The health of millions could be at risk because supplies of medicinal plants are being used up. These plants are used to make traditional medicine, including drugs to fight cancer. “The loss of medicinal plants is a quiet disaster,” says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

    Most people worldwide rely on herbal (药草制的) medicines which are got mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of the 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of dying out, according to report from the international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.

    Over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution and competition from invasive species (入侵物种) and habitat destruction all contribute. Businessmen generally harvest medicinal plants, not caring about sustainability (可持续性),” the Plantlife report says, “damage is serious partly because they have no idea about it. but it is mainly because such collection is unorganized” Medicinal trees at risk include the Himalayan yew (紫衫) and the African cherry, which are used to treat some cancers.

    The solution, says the report's author, Alan Hamilton, is to encourage local people to protect these plants. Ten projects studied by Plantlife in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya showed this method can succeed. In Uganda, the project has kept a sustainable supply of low-cost cancer treatments, and in China a public-run medicinal plant project has been created for the first time.”

    “Improving health, earning an income and keeping cultural traditions are important in encouraging people to protect medicinal plants,” says Hamilton, “You have to pay attention to what people are interested in.”

    Ghillean Prance, the former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, agrees that medicinal plants are in need of protection. “Not nearly enough is being done,” he told New Scientist. “We are destroying the very plants that are of most use to us.”

    I will absolutely be the first person to romanticize libraries. I come from a home with thirty-two bookcases, a count that does not include the several dozen boxes of books in the attic labeled "work" and "extra." All these books are courtesy of my parents, both of whom were English majors in their day and in whose footsteps I never hesitated to follow. My childhood dream was of a house with a claw-foot bathtub, stained glass, and (most importantly) an enormous library made of built-in shelves, a sliding ladder, and window seats in every window. As a high school girl, I began working at the county library near my house, following up on two summers of volunteering with their summer reading program. I was all starry eyes and romantic visions of alphabetizing the classics and discovering gems among the new arrivals. What I found instead was that the life of a library was nothing like my daydreams, but far more important than I could have imagined.

    There is no library that is only a library anymore. Modern libraries can't afford and don't try to be only a receptacle for free books. They offer classes, book groups, Internet access, resume and tax help, tutoring, and multimedia resources for anyone who might wander in. Librarians are equipped to help with research and give recommendations. Most libraries have access to interlibrary loans, making the acquisition of nearly any piece of material merely a matter of time. What makes libraries so unique and important, however, is none of the diversity of resources and opportunities for community that they most certainly provide.

    ____________________________________. Every building one enters today comes with some expectation of spending money. Restaurants require paying for service. Shops require the intention of purchasing something. Houses require rent. Anyone who has lived near the poverty line, whether or not they have actually been homeless, has felt the threatening pressure toward expenditure that permeates the public spaces of modern Western culture. Even a free restroom is becoming difficult to find, especially as growing cities experience ever-increasing space restrictions.

    In a library, no one is asked to pay anything simply to sit. For those with few resources besides time, this is a godsend. Libraries are unofficial playgrounds for low-income families on rainy days, homeless shelters in cold months, reprieves from broken homes for grade-school-age children. They are the last bastions of quiet and calm where nothing is asked of one but to exist. Many arguments have been made about how the library is an outdated institution offering outdated services—that in the twenty-first-century how-to books on building sheds and daily newspaper copies are obsolete and the funding used for libraries ought to be reallocated to other programs. I can only assume that those who make such arguments are people who have always been comfortable with the expenditures it takes to move through the world. For those people, libraries can be about books. But not everyone has the luxury of seeing past the space.

    Libraries, as they exist in the twenty-first century, are the only remaining public domain. In a library, anyone of any walk of life can come and go as they choose, and so long as they remain respectful of the space they can remain as long as they wish. Libraries welcome everyone, offering a place to be and easily accessible resources to the most vulnerable populations, whether in downtown Chicago or small-town Oklahoma. My childhood romantic vision of the library is still close to my heart, but the very real work that public libraries do today is so much more critical than a leather-bound edition of Homer or a graphic novel fresh off the press. Those are the things the library gives me, but libraries are for everyone.

    In an attempt to make the group texting experience more bearable, we've put together a list of strategies and things to consider when messaging multiple people at the same time.

