線上雙語知識平台

提及北京，除了長城和天安門，廣為人知的還有困擾其多年的重度霧霾。

在北京霧霾最為嚴重的那幾年（2012-2016），小編恰好在北京讀大學。在秋冬季節，常能看到灰白甚至泥土色的天空，空氣中的煙燻味和硫磺味，連室內都能聞到。在嚴重的霧霾天出門後回到家，用濕紙巾擦臉，紙巾上盡是一片黑，鼻子就更不用說了。記憶最深的一次，莫過於一連好多天，窗外都是混沌的泥黃色，分不出到底是日間什麼時分。室友叫的外賣，也看不清外賣小哥在哪裡。同學笑稱，上個大學不容易，熬到畢業分分鐘肺都黑了。

2013年，北京僅僅連續87天沒有PM2.5重污染。

7年後，小編在2020年的冬季重返了一次北京。那一週裡北京每天都是萬里晴空（見下圖），空氣質量也明顯變好。經過這幾年來政府嚴格限制煤炭消費以及關停重污染工廠、環境監測技術的應用、PM2.5來源的解析等等一系列措施，北京的藍天終於變得更多了。2020年，北京連續322天無PM2.5重污染。同時，北京全年“好天”比2019年又多了36天。

這些經驗顯然值得其他發展中國家的一些城市參考。不過，根據北京市生態環境監測中心主任劉保獻在接受中新社專訪時提到，“京津冀區域的污染量在全國都是最高的，單位國土面積燃煤排放量是全國的四倍。雖然各個方面污染物排放有降低，但總的來講，城市降得多，農村降得少；2月份是采暖季，有大量供暖需求；輕工業停得多，重工業停得少，重工業比如鋼鐵、玻璃、焦炭這部分基本上沒有停。”

大氣治理是非常複雜的系統性、社會性的問題。取得了階段性進步值得高興，但未來的路仍不能鬆懈。在許多方面，例如如何協調城市和農鄉不一致的環保動機，成功將環保意識深入到各民眾階層，以及鼓勵企業去切實行動，政府仍有很多工作要帶頭做。願北京能像曾經的伦敦一樣，漸漸甩掉霧霾之城的帽子。

參考文章：中国焦点面对面：北京的蓝天是如何多起来的？https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/WPoQKakIN83wsN2d0wbFtw

【Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action】

When it comes to Beijing, in addition to the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square, it is known for the heavy smog that has plagued it for many years.

During the most severe years of smog in Beijing (2012-2016), the editor had been studying at an university in Beijing. During autumn and winter, the sky was often grayish and even earthy, and the smell of smoke and sulfur in the air can be smelled even indoors. On a severe smog day, the editor wiped her face with a wet tissue after going out, and the tissue was filled with black dust. It was the same in the nose. The most striking memory for the editor was that for many days in a row, the outside environment was covered in muddy yellow air, and she couldn’t tell what time it was in the day. Her roommate ordered the food delivery and couldn’t see where the delivery person was. Her classmate joked that going to university was not easy as students risking the health of their lungs by living in Beijing.

In 2013, for only 87 consecutive days, Beijing had no heavy PM2.5 pollution.

Seven years since then, the editor returned to Beijing in the winter of 2020. During that week, Beijing had clear sky every day (see the pictures below), and the air quality was obviously much better. Over the past few years, the government has strictly restricted coal consumption and shut down heavily polluting factories, and the environmental monitoring technologies were applied in different areas of the city, along with the analysis of PM2.5 sources and other measures. Finally, Beijing has seen more “blue sky” than before. In 2020, for 322 consecutive days, Beijing had no heavy PM2.5 pollution. In addition, Beijing had 36 more “good weather” throughout the year than in 2019.

These experiences are obviously worthy of reference for some cities in other developing countries. However, according to Liu Baoxian, director of the Beijing Municipal Ecological Environment Monitoring Center, “The pollution level in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is the highest in the country, and the coal emission per unit area is four times that of the country. Pollutant emissions in all aspects have been reduced, but in general, the urban area has dropped much, and the rural area has dropped less; February is the heating season, and there is a large demand for heating; industries with light pollution were halted more than industries with heavy pollution, and heavy industries such as steel, glass and coke have not been shut down.” He mentioned in an exclusive interview with China News Agency.

Air pollution is a very complex systemic and social issue. The staged progress is worthy of noting, but there is still a long road ahead. In many aspects, such as how to coordinate the inconsistent environmental protection motives between cities and rural areas, successfully spread the awareness of environmental protection to all people, and encourage enterprises to take concrete actions, the government still has a lot to lead. Hopefully Beijing can gradually get rid of its hat of a smog city, just like how London did before.

