The cover of H is for Hope by Elizabeth Kolbert We’ve talked before about Elizabeth Kolbert, a writer whose words have reshaped how many of us see the planet we inhabit, her voice, sharp and measured, carrying the weight of a climate in crisis. This week, I read her latest book, H Is for Hope, a brief but potent meditation on the precariousness of our existence. The audiobook, which I listened to, clocks in at just over ninety minutes, far shorter than Kolbert’s previous works, but that’s intentional. Ordinary citizens don’t need endless pages of data — we need to feel, to feel the crisis as something visceral, immediate. ...

Zizaige/自在阁 This vegetarian buffet is a celebration of traditional Chinese food, offering dozens of dishes, including Suzhou-style noodles and the hands-on fun of a DIY mini-hotpot called Ma La Tang (麻辣烫). Tofu strips and cucumbers Bitter melon stem lettuce Kidney beans and fried peanuts Long bean Tofu stew ...

Logo of Ru I’m here to review Ru (茹), also known as Pure Vegan, a vegan restaurant in Shanghai, which I visited with members of Plant Futures DKU on a crisp Monday in December 2025. But before I tell you about the restaurant, I want to talk about what makes a meal meaningful. Humans have been gathering around food since we first learned to control fire. There’s something almost sacred about sharing a meal, not just in the way conversations unfold between bites, or how stories taste better when seasoned with good company, but in its unique power to open hearts and minds. A meal is more than sustenance; it’s a moment of connection, a chance to reflect, and sometimes, an invitation to imagine living differently. ...

Photo by amine photographe Last weekend, I introduced Elizabeth Kolbert, one of my favorite climate and environmental writers. This week, I’d like to recommend David Wallace-Wells, the author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. This book really opened my eyes to just how serious the challenges of climate change are. The idea of more than 2 degrees of warming by 2100 is grim, but I appreciate what David said in an interview: ...

I’m starting a new weekend tradition of recommending authors and articles that spark curiosity and reflection on our world’s future. Iceberg in Greenland. Photo by Jean-Christophe André This week, I recommend Elizabeth Kolbert’s When the Arctic Melts from The New Yorker. (Link to the Internet Archive) Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History and Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, has a gift for exploring humanity’s impact on the natural world. Her writing combines scientific insight with moments of unexpected humor and hope. ...

🙏 Acknowledgement I recently came across a thought-provoking post by Benjamin Hilton of 80,000 Hours on the Effective Altruism Forum. The post provides a detailed overview of the immense harm caused by factory farming. Below is an excerpt highlighting some of the most shocking facts about the industry. For detailed references, please refer to the original article. A pig confined to a pen. Photo by Matthias Zomer on Pexels. ...

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🙏 Acknowledgement This essay by George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, is part of his book This Can’t Be Happening, a collection of his writings on environmental issues. It was first published in The Guardian on 20 December 2017 and later posted on the author’s website. We are grateful to Monbiot for allowing us to translate it to Chinese and republish his essay here. 💡 Due to copyright reasons, please check the full original text at The Guardian. ...

🙏 Acknowledgement This essay by George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, is part of his book This Can’t Be Happening, a collection of his writings on environmental issues. We are grateful to Monbiot for allowing us to translate it to Chinese and republish his essay here. We Can Stop the First Great Extermination George Monbiot October 2019 The Launch of Animal Rebellion, Smithfield Market, London I have spent my life learning and unlearning. We cannot navigate the world in which we live without unlearning some of its deepest myths. ...

A few weeks ago, we were invited to suggest vegan recipes for this year’s Thanksgiving menu for our canteen. Marseille Williamson shared some excellent recipes, which I translated into Chinese and sent to the canteen. Although I didn’t receive any response, the recipes are still worth trying. Here, I’m sharing the summarized versions, along with links to the original English recipes for reference. Note: Recipe images are not provided here due to copyright considerations. ...