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.
Researchers are turning outdated phones into eco-friendly mini data centres
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM That outdated phone sitting in your junk drawer could be doing a lot more than gathering dust. According to a new European study, it might just be the next tiny tech hero helping researchers monitor marine life or improve your local bus stop. The concept Read More...
How Finland's giant sand battery is storing clean energy (and cutting emissions by 70 percent)
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a small Finnish town with a big climate goal, an unassuming tower of sand is quietly storing solar and wind energy all while making a powerful statement about clean tech innovation. Pornainen, in southern Finland, is now home to the world’s largest Read More...
Turning ashes into action: how memorial reefs could restore Britain’s seabeds
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Funerals are surprisingly polluting. A single burial emits around 833 kilograms of CO2, while a typical cremation releases about 400. Add in the environmental toll of concrete, steel, and embalming chemicals, and the traditional funeral industry starts to Read More...
Young adults are the driving force behind hopeful future for a smoke-free America
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Smoking in America is steadily declining, and young adults are at the forefront of this health transformation. A recent study by scientists at the University of California San Diego shows that younger generations are quitting cigarettes faster than ever Read More...
A splash of good news for oceans: new plastic dissolves in seawater in just hours
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a world drowning in plastic, scientists in Japan may have found a lifeline. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo have developed a new type of plastic that can dissolve in seawater within hours without Read More...
Hawaii's new 'Green Fee' sets precedent for climate funding through tourism
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Hawaii made history by becoming the first U.S. state to implement a climate impact fee aimed at funding environmental stewardship and climate resilience. Officially signed into law as Act 96, the so-called "Green Fee" will increase the state's transient Read More...
Kyrgyzstan builds 800,000-hectare ecological corridor to protect mountain biodiversity
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a bold and optimistic move for biodiversity, the Kyrgyz Republic has established a sweeping 800,000-hectare ecological corridor that connects Khan-Tengri National Park and the Naryn Nature Reserve. This new corridor expands the nation’s protected Read More...
Urban mining: how Europe is turning e-waste and concrete into circular gold
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Buried somewhere in your drawer, that outdated smartphone may be worth more than you think. Not because it's vintage, but because it holds slivers of lithium, cobalt, and rare earth metals… the very stuff Europe desperately needs. Urban mining, the Read More...
What trees can teach us about volcanoes: a new view from space
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The next time a volcano begins to stir, the first signs might come not from smoke or rumbling earth, but from the trees nearby. According to a new NASA-Smithsonian study, trees growing near volcanoes become visibly greener as underground magma releases carbon Read More...
The tortilla that doesn’t need a fridge will help Mexico’s most vulnerable
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a brightly lit lab at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), food scientist Raquel Gomez peers through a microscope at microorganisms doing some heavy lifting: enriching tortillas with probiotics and preserving them for weeks without a Read More...