December 28, 2020
Did you know we lose 2,000 football fields of agricultural land every hour to desertification? Today we are re-sharing our interview Ole-Kristian Sivertsen, CEO of Desert Control, talking about his mission to save our soil with liquid nanoclay. Listen to The Optimist Daily Update with Summers & Read More...
8 simple ways to run a more eco-friendly kitchen
From opting for clean energy to supporting climate activist groups, there are so many ways you can help the world become a more sustainable place. But if you don’t really know where to begin, the kitchen is a good place to start introducing more eco-friendly practices in your life. Having that in Read More...
Green burial: This mushroom-based coffin decomposes in the earth
In the Spring of 2019, we shared news out of Washington state where lawmakers officially approved an eco-friendly alternative to burial or cremation: human composting. With human composting, human remains are turned into soil, which can then be used to grow trees. This is a much greener option when Read More...
Dr. Jane Goodall on Hopes For The Future Of The Planet
2020 has been in some ways a grand study on humankind's impact on the natural world. As countries, business, and transportation networks were forced to come to a halt, we saw species rebound, air get cleaner, and people reconnect with the value of the natural world. Looking forward, we can take Read More...
Motion sensor uses AI to recognize when wildlife is running from poachers
Scientists at the University of Twente in the Netherlands are mixing motion sensors with machine learning to create a powerful tool that could help combat wildlife poaching. Motion sensors have already given conservationists the ability to track the whereabouts of endangered animals, but this new Read More...
Too Good to Go connects restaurants with customers to prevent food waste
Since it’s virtually impossible to know exactly how much food they will sell on a day-to-day basis, many restaurants and grocery stores are usually left with excess food at the end of the day – most of which ends up getting tossed. Too Good to Go is an app that aims to prevent this by Read More...
Only in Japan: These transparent public toilets turn opaque when in use
Japan is quite famous for its elaborate toilets, which can exhibit features such as bidet washing, drying, seat warming, and even deodorization. Now Japan is adding to its reputation for unique toilets after installing public toilet cubicles around Tokyo that are transparent. What? Transparent Read More...
Smart urban design is the best defense we have against future pandemics
Throughout history, disease outbreaks have forced new innovations in urban design: Fighting cholera epidemics in the 1800s, for example, necessitated the building of new plumbing and sewer systems and the devising of new zoning laws to prevent overcrowding. As the new coronavirus lays bare the need Read More...
This is how Oslo cut pedestrian and cyclist deaths to zero
In an effort to make the city center free of cars, over the last few years, Norway’s capital of Oslo has been busy replacing nearly all street-side parking spots with bike lanes and sidewalks. The result? Last year, the city recorded zero pedestrian or cyclist deaths, bringing the capital in line Read More...
20 years on, the world’s biggest trash dump is now a green oasis
In its heyday, the Fresh Kills trash dump on Staten Island was one of the world’s great eyesores. Imagine New York’s Central Park with trash mounds 20 stories high. Now imagine that times three. That’s how bad it was. By the late 1970s, an estimated 28,000 tons of trash arrived at Fresh Read More...