Reference:

中国焦点面对面：北京的蓝天是如何多起来的？https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/WPoQKakIN83wsN2d0wbFtw

如何在保留歷史遺跡和滿足現代城市發展需求之間取得良好平衡？巴塞羅那的這個舊建築再利用向我們展示了一個創新的例子。

[Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities]

How to strike a good balance between preserving historical sites and meeting the needs of modern urban development? The reuse of this old building in Barcelona gives us an innovative example.

在挪威，電動汽車佔本地上一年所有新車銷量54.3%，成為世界上第一個電動汽車銷量超過汽油、柴油和混合動力汽車加總的國家！當地政府把電動汽車全部免徵稅款，在政策上大力推動使用清潔能源。

[Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable clean energy ]

In Norway, electric vehicles accounted for 54.3% of all new car sales in the country last year, becoming the first country in the world where the sales of electric vehicles surpassed gasoline, diesel and hybrid vehicles combined! The national government has promoted the use of clean energy in its policies with great effort by exempting all electric vehicles from taxation.

不知道大家還否記得之前提過的「EU Green Deal」。「Farm to Fork Strategy」是「EU Green Deal」的核心，旨在使糧食系統變得公平、健康和環保。

「Farm to Fork Strategy」主要集中在四個部分：

1. 可持續的食品生產

2. 可持續的食品加工和銷售

3. 可持續的食品消費

4. 防止食物損失和浪費

它將幫助我們改變糧食的生產、分配和消費方式，從農場到餐桌，建立可持續的農業食品系統。

以下是一段關於這個策略的影片。

[Information related to Sustainable Development]

Do you still remember the EU Green Deal that was mentioned earlier? The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the European Green Deal aiming to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly.

The Farm to Fork Strategy focuses on four main parts:

1. Sustainable Food Production

2. Sustainable Food Processing and Distribution

3. Sustainable Food Consumption

4. Food Loss and Waste Prevention

It will help us change the way our food is produced, distributed and consumed, from farm to our table, creating a sustainable agri-food systems.

Here is a video about this strategy.

影片中提及了2021年的十個危機，小編決定說說動盪數十年的阿富汗的一些重點：

阿富汗 在遜尼派伊斯蘭原教旨主義武裝組織塔利班統治下的阿富汗為9/11恐襲者提供庇護，美國及其北約（NATO)盟友就捲入了長達18年的戰爭，遲遲無法消除塔利班的勢力。

在2014年，因為持續的戰爭，北約結束作戰任務，國家處於動盪，阿富汗政府與塔利班持續出現糾紛，塔利班的勢力不斷擴大。

最終，和平對話展開，美國與北約承諾會在2021年5月前從阿富汗撤兵，但是這都在於三方（美國、阿富汗政府以及塔利班的妥協態度）。譬如，塔利班近期多了一些侵略性行為及攻擊。其中一個原因是阿富汗政府與塔利班之間的囚犯交換被延緩了，而導致塔利班不滿。

因此，美國的突然撤軍可能破壞阿富汗政府的穩定，並可能導致擴大的多黨內戰。但是，美國軍隊延長逗留在阿富汗的話，可能會促使塔利班放棄會談並強化其軍事行動。美國總統拜登曾表示想保留幾千名反恐軍人在阿富汗區域。2021年將會是解決阿富汗危機的關鍵年份。

當然，另外的國家危機亦值得我們關注，例如最近陷入內戰的埃塞俄比亞，導致在國家內強迫遷移的人口達到一百萬，5萬人逃離到鄰近蘇丹。

[Sustainable Development Goal 16: 和平與公義］️

According to the International Crisis Group’s prediction, not only will 2021 welcome more economic problems, leading to the deterioration of existing conflicts worldwide, some regions will also be more persistently susceptible to severe crises.

The video mentions 10 crises in 2021. The editor decides to talk about Afghanistan, which has been affected by decades of instability.

Afghanistan Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist militant group, provided refuge to the 9/11 terrorist attackers. The United States and her NATO allies were involved in an 18-year war and have been unable to eliminate the Taliban’s influence.

In 2014, because of the ongoing war, NATO ended combat missions. With the Afghan government and the Taliban’s continued disputes, the country was in turmoil, and the Taliban’s power continued to expand.

In the end, peace talks began, and the United States and NATO promised to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by May 2021, but it all depends on the three parties (the compromise attitude of the United States, the Afghan government, and the Taliban). For example, the Taliban have engaged in more aggressive behaviors and attacks recently. One of the reasons is that the prisoner exchange between the Afghan government and the Taliban has been delayed, which has caused dissatisfaction with the Taliban.