    Think about who you're texting

    Whether you're in a group text with your parents, schoolmates, or work friends, consider what you're sharing - and who you're sharing it with. Parents may not be interested in the latest memes and explaining their slight differences can be a pain.

    Be mindful of people's schedules

    While not everyone's schedules are the same, most people are busy during typical work week hours, so sending a million mid-day texts isn't always ideal. Some people rise early or get to bed early. Avoid including them on a text that you know will ask for a bunch of responses super late at night or early in the morning.

    Name the group

    If you have the ability to name the texting or messaging group you're on - this is possible on an iPhone or when using Facebook Messenger - I strongly recommend you do so. Though not everyone will love the name you choose, naming your group will help you keep track of all your ongoing conversations.

    Don't write lots of one-word texts

    Please, if you must text in the group thread, don't deliver multiple short answers in a row. Everyone will despise you. If you have something pressing to share or say, try to sum it up in one brief text. If you have a lot to say, maybe try writing an email.

    Damn I seriously don't have time to be on my phone when I'm at work, and my friends keep texting on the group chat and I'm at a loss.

    - Melzz (@_Melzzxx) November 17, 2018

    Back in 2009, China was wrongly accused by the West of "controlling" the Copenhagen talks on climate change. By then China had truly carried out strict policies to reduce the energy consumption of economic activities and at the international level, the top Chinese leaders participated in round-clock efforts to cooperate with the major players to build a united front for efforts to solve global warming. But China was finally misjudged.

    This misjudgment caused China's scholars to rethink China's climate change communicative ways. Among them was Zheng Baowei, journalism professor of Renmin University of China, who realized China had to better shape its communication on its environmental protection.

    Delightfully, the efforts have paid off. Zheng set up a top-level international group advising his research team. He is in charge of doctoral candidates on climate change communication. Climate awareness surveys have been conducted, and a package of communication tools has been designed. Many seminars have been arranged.

    Recently, he arranged a seminar on climate change and health communication on the changing situation both in China and the world. First of all, this stressed that China's policy has developed from reducing its energy consumption and pollution prevention to the important goals of achieving a "Beautiful China" and "'Healthy China, "while coming up with plans to realize an ecological civilization since late 2012. With such goals, China played a leading role in securing the Paris climate change deal in 2015 together with the United States and European Union. In Paris, China promised to let out its carbon to the maximum in 2030.

    It is a demanding job communicating climate change and other topics of lasting development well. Despite that, some foreign scholars have realized China's smart ways in presenting the green concepts. They appreciated China's idea of building a "Beautiful China" and "Healthy China" and said it can he expanded into an idea of a "Beautiful World" and "Healthy World".

    Looking back from how China had followed the steps of the industrialized countries in advocating climate fight, people find now its own green ideas are being recognized.

    Are you a social media addict? Are you always checking your smart phone to see how many "likes" you've received for your latest post? Maybe you feel comforted by the sound that someone has sent you a message?

    Don't worry, you're not alone. We check our phones an average of 150 times a day, and around 30% of the total time spent online is devoted to social media. Some experts now fear this habit could be damaging our mental health.

    This is something particularly bothering young adults, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh. It found the more they used social media, the more likely they were to be depressed. In tests, those people who checked social media frequently were 2.7 times more likely to be depressed compared to those who spent most of their time generally surfing the Internet, who had just 1.7 times the risk.

    Some of us certainly feel sad when we're ignored on social media sites, or when we see someone else having a better time than us. But depression is a more serious condition and clinical psychologist, Abigael San, recently told the BBC that ,"It's a real issue, and it's been getting significantly worse over the last 5﹣6 years. You can get so hooked that it takes you away from your real relationships. "However, Abigael does admit that social media is more likely to worsen pre﹣existing issues than directly cause them.

    Other research by the University of Glasgow found that teenagers are affected by the 24﹣hour demands of their social media accounts. It found that those with higher levels of emotional investment in social media, and who use it at night, were more likely to feel depressed and anxious.

    Despite these warning signs, why do some of us continue to keep clicking? Well, I suppose we all want to be liked and we don't want to miss out on a conversation that's taking place online. But we need to know when to switch off our virtual online world and connect with the real world instead.