When you choose to send one of our free E-cards, you save paper and give friends and family the opportunity to enjoy the wonder of nature.

    Celebrate the beauty of our natural world and send an E-card to friends and family who care about protecting our planet. Feel free to set your E-card to arrive on any day you please.

    Looking for something to do besides sending an E-card?

    Check out our Everyday Environmentalist page with eco-tips on how to live greener, and become an e-member of our free global online community or calculate(计算) your carbon footprint. You can even upload your photos to our site and your photo may be featured in an E-card next year!

    Feeling sad is an important part of human nature.

    Jerome Wakefield, a professor at New York University, mentions that feeling down after your heart is broken is normal and may even be beneficial. Recently, Wakefield's students have been coming up to him because their parents are pressuring them to get help for their sadness; often the kids want no part of it. Rather than “listen to medicine,” they want to listen to their hearts. He believes these students' reaction represents an important part of human nature.

    Professor Diener, who has studied happiness for a quarter century, finds that the Scots and many other peoples like being sad, and don't appreciate being told they should be happier. “They say too much happiness might not be such a good thing, no matter where it comes from,” says Diener. He believes it's wrong for the “happiness industry” to send the message that not only can we all be happier, but we have a duty to be so. He argues that what is considered normal sadness is something we shouldn't avoid.

    Eric Wilson, a professor at Wake Forest University, made every effort to smooth out his habitual frown and wear a sunny smile, since a happy expression can lead to happy feelings. He even tried to be enthusiastic. When neither of these made him happy, he concluded that such a happiness movement was no good for him at all. Americans, love for happiness, he writes, creates an environment where sadness is not valued.

    These researchers believe the problem of continuous, extreme happiness should not be surprising, since negative emotions developed for a reason. Fear warns us against the presence of danger, for instance. Sadness, too, seems to be part of our DNA: monkeys, dogs and elephants all display something that looks like sadness. Being “up” all the time can cause you to play down very real threats.

    They believe that only by experiencing sadness can we experience the fullness of the human condition. Their studies show that when you are in a negative frame of mind, you become more logical and more creative. Abraham Lincoln was not limited by his dark moods, and Beethoven composed his later works in a sad state. Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson and other artistic giants saw the world through a glass darkly.

    People who are somewhat unhappy are more motivated to improve both their own lot and the lot of their community. In contrast, people at the top of the happiness charts feel no such urgency. “If you're totally satisfied with your life,” says Diener, “you don't feel like working for change. Be careful when people tell you that you should be happier.”

    A smile will tell people around you that you are a kind and friendly person. However, many people don't smile because they think they have ugly teeth. For example, one of my classmates, Mike, doesn't have very nice teeth, so that is why he seldom opens his mouth. He even says that he has lost confidence because of his teeth. So it is very important for us to look after our teeth. In fact, a lot of people have this problem. Some people inherit tooth problems from their parents, while others' teeth are damaged because of bad habits, like heavy smoking, eating too much sugar or not brushing teeth often. If your teeth are in bad shape, you should see a dentist and ask for help. They can help improve your teeth and tell you how to take care of them.

    Smiling can help you feel more confident and make people think of you as a more friendly person. If you want to keep healthy, you should not only smile but also laugh. An Indian doctor called Kataria said that young children should laugh about 30 times a day, while adults should laugh between 7 and 15 times a day. So please take this chance to smile and laugh now.

    On Nov. 24, near Yellowstone's northeast entrance, Spitfire, a female grey wolf, was shot and killed by a hunter as she approached a group of cottages.

    "It was a legal harvest," Abby Nelson, a wolf management specialist said. "The facts are obviously a little bit harder for people to bear, but that pack has showed signs of habituation. They just stand there and have no fear. Wolf hunters can easily pick the one they want."

    The carefree relation that some Yellowstone wolves have built with humans is reportedly attractive for hunters who look for an easy kill.

    In the overnight, yet another famous Yellowstone wolf met a violent end outside the park, officials are actively rethinking how to manage wildlife habituation.

    Smith, a wolf biologist for Yellowstone, says, "Now we're thinking of pounding them," Park officials might use fireworks, and paintball or beanbag guns when they approach humans in the park. "If you get close to people, you're going to get attacked."

    If you think this sounds cruel, you're not alone. Seeing these creatures from the roads that wind through the park not only allows tourists to witness something amazing, but also to reconnect with nature in a way that is better than any conservation campaign. But there's a growing sense that the present policy of doing nothing isn't working; more wolves will unnecessarily die and the broken record of hunters scoring easy kills will go on.

    As Smith adds, urging people to keep wolves wild when meeting them halfway is a big ask. Still, he's hopeful to preserve the world's best place to observe free­ranging wolves; it's a policy change that tourists can be involved in.

    "... perhaps Spitfire's death will accomplish some good, and we'll all come together to do a better job on managing crowds and roads and wolves in Yellowstone, " Smith said.

Extreme athletes have been using wingsuits (翼装) to fly for many years. However, the pull of gravity makes it impossible to speed up or fly higher. To push past the limitations, Peter Salzmann teamed up with German car maker BMW. The result is an electrified wingsuit, which allows flyers to rise to higher altitudes at the speed of up to 186 miles per hour!

The 33-year-old professional wingsuit pilot first thought of creating the design in 2017, "At the time, I was developing suits for skydiving with a friend," he explains. "One evening after a day of testing, we threw out lots of ideas about how we could improve performance. One of them was a supporting motor-and it's an idea I just couldn't shake off. I found the idea of being able to jump from my local mountain wearing the wingsuit and land in my garden exciting."

To help with the process, Salzmann reached out to the experts at BMW's Designworks Studio. It took the team three years and multiple test jumps to perfect the design. The result is an updated version of wingsuit with two 5-inch propellers (螺旋桨), Powered by a battery, the propellers can be controlled using an on/off switch and even stopped mid-flight using the emergency button, if the flyer encounters an airplane or a flock of birds.

On November 6, 2020, Salzmann, wearing his hi-tech suit, leaped from a helicopter from an altitude of 10,000 feet to soar around the mountain peaks. The expert pilot fired up the electric motors and rocketed forward, gliding above four mountain peaks. The task completed, the pilot opened his parachute (降落伞) and gently landed.

It is unclear if Salzmann and BMW plan to make the electrified wingsuits available to the general public. But, one can always hope!