Topic Reading-Vol.4366-4/7/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Spain’s siestas-and-late-nights lifestyle is making some people unhappy. Here’s why

First, you may wonder why Spain’s time zone isn’t the same as the one in the UK but Germany despite the location. It is because in 1940, then the fascist leader, Francisco Franco, changed Spain’s time zone to Central European Time (CET) to be in line with Nazi Germany and its occupied lands. Second, Spaniards eat meals much later than others in European countries, with lunch around 2:00 pm and dinner around 10:00 pm. What time do they go to bed and how long do they sleep at night? Third, some Spaniards take an afternoon nap known as “Siesta.” It is a custom in the Mediterranean region like Italy where midday heat is so intense in the summer. In general, Spaniards sleep shorter than other Europeans, and their productivity lags behind others in Europe. People in Spanish seem to enjoy a very unique lifestyle.

Read the article and learn about Spain’s unique time zone and lifestyle.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/spain-late-night-culture-end/index.html

 

Topic Reading-Vol.4365-4/6/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,   

The world wastes more than 1 billion meals every day as hundreds of millions go hungry, UN report finds

There are a little over eight billion people living on the planet. Approximately one in every ten persons cannot eat enough food because of inequity and poverty, climate change and extreme weather conditions, and wars and conflicts. In the meanwhile, a significant amount, around 13% of the world’s food is lost during production, harvest, processing, and transportation. Also, over one billion tons of food is wasted by households, stores, restaurants, and other food services. Combined, around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. Theoretically, if all food produced is distributed properly and consumed, no one is hungry. At least, if we purchase, store, prepare, and consume food more wisely, we can reduce food waste, which would also reduce plant-heating emissions when discarded in landfills. So, why don’t we try cooking with what we have instead of making what we just want to eat.

Read the article and learn about how much food is lost and wasted in the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/27/climate/un-food-waste-one-billion-meals-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4364-4/5/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,   

Japan nappy maker shifts from babies to adults

Of Japan’s 124 million population, around 1.26 million are over 80 years old and 273,000 are over 90 years old. While the total population has been decreasing, the number of elderly people has been increasing. At some point in later life, many of these seniors start using diapers and keep using them for the rest of their lives for years or even longer than a decade. In the meanwhile, the number of newborn babies has been decreasing in Japan, and last year, there were only around 750,000 babies were born, a 5% decline from the previous year. Usually, babies need diapers only for two to three years. Accordingly, Japan’s nappy makers have been selling more adult diapers than those for babies in the last decade. Recently, one of the major nappy manufacturers announced that it would discontinue baby diapers and focus on adult diapers in Japan’s market. Indeed, businesses should be focused on the growing market, not the shrinking market. China and South Korea are no different from Japan in terms of declining birth rates and fast aging.

Read the article and learn about a radical market shift occurring in Japan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68672186

Topic Reading-Vol.4363-4/4/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,   

China is trying to connect Southeast Asia by high-speed rail. Here’s how that’s going

The 1,000-kilometer rail line, which links Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province to Vientiane, the capital of Laos was completed in December 2021. If you take the 8:08 am train at Kunming South Railway Station, you’ll get to Vientiane Station at around 5:38 pm. For Laos, an economically lagging small landlocked country, such a mega-infrastructure wouldn’t have been built without China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Although the number of Chinese tourists to Laos has been increasing since the opening of the high-speed train line, will the money spent by Chinese tourists and investments made by Chinese firms pay the toll? Furthermore, the high-speed railway is planned to be extended to Bangkok, Thailand, one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists. Then it is also projected to connect to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and finally to Singapore. This ambitious project isn’t just for tourism but it is thought to be part of the Road and Belt Initiative to expand China’s economic, cultural, and geopolitical influence over Southeast Asia. Since China already has the technology and know-how to build and operate the world’s most extensive high-speed railway network. it is certainly beneficial to have more sustainable transportation infrastructure in other countries of the region, whatever the intention might be.

Read the article and learn about high-speed railways in Southeast Asia.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/25/travel/china-south-east-asia-travel-train-infrastructure-intl-hnk/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4362-4/3/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Bottled water packed with nanoplastics, study finds

If particulate matter in the air smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) is inhaled, it penetrates deep into the lungs, increasing the risk of health problems like heart disease and asthma. So, what will happen if we take in small particles like microplastics from water? Microplastics are polymer fragments smaller than 5 millimeters, and nanoplastics are less than 1 micrometer in size or about 1,000^th of a human hair. Nanoplastics are small enough to migrate through the tissues into the bloodstream. New research found that there are as many as 240,000 micro and nano plastics in a liter of PET bottled water. Some of them come from leakage of the plastic bottle and others are created each time the bottle is opened, closed, or crushed. So, if you regularly consume PET bottled drinks, your body is accumulating tiny plastic particles that go into the bloodstream, then to organs and the brain. Doesn’t this sound scary?

Read the article and learn about what nanoplastics could do to our health.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/08/health/bottled-water-nanoplastics-study-wellness/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4361-4/2/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Chongqing lets farmers carry large baskets to market on subway line

With a population of around 17 million, Chongqing is one of the largest metropolitan cities in China. It serves as a center for finance in the Sichuan Basin and the upstream Yangtze, as well as for manufacturing and transportation. Passengers on Line 4, one of the nine subway lines in the city, may find farmers carrying large bamboo baskets filled with fresh vegetables even during rush hours. This allows the farmers to sell their produce at a higher price in the heart of the city than in the nearby villages of their farms. Also, city residents can get fresher vegetables at lower prices at the morning markets in the city center where farmers bring their produce on the early morning trains. It may look odd to see some passengers punching their PCs on their way to work while farmers carrying farm produce on the city subway, but it might be a new way to create a more sustainable and harmonic city life.

Read the article and learn about how Chongqing farmers use subways.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202403/25/WS6600d041a31082fc043be6ca.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4360-4/1/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The world’s 100 worst polluted cities are in Asia — and 83 of them are in just one country

Air pollution has a significant impact on our lives. Millions of people die each year from air pollution-related health issues. According to the Swiss air quality company IQAir, over 90% of cities analyzed worldwide didn’t meet WHO’s air quality standards. Outdoor air pollution is caused by combustion processes from motor vehicles, solid fuel burning, and industry. Another major source of air pollution especially in Southeast and South Asia is seasonal agricultural burning by farmers to remove crop residues left in the field after harvesting grains. Also, more wildfires have been occurring because of global warming and polluting air quality significantly especially in North America. In addition, cooking and heating with unclean fuel, such as firewood, charcoal, grasses, and animal dung create indoor pollution, which is no less harmful than outdoor air pollution. Which cities and countries have worse air pollution than others?

Read the article and learn about how badly air is polluted around the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/18/climate/air-pollution-report-2023-asia-climate-intl-hnk/index.html