OPTIMIST VIEW: Living while dying - Notes from the resistance
“It's precisely because we’re finite that life is so sweet.” - Sheldon Solomon By Kristy Jansen Last month I got the opportunity to meet Ady Barkan, a progressive activist who’s become one of the most powerful voices in the fight to move the United States to a universal healthcare Read More...
Australian hospital receives record number of donations to save koalas from extinction
With Australia experiencing a record-breaking drought and harsh bushfires, koala populations have dwindled along with their habitat, leaving them “functionally extinct”. In a bid to save and rehabilitate the injured animals, an Australian koala hospital managed to raise over $1 million from Read More...
Community parks: Just what the doctor ordered
We know that increased time outdoors improves physical and mental health, yet the average American still spends 93% of their day indoors. Doctors have been telling patients to spend more time outdoors for decades, but now, some doctors are going as far as writing prescriptions for outdoor Read More...
If you want to live in this Arizona community, you’ll have to ditch your car
Try and imagine your life without a car. No noisy engines, no busy asphalt streets, your grocery store within walking distance. This is the vision for Culdesac Tempe, a new development slated for 2020 in the fast-growing outskirts of Phoenix. The project will house 1,000 people, all without cars. Read More...
Why winter sunsets are best, according to a meteorologist
With the days becoming shorter and shorter, the people over at Vox started noticing that the sunsets at their office in Washington DC were becoming more beautiful. This made them beg the question: Is it possible that late fall and winter sunsets are just ... better? As it turns out, sunsets are, Read More...
What we can learn about perspective from a humanitarian worker in Yemen
Yemen is home to arguably the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. Civil war continues to rage on since its beginning in 2015, and a majority of the 30 million citizens of Yemen are suffering from malnutrition. In short, Yemen is really not the place one would go looking for optimism, or even Read More...
The Paris Aquarium is rescuing and providing refuge to unwanted goldfish
Lurking in the depths of a 40,000-liter fish tank within the Paris Aquarium is an unlikely sight—one that many visitors might be surprised to see. The freshwater tank is just one of several that house the aquarium’s growing population of goldfish. Over the past few years, the aquarium has Read More...
JUST Capital releases list of 2020’s most just companies
Where you spend your money sends a message about the companies you support, so how do the companies you buy from stack up in terms of corporate ethics? What corporate actions are most important to you? JUST Capital, an organization dedicated to monitoring and assessing corporate behavior, Read More...
Creating pockets of air within concrete fixtures can slash building emissions
The production of concrete is one of the biggest sources of emissions in the world, so anything done to reduce the production of it is a win for the environment. In Germany, architects have come up with a clever way to use less concrete in buildings by incorporating air pockets made of recycled Read More...
5 ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables
As we all know, the vitamins and minerals packed in fruit and vegetables are essential for a healthy lifestyle. It’s easy for us adults to comprehend this, but as a child silky chocolate bar and crunchy chicken nuggets seem a lot more appealing than ‘yucky’ broccoli. So how do you convince Read More...