A young Dutch inventor, Boyan Slat, at the age of 18, has developed a floating device (设备) to stop plastic waste moving into rivers before it reaches the seas. In the same year, he also founded an environmental group called The Ocean Cleanup. Its purpose is to develop the system and move it to the right place, then get it ready for use.

Recently, the 25-year-old Slat announced the next step in his fight: a floating device that he called “Interceptor”. It can remove plastic out of rivers. The device is powered by energy from the sun.

“We need to close the tap, which means preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place,” Slat said. He added the waste from land to sea was carried mainly through rivers.

Experts say 8 million metric tons of waste flowing into the oceans each year are from rivers, creeks (小溪) and seaside areas. The plastic endangers fish and other sea living things. Three of the machines have already been moved to Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Slat said a fourth was going to the Dominican Republic.

Slat said he believed 1,000 rivers were responsible for about 80% of the plastic going into the world’s oceans. He said he wanted to try to clean up the plastic bottles and other rubbish in the next five years.

He added, “This is not going to be easy, but imagine if we do get this done, we could truly make our oceans clean again.”

Slat showed how it worked by putting hundreds of yellow rubber ducks into the water at the launch event in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Interceptor caught almost all of them.

Jan Van Franeker is with the Wageningen Marine Research Institute. He told the The Associated Press(AP), “I am really happy they finally moved towards the source of the litter. The design, from what I can see, looks pretty good. ”

With the efforts of China’s government and its people, the rate of forest coverage in China has increased to 22.96 percent, compared to 5.05 percent 40 years ago, according to a recent report from the State Forestry and Grassland Administration (SFGA).

Over the past 40 years, China planted billions of trees as part of its fight against expanding (扩大的) deserts, mostly in its north. Each year, people sow seedlings (幼苗) over an area nearly the size of Ireland, according to Nature.

In 1978, China began a nationwide tree-planting program known as the Three North Shelter belt Forest Program, also known as “the Great Green Wall”. It has helped to plant more than 66 billion trees across 13 provinces in the country’s north. Since 2018, SFGA has made more efforts to build a greener country. It aims to grow at least 6.7 million hectares of forest every year in the next 15 years. Besides planting more trees, China has tried to restore (恢复) grasslands.

The high-speed growth of forests cannot happen without public participation. For example, Ant Forest, an Alipay mobile payment app, plants real trees for users who get green energy. Since 2016, it has helped to plant about 122 million trees in China’s driest areas.

United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Erik Solheim praised China as “one of the most successful countries worldwide in greening the desert.”

In the past 40 years, the rate of forest coverage in China has 【小题1】 by17.91% with the efforts of China’s government and its people. Every year, Chinese people sow seedlings over an area that is 【小题2】 the size of Ireland. In 1978, China began a nationwide tree-planting program known as “the Great Green Wall”. To build a 【小题3】 country, SFGA has made more efforts since 2018. Public participation also plays an important role. As users of Alipay, if you can get green 【小题4】 in the app, Ant Forest will plant real trees for you. As a result, China was 【小题5】 as “one of the most successful countries worldwide in greening the desert” by United Nations.

Every year on April 22nd, people celebrate Earth Day all over the world. It is a time to work towards keeping our earth clean. People plan projects to clean up the land, air and water.

U.S. Senator Nelson first thought of the idea for Earth Day in 1962 when he saw polluted rivers and cities covered with smoke. Senator Nelson needed to get support from Americans to clean up the earth. Finally, on April 22nd, 1970, more than 20 million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day! Now many countries around the world celebrate it, and so can you.

How can you celebrate Earth Day? Here are a few ideas:

Join a clean-up project-Clean up your street or a favourite beach.

Save energy-Turn off the lights when you leave a room, and use public transportation.

Use less water.

Reduce, reuse and recycle-practice the three Rs: First, reduce how much you use. Then reuse or recycle what you can.

You can make a difference on Earth Day and every day!