The world has a poop problem. In the U.S., the challenge is biggest on farms: livestock produces more than a billion tons of solid waste a year, or roughly 87,000 pounds of shit a second. That’s more than 130 times greater than the amount of human waste that goes into sewers. Farm waste—especially on large industrial feedlots—often ends up polluting nearby drinking water and contributes to a significant chunk of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers at the University of California are working on turning piles of poo into something useful—fuel that can run in ordinary cars instead of gas. It’s carbon-neutral and renewable.
We might run out of oil, so we should run cars on poop
More of Today's Solutions
More US states and cities are boosting minimum wages in 2026. What does it me...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM As the federal minimum wage remains frozen at $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009, cities and states across ...
Read More3 organization hacks for Type B brains that actually work
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Scroll through any productivity blog or time-management book, and you’ll find a familiar formula: rigid routines, detailed planners, ...
Read MoreAn easy hack to counteract the harmful health effects of sitting all day
Humans are not designed to spend the entire day seated. Nonetheless, billions of us do it at least five days per week, as Western ...
Read MoreEnsuring no pet goes hungry: The rise of pet food banks in the UK
Pete Dolan, a cat owner, recalls the tremendous help he received from Animal Food Bank Support UK, a Facebook organization that coordinates volunteer community ...
Read More