Therefore, the sudden withdrawal of US troops may destabilize the Afghan government and may lead to an expanded multi-party civil war. However, the extension of the US military’s stay in Afghanistan may prompt the Taliban to abandon the talks and strengthen their military operations. US President Biden has expressed his desire to keep thousands of anti-terrorist force in Afghanistan. 2021 will be a critical year to resolve the crisis in Afghanistan.

Of course, other national crises are also worthy of our attention. For example, Ethiopia, which has recently fallen into a civil war, has led to the forced displacement of one million people within the country and 50,000 people have fled to neighboring Sudan.

垃圾分類都有講究！下圖話你知有邊啲物品可回收 ，邊啲唔可以

請勿忘記清洗和壓縮回收物喔

【Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production】

There’s a lot to learn about waste classification! The following pictures show which items can be recycled , and which can not

Please don’t forget to clean and compress the recyclables

1.Factfullness，中文譯本叫《事實》。作者： Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund 和 Ola Rosling. 一本可以重塑對世界認知的書。想要一個基於事實的世界觀？看這本書就對了。

2.How will you measure your life《你要如何衡量你的人生？》。作者Clayton Christensen。是否會常覺得人生很迷茫，也常對生活感到困惑？這本不是一般的雞湯，而是給年輕人的指南。作者在哈佛任教幾十年，見證了許多哈佛學生的人生。他總結出的一些道理並不深奧，但值得終身實踐。

3.The Moon and Six Pence 《月亮與六便士》。作者毛姆。如果您喜歡思考人性，也有自己的理想，那這本書值得一讀再讀。毛姆筆下對人性的刻畫讓許多讀者敬佩不已。作為經典的讀物，它值得珍藏。

4.The Moment of Lift 《女性的時刻》。作者Melinda Gates。許多從事發展援助事業或者在特別貧窮地區生活過的人也許對於書中的描述並不陌生，內容不算深，卻從不同視角、故事反映了女性的身分、自我認知和能迸發的力量。是一本讓人感慨的書，也是想了解性別平等必看的書。

5.Poor economics《貧窮的本質》。作者Abhijit V. Banerjee和 Esther Duflo。貧窮到底意味著什麼？窮人是如何決策？什麼樣的舉措可以大大改善窮人的經濟水平？兩位麻省理工學院的教授通過多年的研究，探尋貧窮真正的根源。這些發現都給了當代發展援助工作者以及希望脫貧的人重要的指導。

想要電影或者紀錄片推薦清單嗎？記得在下面留言哦～

[Editor’s pick] Do you have new year resolution for 2021?

Wanna read more books to nourish the inner world?

The editor has compiled this mini booklist, and hope they can bring you strength in 2021.

1. <Factfullness>, by Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling. It is a book that can reshape your view on the current world. Want a world view based on facts? Just read this book.

2. <How will you measure your life> by Clayton Christensen. Do you often feel lost and sometimes confused about life in general? This book is not the typical pep talk book, but a guide for young people. The author has taught at Harvard for decades and has witnessed the lives of many Harvard students. Some of the truths he summarized are not hard to understand, and are worthy of lifelong practice.

3. <The Moon and Six Pence> by Maugham. If you like to think about human nature and have your own ideals, then this book is worth reading over and over again. Many readers admire Maugham’s depiction of human nature. As a classic book, it is worth collecting.

4. <The Moment of Lift> by Melinda Gates. People who are engaged in development assistance cause or have lived in extremely poor areas may not feel surprised about the descriptions in the book. The content is not too deep, but it reflects women’s identity, self-awareness, and the great power generated from empowerment. It is a a must-read book to understand gender equality.

5. <Poor economics> by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo. What does poverty mean? How do the poor make decisions? What measures can greatly improve the economic situation of the poor? Two MIT professors had explored the true root of poverty through years of research. These findings have given important guidance to development aid workers and those who wish to escape poverty.

Do you want a recommended list of movies or documentaries? Feel free to leave a comment below~

台灣最近建立的「永續材料圖書館」提供「線上」和「實體」永續材料資料，有助推廣️循環經濟，增加材料循環度，減少對生態圈的破壞。

循環經濟是在不破壞生態圈的前提下，通過減緩、封閉與縮小物質與能量循環，使得資源的投入與廢棄、排放達成減量化的目標，而同時又是滿足人類需求及公平地分配資源的新經濟模式。

願世界有更多這樣子的創新想法及行動！

[Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production]

Taiwan’s recently established “Sustainable Materials Library” provides information on sustainable materials through both “online” and “physical” channels, which helps promote circular economy, increase material recycling, and reduce damage to the ecosystem.

Circular economy is to reduce, close and minimize the material and energy cycle without destroying the ecological circle, so that the allocation and abandonment of resources as well as emission can be reduced, while meeting human needs and achieve fair allocation of resources as the new economic model.

May the world have more innovative ideas and actions like this!