “We’ve calculated we need to build 2,500 reefs, each measuring 4 square kilometers, over the next 10 years to absorb the extra carbon we have on the planet at the moment,” says Jeroen van de Waal, founder of The Reef Company.

Coral reefs are home to 25% of all marine life. They provide a source of income for millions of people through fishing and tourism and protect coastal communities by reducing the power of waves before they reach the shore. Yet they’re under threat from global warming and 90% of all coral reefs could be lost by 2050 if nothing is done to protect them.

As well as improving biodiversity and storing carbon, The Reef Company, which is based in Portugal, hopes to give a boost to local economies and collect real-time data for researchers.

The artificial reefs are constructed from eco-friendly concrete made from recycled industrial waste and will feature consoles (控制台) filled with sensors that can measure how salty, warm and acid the ocean is. “The reefs will provide a continuously expanding set of connected sensors to gather and analyze data, generating insights in real time,” says Andrés Ortolá, managing director of Microsoft Portugal.

To act as a sink for carbon dioxide, the artificial reefs will need to support plants such as seagrass and mangroves alongside coral. While coral reefs use carbon to grow, the process also lowers the pH in the water, which results in the release of CO₂. Benjamin Horton at the Earth Observatory of Singapore says artificial reefs will need to be well maintained to prove successful. “If the ecosystems are damaged, their carbon sink capacity will be affected, and the carbon stored will be released.”

Famous for its tolerance (宽容) as well as its narrow houses and broad canals (运河), Amsterdam is undergoing a change of attitude when it comes to the millions of tourists that come to see it each year. Tolerance has reached its limits in the capital of Dutch, which is now actively urging visitors to head elsewhere.

Ellen van Loon, a partner at Dutch architectural firm OMA says, “We don’t want to turn into a Venice. While tourism earns the Dutch economy around 82 billion Euros a year, the problem we are currently facing is that Amsterdam is so loved by tourists, we just have so many coming to the city.”

Netherlands tourist officials recently took the decision to stop advertising the country as a tourist destination. Their “Perspective 2030” report, published earlier this year, stated that the focus will now be on “destination management” rather than “destination promoting”. The document also describes the country’s future strategy, acknowledging that Amsterdam’s livability will be severely influenced by “visitor overload” if action isn’t taken.

Solutions (解决办法) listed include working to discourage groups of visitors by either limiting or completely shutting down accommodation and entertainment products aimed at them, as well as spreading visitors to other parts of the Netherlands. Some of these measures have already come into play. Last year, the famous “I Amsterdam” sign was removed from outside the Rijksmuseum, the city’s main art gallery. The two-meter high letters have been moved to various “lesser-known neighborhoods” in order to entice travelers to leave the center of the city.

But will the measures being put in place be enough to save it from being damaged by its own success? Like many other locals, Van Loon fears Amsterdam has lost its uniqueness forever. “The reason tourists come here is that there’s something in the character of Amsterdam they love,” she explains. “But at a certain point, when the number of tourists is increasing and increasing, they actually kill what they loved in the first place.”

Three Things We Must Do to Tackle Climate Change

With world leaders meeting at the international climate change conference this August in Glasgow to discuss urgent global action to meet one of the greatest challenges, many people still don’t know what must be done. 【小题1】 However, the good news we get from the report is that it is not too late to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we respond rapidly and decisively. But how? It comes down to the following three things.

Stop using fossil fuels gradually. 【小题2】 That means no exploration, no new wells, mines, pipelines, or power plants. We already have a vast amount of fossil fuel infrastructure(基础设施), and it will take decades to end its use.

【小题3】 Sun and wind are the fastest-growing new sources of energy we have. Their costs have fallen sharply, making them the least expensive options and encouraging the adoption of clean energy in more and more locations.

Protect the world’s forests. Forests all over the world currently absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide our activities send out to the atmosphere. 【小题4】 And this must stop. To meet the planet’s growing food needs, experts urge improved management practices on already-cleared land rather than clearing new land.

Finally, it is high time that we joined hands to protect the only home we have. If so, we can take on the challenge as we would whatever the difficulty is. 【小题5】 The three actions we suggest are essential for success.