When things around the house stop working, what do you usually do with them? You probably just throw them away. This has led to the modern nickname: the throwaway culture. There are many reasons for this. In some areas, it’s difficult to find people who can make repairs, and fixing things can be quite expensive. And sometimes it s often easier to just buy a new one.

In 2009 Martine Postma from the Netherlands decided there must be a better way. Her solution was Repair Cafes: places where people can take damaged items (物品). There they will find tools and volunteer experts who are willing to help with repairs.

Postma’s first Repair Cafe opened on Oct.18, 2009, in Amsterdam, and was a huge success. News of the cafe spread, and people began asking how they could start their own. In 2011, Postma set up the Repair Cafe Foundation. This organization guides those hoping to begin their own neighborhood repair group. Today, there are about 2,000 Repair Cafes around the world with meetings held once a month. Everything is free, but donations are thankfully accepted.

The cafes not only provide help with repairs, but they also strengthen community ties. Neighbors get to know one another as they work together on projects. In addition, valuable knowledge is passed along and remembered. Items are kept rather than thrown away. If a broken item weighs a kilo, it’s been estimated (估计) that 2,000 Repair Cafes prevent 35,000 kilos of trash every month. That adds up to about 420,000 kilos per year!

Ginko Lee is the organizer for a repair group in Pasadena, California. In an interview, she described how exciting it is watching people who really want to help one another. She has often heard visitors say,“This is the kind of world I want to live in!” Ms. Lee said,“Everyone is a giver and a receiver in Repair Cafes.”

Finding a California condor in the wild would be the most unusual treat. perhaps even more unusual than finding a wolf in Yellowstone National Park. In fact, the wolf was what opened my eyes to the fact that humans could bring an animal back to the place where it had disappeared.

In 1987, there were only 27 California condors left, none of which were in the wild, only in captive breeding programs, It was those breeding programs that contributed to their population rise, enough that by 1991 some of them could be freed into the wild.

Still, the hope of seeing a California condor, which remains an endangered species, is very low, let alone getting a photo of one. California condor population dropped mostly due to human factors, such as poaching and living areas destruction-these are challenges California condors still face today.

Although this is just a bird’s-eye view of the challenges California condors face and there are many others, it is part of why the opportunity to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service team and their partners helping their recovery is so special to me as a photographer. I am not only able to photograph the birds in their wild living areas, but also understand and record how difficult the work is of those people on the front lines of the protection.

I am grateful for the work of the team, and my hope is that California condor population will continue to rise allowing future generations an opportunity I never had when I first got here-to look to the sky and see one flying around.

Kenya’s tree planting plan turns out to be of great benefit to both the environment and the Kenyans. Launched in 2016 by Elizabeth Wathuti when she was twenty-one years old, the Green Generation Initiative is a Kenyan charity that has been planting trees to deal with deforestation (滥伐森林) and climate change in the East African nation.

The initiative’s primary focus is on addressing food insecurity in the region through planting fruit trees, as well as developing young climate activists through environmental education in schools. Since its foundation, over 30,000 trees have been planted in Kenya, while thousands of school children have not just planted trees but also adopted them to ensure that young people learn the importance of acting as a guardian over the health of the environment. The trees have recorded a survival rate of over 98 percent, as they remain tended to from young trees to maturity.

Speaking to world leaders at the recent United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Elizabeth issued a serious warning on the threat of climate change. Over two million of Kenyans are facing climate related hunger now. In 2025, half of the world’s population will be facing water shortage. The climate crisis will displace 80 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Elizabeth said, “Environment is the foundation of development, and it can no longer continue being taken for granted. I have been doing what I can. Inspired by the great Wangari Maathai, I founded a tree growing initiative that enhances food security for young Kenyans.” So far, they have grown 30,000 fruit trees to maturity, providing desperately needed nutrition for thousands of children. “Every day we see that when we look after the trees, they look after us. We are the adults on this Earth right now, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the children have food and water,” she added.