Circularity
Understanding the value of a circular economy and identifying circular solutions are essential to changing our world for good. Circularity, or the zero-waste principle of keeping materials in a closed loop and away from landfills and incinerators, is the future. Find out about the latest innovations and solutions accelerating the transition towards a circular economy in the articles here from The Optimist Daily.
Germany accelerates schedule to become carbon neutral
People are more animated than ever before for green energy and calling on their governments to aim bigger. And it seems like they're listening. With increasing gas prices from the war in Ukraine and scientists' warnings about climate change, governments realize the need for a speedier change to Read More...
This chemical treatment makes plastic waste absorb CO2
A huge focus of research in scientific fields is to make things more efficient. This can mean simplifying designs, and reducing energy consumption, or it can mean doing two things at once. In the case of researchers from Rice University, they are doing two things at once in what they’re calling a Read More...
This former coalmining town is revitalizing itself with eco-tourism
While coal is very harmful to the environment, phasing it out of use has left an economic hole in many communities. People used to rely on coal as a means of living. Now, communities are going green, energy sources are going renewable, and these formerly coal-powered communities are Read More...
This student startup uses cremation ashes to rebuild oyster reefs
It's the surprising and beautiful nature of inspiration that brings us answers to our problems from the most unexpected places. Sometimes, an answer can come from another problem, or combining different concepts to create solutions to multiple issues. At the moment, we need to pull carbon out of Read More...
Architects transform old wine silos into apartments to minimize resources
Breathing new life into old things is one of the best ways we humans can reduce the number of resources extracted from the environment. A new development in Amsterdam did just that by creatively repurposing former industrial wine silos into residential buildings. Beyond reusing the obsolete silos, Read More...
Study finds forests on indigenous lands sequester twice the carbon
We have written at length, in great volume, and with great enthusiasm about the importance of green spaces in cities, carbon sinks, and environmentally helpful trees in general. Forests are absolutely essential to sequestering carbon and our continued adaptation to a changing climate, but some Read More...
This cultural center in Sweden makes a case for wooden skyscrapers
Back in 2019, we introduced you to the world’s tallest wooden building in Finland. Today, we’d like to take you across the border to Skelleftea, in Sweden, where wood is regaining popularity as the go-to material for new buildings. A few months ago, the Swedish town actually became home to the Read More...
How much energy? Your home energy questions answered
Every day we have a choice in which appliance to use. The kettle or the stove? A bath or a shower? Most of the time it's convenience and habit that automatically choose between our options. However, it may be useful to pause for a second and consider which is more efficient in terms of costs and Read More...
Ultrathin "honeycomb" solar panels achieve record efficiency
One day, cities and hopefully everything else will be powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. To do that, though, we will need to continue to improve on our renewable tech, like creating solar panels that can absorb solar energy in many different levels of sunlight. A new development Read More...
New temperature-controlling material inspired by squid skin
Squids are intelligent, somewhat mystifying creatures whose brains have a complexity level similar to dogs and the astounding adaptation of camouflage. Their bodies are covered in special pigment-filled cells called chromatophores that expand and contract in light, enabling them to change color and Read More...