Today’s Solutions: October 22, 2026

Los Angeles-based Local Roots’ three farms are no ordinary farms. They’re not even outside — but inside three small shipping containers. The startup uses vertical hydroponic farming, a method where plants grow year-round with LEDs rather than natural sunlight.  Instead of soil, the seeds lie on trays with nutrient-rich water, stacked from the floor to the ceilings inside the shipping containers. The containers live inside Local Roots’ warehouse in California. Local Roots’ farms save both land and water, Director of Social Enterprise Allison Towle tells…

Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

How kites and ancient design are replacing fuel in Antarctic exploration

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The last time a team completed a comparable crossing of Antarctica's interior, they burned through roughly 170,000 liters ...

Read More

Is this nut the most underrated sleepy-time snack? Here’s what the slee...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You're doing everything right at bedtime: you stay away from screens after nine, take a soothing dark shower, ...

Read More

Earthworms: a natural solution to farms’ wastewater

Royal Dairy in Royal City, Washington has a problem that's common to dairy farms. The hundreds of millions of gallons of water used by ...

Read More

How Swim Sista Swim Is Redefining Water Confidence for Black Women in the UK

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Language, Identity & Belonging Welcome to the second week of The Optimist Daily’s Annual Local Changemakers series. Each ...

Read More