How can we ensure that our most precious natural sites such as lakes and mountains are spared from human pollution? One answer is giving lawful rights to them, something that recently happened in Toledo, Ohio where residents passed a bill that grants new rights to Lake Erie. In the last few years, Lake Erie has suffered from overwhelming algae blooms that are caused by nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. Sometimes it’s so bad that Toledo’s residents can’t use their tap water for days at a time. With the passing of a new bill, Lake Erie now has the right “to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve,” which gives environmentalists and stakeholders a legal option to protect a natural body when environmental regulations fail. Although this is a first in the US, similar laws recognizing the intrinsic rights of ecosystems have passed in Colombia, New Zealand, and India.
Lake Erie just became the first ecosystem in America to be granted rights
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
