Climate Action
What is Climate Action? Climate Action is humanity's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our planet's resilience against climate change. From adaptation to mitigation, at The Optimist Daily you will learn about the most recent positive news stories and solutions targeting climate change and other environmental issues.
US reported record solar power growth in 2020
We’ve previously written about how renewables outpaced fossil fuels in Europe for the first time in 2020. Now, new data demonstrates how US renewables, specifically solar, also thrived despite the challenges of a global pandemic. Last year, the US built more utility-scale solar power plants Read More...
This program bridges the gap between Indigenous knowledge and Western science
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has launched a new program aimed at bridging the gap between Indigenous knowledge and Western science. Part of the UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, the program offers fellowships to Indigenous graduate students with the goal of researching Read More...
Birmingham switches gears from car-centric to low-traffic
Birmingham, the second-largest city in the UK, has announced a revolutionary transport plan designed to lower CO2 emissions and make the city more livable by transforming it from a car-centric area into a super-sized low-traffic neighborhood. The city currently has a population of 1.2 million Read More...
Austria announces new carbon tax to curb emissions
In order to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Austrian government has introduced a new carbon tax that is set to be fully implemented by July next year. This means that Austrians will have 30 euros (around $35 USD) added to their consumer bills per ton of CO2. This cost will rise to 55 euros Read More...
UN votes to make a clean and healthy environment a human right
The U.N. Human Rights Council has finally recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental human right, adding it to others─like food, shelter, and freedom from slavery─laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The resolution was first discussed in the Read More...
This Indonesian museum is made out of plastic pollution
The problem of plastic pollution is largely perpetuated by a lack of education and awareness about what actually contributes to this worldwide issue, and what we, the people, can do to help. To bring plastic pollution to the forefront of the minds of the public, activists in Indonesia have Read More...
What is COP26 and why does it matter?
Leaders from around the world are preparing for COP26, and we at The Optimist Daily are gearing up to report on the latest climate action surrounding the conference, but today we’re here to share some basic details on what COP26 is and what outcomes it hopes to achieve in terms of curbing global Read More...
German plant will be world’s largest synthetic kerosene producer
Synthetic kerosene is made by using water and electricity to produce hydrogen, which is then combined with carbon dioxide to make crude oil, which is then refined into jet fuel. A new plant in Germany plans to be the largest synthetic kerosene producer in the world, using water and electricity from Read More...
The Carbon Literacy Project turns climate knowledge into action
Carbon literacy training is essential for making climate information accessible to everyone. This is the focus of the Carbon Literacy Project. Founded in Manchester a decade ago, it has trained more than 21,000 people from distinct communities, schools, and workplaces with a one-day training course Read More...
Nobel Prize in physics awarded to climate research pioneers
Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi have spent the last 60 years decoding complex physical systems to predict how climate change is impacting our world. Now, their work has been rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics. Manabe and Hasselmann, who are 90 and 89 years old, Read More...