Corporate Social Responsibility
Keeping up with the latest news in all four corporate social responsibility categories: environment, human rights, philanthropy, and economic responsibility.
Chile’s maternity leave expansion led to a three-year employment boost
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In October 2011, Chile extended postnatal leave from 12 to 24 weeks for women contributing to the country’s social security system. The reform also introduced five days of paid paternity leave. A study published this year by economist Francisca Read More...
Julie and Kariba: two elephants getting a second chance in Portugal
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Kariba has lived alone in a Belgian zoo for years. Julie has been with the Cardinali circus in Portugal since 1988, when she was caught in the wild and sold to a German zoo before the family acquired her. Both are African elephants in their 40s. And both are Read More...
Minnesota just banned the apps that make deepfake nudes
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Two years ago, Molly Kelley found out that a close family friend had used a nudification website to make nonconsensual deepfake images of her and dozens of other women. About 80 women in Minnesota were affected by the same person. When she tried to figure out Read More...
How Paraguay cut its poverty rate from over 50 to 16 percent in two decades
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 2005, more than half of Paraguay’s population lived in poverty. By 2025, that share had fallen to 16 percent. A third of the country’s population crossed that threshold over two decades; around 300,000 more did so in just the last two years. A World Read More...
Gaza sisters turn rubble into bricks to rebuild their community
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The house Tala and Farah Mousa were living in was bombed. So they looked at the rubble and started asking what it could become. Their answer is Build Hope, Palestine: a way to turn debris from damaged buildings into reusable blocks. Crushed and sieved Read More...
A 58-day protest campaign just convinced Etsy to ban fur
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade did not simply write a letter. For 58 days, CAFT ran protests at Etsy offices and affiliates across 17 cities, including a disruption of Etsy’s own presentation at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Read More...
Earth Day at 56: why the 2026 theme carries more weight than usual
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM On April 22, 1970, roughly 20 million Americans took to the streets, campuses, and parks to demand that the government treat the environment as something worth protecting. At the time, rivers in the United States were catching fire. Lead was still in Read More...
UK startup turns festival urine into forest-grade fertilizer
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Only seven percent of Britain's native woodlands are in good condition. Pests, pathogens, and invasive species have worked through the rest. And rising fertilizer costs, driven by ongoing conflict, have not helped. A Bristol-based startup thinks part of the Read More...
Manchester’s ‘dress rehearsal’ for life is getting homeless men back to work
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Chris, 57, a former painter and decorator from the north-east, spent most of his life “travelling from town to town with a tent.” Now he has his own front door, a view of the Bridgewater canal, and a German kitchen fitted with Bosch appliances. His main Read More...
A $375 million verdict that could reshape how Big Tech treats children
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A New Mexico jury ruled last Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children's mental health, made false or misleading statements about platform safety, and engaged in trade practices the jury called "unconscionable." The trial ran nearly seven weeks. The verdict Read More...