We've all done it before-dropped a box of unwanted household belongings at a flea market and driven off with a sense of accomplishment. But have you ever stopped to think about where those items actually go?

Business journalist Adam Minter began considering this while cleaning out his late mother's home. Seeking reassurance that his mother's donated items would be put to good use rather than destroyed, he started a journey worldwide that resulted in his latest book, "Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale". He found the industry significantly in the dark, with a disturbing lack of data on secondhand goods, despite their crucial role in clothing, furnishing and educating people worldwide. 

In this book, Minter fully reveals himself as an investigative journalist. He doesn't shy away from the commonly-accepted assumptions about the global trade in used goods. First, Minter questions the idea that shipments of secondhand clothes from developed countries to Africa have destroyed local textile industries （纺织业）. That's overly simplistic, he says. He further explains that multiple factors, such as declining cotton production in local areas and economic liberation, have influenced the situation. 

Minter then explores the topic of car seats, making a statement that recycling car seats, instead of selling them secondhand, is wasteful and might compromise （危害） safety for children in developing countries. It is disturbing to say so in a society that prioritizes child safety and highlights zero risk, but when you consider the excessive caution that might endanger children's lives elsewhere, the situation starts to look different. 

Minter calls it "waste colonialism," this idea that developed countries can apply their own safety standards onto the markets of developing countries-and it's deeply wrong. Why label an used car seat or an old TV as unsafe if someone else, with different skills, is perfectly capable of repairing it and willing to use it, especially if they lack access to new products and other options?

The book explores the huge problems of handling surplus （剩余的） items and how producers discourage repairs and promote the sales of new products. Minter calls for initiatives to enhance product repairability and increase product lifetime. 

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World is one of the most important books about climate change to have been written. Hayhoe is a gifted public speaker and Saving Us is a follow-up to her awesome TED talk in 2018, "The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it."

One of the many refreshing aspects of this book is that Hayhoe recounts both her successes and her failures to communicate, through which she has gathered evidence about what works and what does not. Much of the book's advice is common sense, all backed up not just by Hayhoe's experience but also with convincing research by psychologists and social scientists.

Hayhoe advises against trying to engage with a small minority, the "Dismissives", who "angrily reject the idea that human-caused climate change is a threat; they are most receptive to misinformation and conspiracy theories (阴谋论)". There is a warning that offering up more facts about climate change can actually increase polarisation (两极化) among them.

The book includes amusing examples of her encounters with the "Dismissives", almost entirely older men—including an engineer who was unconvinced about the evidence but with whom she was able to establish mutual (相互的) respect through a shared passion for knitting (打毛线衣) —and is packed with inspiring accounts of how she has won over even the most suspicious of crowds. Her motto is "bond, connect and inspire", which represents her approach of always looking for points of commonality.

She also tells of a man who approached her after an event in London in 2019. He had been so inspired by her TED talk that he had started to speak to everybody he could in his neighborhood of Wandsworth. He showed her details of 12, 000 conversations that had taken place as a result, claiming that they had helped to convince the government to declare a climate emergency and to switch investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy. 

And so, while it may feel difficult to influence the outcome of the COP26, Hayhoe's uplifting book makes a persuasive case that we can all do our bit to bring about success just by talking about the issue.

The rhino census (犀牛普查) is out, bearing good news for the greater one-horned rhinos! In September, 2022, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) documented in a report that there is a baby boom in this population, representing an increase of 167 percent.

According to the report, there are a total of 4,014 greater one-homed rhinos living m India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Although this is positive news, their IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) status still remains vulnerable.

In India alone, the home to 70 percent of the world's greater one-homed rhinos, there was an increase of 274 rhinos since the last bi-annual census, according to the organization Rhino Review.

An important reason for this baby boom is the fact that Assam, India, has enlarged Kaziringo National Park, home to the world's largest one-homed rhino population. The park went from 430 square kilometers to 1,040 square kilometers. This gives more breeding areas for the things, and they are closed to visitors during breeding season.

India and Nepal are also protecting the rhinos by enforcing wildlife crime laws. To reduce rhino death by poaching (偷猎), the IRF donates vehicles and equipment, plus education including guard training and crime investigation.

The IRF data for other rhino species is not as promising, although the greater one-horned rhino numbers are encouraging for future conservation. According to the report, there is a decline in Sumatran rhinos, Africa's white rhinos, while the Javan rhino population is stable and threatened by loss of habitat.

The State of the Rhino report offers hope for these other species. Given that the greater one-horned things were once close to extinction, with fewer than 100 living in the world, their recovery is incredible. This demonstrates that there are solutions when organizations and people work together. It is hoped that this successful rhino baby boom will affect other endangered wildlife species around the globe.