Caroline Solomon was on her high school's swim team. But at times she could not go into the creek（小溪）near her home. It was simply too polluted. "I decided I wanted to do something about it，"she recalls. So she studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University in Cambridge. Later，she went to graduate school. Some of her classes could be challenging，though，since she couldn't hear her teachers. "I've been deaf since I was 15 months old，"Solomon notes.

Today she teaches biology at Gallaudet University in Washington，DC. She has no trouble communicating with her students. They，too，are primarily deaf or hard of hearing. That's why all classes at Gallaudet are taught in American Sign Language. Solomon also has an active life outside the classroom. She especially enjoys hiking，biking and other activities with her family.

Her research takes her to the Anacostia River. "It is very close to Gallaudet，and I easily bring my students there，"she says. Water running through local forests and marshes drains into this river，so does water running off urban streets，golf courses and industrial sites." The river's watershed（流域）kind of concentrates all the things that happen when humans mess with the natural landscape，"she explains. Not surprisingly，this river has developed a reputation for being quite polluted.

Solomon has been focusing on how pollutants affect tiny organisms that form the base of the river's food web. "I am now looking at the bacteria population，" she says，"to see what types there are."

Solomon wants to see more students who are deaf or have other disabilities make a difference in environmental science and other fields. As she often says, "If I can do it, you can do it."

   Many people would like to change various things in their life in order to be more eco-friendly. 【小题1】 They range from changing their jobs to their vehicles and even their homes. In what follows, I am going to talk about the most energy-efficient（节能的）small green homes. Keep on reading, as this article is very useful if you would like to change your home into a more eco-friendly one.

【小题2】 This happens because a green home will contain green devices（设备）which need alternative sources of energy such as solar power and wind power. They do not pollute the atmosphere as much as the regular sources of energy. 【小题3】 The process of installing them is kind of expensive but in the long term, it will save you a lot of money.

【小题4】 It will be made out of recyclable and renewable materials. For example, the furniture will be made out of bamboo instead of materials which take years to grow. This means that there is not a risk of them to be used up as in the case of certain types of wood or other materials.

A green house will be decorated by using non-toxic（无毒的）materials. 【小题5】 They contain harmful chemicals which can be dangerous, but the most energy-efficient small green homes do not have this problem.

   Ryan Hickman is only seven years old, but he’s already been saving for his college fund with profits he’s making from his recycling business.

When Ryan was three-and-a-half, he went with his dad to the local recycling center and made money from a few bags of cans and bottles. When he learned money can be made from that, Ryan decided recycling was his future.

“We had gone to the center with a couple of bags, and he really loved the actual act of putting all the cans and bottles into the machine and getting the money from it, and that kind of act got him hooked, ” described Damion Hickman, Ryan’s father.

Ryan told his parents that he wanted to give empty plastic bags to all the neighbors and hoped they would save their recyclables for him. Not only did the neighbors save their cans and bottles for Ryan but so did their co-workers, families, and friends. Soon after, Ryan started his own business, Ryan’s Recycling, and has since recycled over 200,000 cans and bottles. Every week, he and his family sort through bags of recyclables and they take them to the local recycling center where they are sorted and weighed.

So far, Ryan has saved more than $ 10,000 for college from his profits and he also sells T-shirts on his website and donates the profits to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. “For the sea lions to get food and medicine,” he said.

Ryan has an important message for everyone, “If you already recycle, just keep on recycling. If you don’t recycle, start recycling.” Always a great businessman, Ryan added, “If you want to buy one of these T-shirts, it’s $ 13 on ryansreecycling.com.”

Who is willing to drink the polluting water? It can cause us to be ill but even to die. We can’t wait for the moment to protect our water sources. The water we use coming from the ocean, lakes, rivers or streams. But many of these water sources are getting serious polluted. Towns and cities pump sewage（污水）into the water. Many people are throwing all kinds dirty things into the water. Factories poured waste material into the water. Therefore, water sources have become so badly polluted that some of the water is fit to drink or use it. Now it is high time when we should do something to protect our water environment from being polluted.