At Sho Farm in northern Vermont, farmers Melissa Hoffman and Shawn Smith work hand in hand with the land and its inhabitants, and among them are hundreds of ducks. The ducks at Sho Farm are not being raised to be killed for food. Rather, they are naturally involved in farming operations, helping to manage pests and add fertilizer (肥料) to the soil.

In the beginning, Hoffman, who has a background in organic farming and ecology action, worked with ecologists and biologists to survey the plants and wildlife all around the area. This was “to understand who was living here, so that everything we did was in relationship to the life already here,” he says.

So, at Sho Farm, focus is placed on living harmoniously alongside other life and working with traditional ecological knowledge. Food is seen not as a commodity (商品) but as a relationship with land and life.

The methods of food production at Sho Farm, as well as the farmers’ philosophy of working with rather than against nature, are in sharp contrast to most modern agricultural systems. And that’s the point. “We’ve been talking a lot about the broken food system and the consequences of it to the environment, to wildlife, to the animals in animal agriculture and to human health,” says Hoffman, adding that it’s not just the food system that’s broken. “It’s the relationship between humans, non-human animals, land and nature.”

The ducks play a vital, integrated role on the farm, explains Hoffman, by naturally providing pest control, fertilizer and (fuel-free) land maintenance (维护), just as by-products of their existence. “We noticed where we summered groups of ducks and parts of the food system that were not doing very well. The following year, the food system was efficiently improved,” he says.

It’s a symbiotic relationship that works well. “Animals don’t have to be part of a farm in a commodity sense. They can be part of the farm as a partner,” Hoffman says. “They are wonderful partners.”

Germany is the leader of the world’s waste-recycling race. The country has quite a detailed way of sorting their waste – down to the color of glass waste, the type of paper, the separate bin for metals, etc.

Here below are what you should know about Germany’s waste sorting system:

● You are expected to gather your waste in your apartment/housing area’s local public garbage bins.

● There are commonly several types of public garbage bins available in the German’s apartment/housing area:

● Blue bin –– for paper and cardboard

● Green and white bin –– for glass, different bins for differently colored glass, not available for holiday decorations and lights

● Yellow/orange bin –– for plastic and metals

● Brown bin –– for goods that can be changed naturally by bacteria into substances that don’t harm the environment, like leftovers, fruit and vegetables

● Gray/black bin –– for everything else that can’t be recycled such as used cat litter and animal waste

● Some items don’t belong in these public garbage bins. Items like used batteries, electronics, unused paints, and lights must be returned to the special agents/locations so they can be properly recycled. Other items such as clothes, shoes, and oversized rubbish and furniture are advised to be donated or sold.

● There’s this thing called Pfand in Germany, a certain part of the price for a bottled drink that you get back if you send back the bottle to certified shops. German law requires shops over a certain size selling bottled drinks have a Pfandruckgabestelle, or place for bottles with deposits. These bottles usually made of glass or plastic will be refilled. Of course, there’re strict health regulations.

A new railway design is allowing the latest high-speed rail line to pass through national natural reserves while causing only minor effect to local wildlife.

The Xi’an-Chengdu high-speed rail is the first bullet train to cut through the Qinling Mountains, in Shaanxi province, which are home to many rare wild animals including the giant panda, golden monkey, crested ibis and golden takin.

It is one of three major habitats for the wild giant panda, with about 345 of China’s 1,864 wild giant pandas living there, according to the fourth National Survey on Giant Pandas released in 2015. The railway will also pass through a major Tianhuashan Mountain reserve, a giant panda habitat.

＂When researching the railway route, we avoided laying tracks more than 1,500 meters above sea level, where the majority of wildlife gathers,＂ said Lai Wenhong, an engineer from the China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group, who is in charge of the railway’s environmental design.

More than 90 percent of the railway through the Qinling Mountains is tunnels and bridges, said Liu Shuangjin, general chief designer of the line’s Shaanxi section from the China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group.

＂The advantage of tunnels is to reduce vibration(震动) when a train passes by,＂ Lai said.

The average depth of the tunnels is 400 meters, and the deepest is 1,000 meters. Bridges are constructed to link tunnels. Protective things have been placed at the mouths of tunnels in the Qinling Mountains to keep wild animals from falling. During operation, trains are forbidden from using horns in wildlife habitats.

The line also passes through the Yangxian county reserve, home to crested ibis, a rare bird. The 4-meter-high mesh(网状物) on the sides of bridges higher than 10 meters will prevent the birds from flying into the path of trains, which is safer for the birds and the trains.