Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
A distillery in California is making carbon-negative spirits
Do you ever think about how your happy hour is affecting the environment? Manufacturing alcohol in the United States creates harmful carbon dioxide that can wreck the earth’s system of natural resources, and a massive amount of the materials needed to package and distribute alcohol (bottles, Read More...
As prices decline, vegan clothing looks to go mainstream
When it comes to plant-based or vegan clothing, people tend to think it’s all overpriced. That’s not so surprising considering brands like Bhava in Italy are selling vegan lace-up shoes at $149, which doesn’t make the wallet all too happy. But more and more vegan brands are popping up that Read More...
Why more companies should provide employees with caregiving benefits
When a loved one becomes seriously ill or injured, people often have to take time off from work to either take care of them or to find their loved one a health center where caregivers can look after them. You can imagine the stress that comes with this, not to mention the costs of having to take Read More...
For every item bought, Etsy will offset emissions from shipping free of charge
Online shopping may be a heck of a lot more convenient than heading to a brick-and-mortar shop, but it comes at the expense of the environment. Think about it: every item you buy online requires plastic packaging and needs to be shipped to your doorstep, which automatically creates emissions from Read More...
IBM has come up with a quick way to recycle all kinds of plastic
The problem with recycling is quite straightforward: only a small percentage of the plastic items we throw away are recyclable. Some items such as plastic bottles can easily be repurposed, but others that use different assortment of plastic or have special coatings cannot. New solutions are needed Read More...
Video games could help increase productivity and motivation in the workplace
Studies have previously shown that video games can benefit players by indulging their brains in constant stimulation and thus improve their cognitive capacities. But more recently, researchers have found that collaborative video games which require a group effort to overcome problems and challenges Read More...
Investors are putting millions of dollars into companies that fight food waste
Every year, roughly one third – or 1.4 billion tons – of the food produced in the world for human consumption ends up in landfills. By some estimates, this adds up to nearly $1 trillion of annual squander and the production of nearly 8 percent of human-caused greenhouse gases. And while Read More...
This program is helping skilled refugees in Jordan and Lebanon find jobs abroad
Many refugees in Lebanon are skilled professionals in one field or the other, and yet, they still have to rely on humanitarian aid. An international organization by the name of Talent Beyond Boundaries thinks that’s crazy (we do too), which is why they created a platform that connects refugees Read More...
This web search engine uses its ad-revenues to plant millions of trees globally
Looking for an easy way to fight climate change? Here's a simple one: the next time you need to search for something on the internet, use Ecosia – a search engine company that uses at least 80 percent of its ad-generated profits to plant millions of trees around the world. The small Read More...
If climate change can’t stop restaurants from wasting food, this study might
By one estimate, restaurants in the US alone throw out somewhere between 22 billion to 33 billion pounds of food—a jaw-dropping amount to say the least. And while the environmental impact that food waste causes isn’t stopping restaurants from throwing food into the dumpster, the results of a Read More...