《國家地理》雜誌在去年對全世界發問：
我們究竟是藍色地球還是塑料星球？
面對正在毀滅地球的塑料垃圾
各個國家想盡辦法付諸行動
今天讓我們來看看他們是怎麼變廢為寶的！
Initiative /ɪˈnɪʃətɪv/: 倡議
Raise awareness: 提高意識
Resort to: to do something bad, extreme, or difficult because you cannot think of any other way to deal with a problem （沒有辦法）只能依靠...
One school in India made its students pay their 「school fees」 by collecting, bringing to school, and recycling plastic waste that was lying across the town. This type of initiative helped raise awareness about plastic waste in Asian countries. It also allowed more students to seek education and even helped the students to earn some money by recycling the plastic so they wouldn’t have to resort to child labor in order to survive.
在印度，有一所學校可以用塑料垃圾抵學費！這樣的方式可能聽起來有點不可思議，但卻造福了許多印度當地的小朋友，他們不僅有機會接受教育，還能通過撿垃圾賺取了一些生活費，再也不用像以前一樣當童工來維持生計。
If concern over the climate crisis or revulsion over the contamination of the food chain are not enough to change consumer behavior, one grocery store is hoping that another emotion may persuade people to shun single-use plastic bags: shame.
再怎麼提倡大家出門自己帶環保袋都沒有用，加拿大的一家雜貨店採取了一種特別的方法說服大家——利用人們的羞恥感！
Customers who don’t bring their own bags to the East West Market in Vancouver will instead have to carry their groceries home in bags reading 「Wart Ointment Wholesale」 or 「Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium」.
來店裡購物，如果你沒有帶自己的袋子來裝東西，那你就要被迫帶著印有「去疣藥膏批發」或「詭異成人影片專門店」的塑膠袋回家，在大街上拿著這樣的塑膠袋，想想路人的眼神就覺得害怕...
Kwen admits there may have been an unintended consequence to the bags: 「Some of the customers want to collect them because they love the idea of it,」 he said. But he still believes the plan is working. 「Even if you have the bag, you have to explain its origin to your friends. And then, we』ve started a conversation.」
即便你並不覺得羞恥，依然大大方方地帶著它，那你也必須不斷地向他人解釋這個袋子的環保由來，這未必不是一種傳播環保理念的方式。
Tokyo Olympics organizers earlier announced their gold, silver, and bronze medals would be made of discarded electronic devices. Now they are going a step further.
東京奧運會非常注重環保，之前就宣布了明年所使用的金牌、銀牌和銅牌都要用廢棄的電子材料製作，現在他們又有了新動作。
The podiums that athletes will mount to receive their medals next year in Tokyo will be made primarily of recycled household plastics. Tokyo organizers say using recycled materials for the medals and the podiums is a first for an Olympics.
連運動員的頒獎臺都要用回收的塑料垃圾做，這在奧運會中史無前例！
Utensil /juːˈtensl/: 用具
Suck in: 吸入
Mesh unit: 網狀結構
Invented by two Aussie surfers, the Seabin is pretty much exactly what you think: it’s a large flowerpot-shaped container that captures everything from plastic bottles, bags and utensils, as well as trash as small as 2mm. A pump at the bottom of the bin sucks in water and rubbish, which are then separated by a mesh unit inside. The water is then released, while the trash is recycled.
兩位澳大利亞的衝浪愛好者發明了一種「海上垃圾桶」，這個物體乍一看跟我們平時的地面垃圾桶沒有什麼區別，但是裡面卻藏有機關：垃圾桶底部的泵可以吸入水和垃圾，接著內部的網狀結構會將它們分離，最終水被排出，大海中的垃圾輕鬆回收。
According to the Seabin website, each bin can catch 90,000 plastic bags a year, nearly 36,000 disposable cups, 16,500 plastic bottles and 166,500 plastic utensils. There are over 700 Seabins located around the world, with many concentrated along the coasts of European countries.
根據資料顯示，每個海上垃圾桶平均每年可以回收9萬個塑膠袋，3.6萬個一次性紙杯，1.65萬個塑料瓶，16.65萬其它塑料用品，這些都對海洋垃圾的清理大有益處。當然，我們還是要從根本解決問題，減少使用塑料製品，禁止往海裡丟垃圾！
Kayak /ˈkaɪæk/: 皮艇
Along the way: 沿途
To bring awareness to the problem of water pollution, Greenkayak, a Denmark-based environmental group, is letting travelers kayak for free on a number of Europe’s rivers and lakes—as long as they pick up any garbage they find along the way, which is a lot less disgusting than it sounds.
只要你願意拾起沿途看到的海上垃圾，就可以免費劃皮艇遊歐洲，天底下竟然有這麼好的事！其實，這是一個總部位於丹麥環保組織舉行的環保活動～
Since the program began in April 2017, Greenkayakers have collected nearly 24,000 pounds of trash—including plastic bags, bottles, lighters, shoes, and tote bags—from European waterways.
自2017年開展以來，這個活動共收集了近2.4萬磅（約1萬公斤）垃圾。欣賞沿途的風景，還可以為世界環保做一份貢獻，真的是一舉兩得！
這些看似簡單的舉動，
體現的是大家環保的真心。
「不要等到人類滅亡後，
只有塑料證明人類來過！」