Environment
Need some good news about the environment? The Optimist Daily is your go-to herald of positive environmental news, highlighting eco-friendly solutions and scientific progress around climate action, circularity, conservation, and more. Learn about everything eco in our Environment section.
This concept puts the urban garden at the heart of city design
Earlier this year, we shared the exciting news about the Parisian plan to turn the iconic Champs-Élysées avenue into a public garden. With the same goal of greening up the French capital, a new urban design proposal, created by architecture firm Rescubika, showcases how the future of Paris’ Read More...
Novel material converts waste heat to electricity with record efficiency
Researchers at Northwestern University have come up with an extremely high-performing thermoelectric material that may be the most efficient yet at converting waste heat into electricity. Thermoelectric systems generate electricity by using a temperature gradient. When one side of special material Read More...
Simple parking policy incentivizes employees to take greener routes to work
A key goal of public transportation is to reduce the number of cars on the road and therefore improve air quality and reduce emissions, especially in urban areas, but a small detail in the US federal tax code is actually working against this goal. The federal tax code has an exemption for Read More...
Clare Celeste's vibrant art is a reminder of how precious nature is
Many of us are already aware that we are facing a human-induced climate crisis that puts our world in a precarious position. However, presenting the problem with dry facts, pages of research, and endless spreadsheets and charts fails to stir our souls into action. That’s where art comes into Read More...
This hotline makes it easy for anyone to demand climate action
Activists will encourage you over and over again to call your representatives to spur action on a specific issue, but if you’re not familiar with the process, you might be asking yourself: How exactly do I call my representatives? Fortunately, a new project now makes it easier than ever to demand Read More...
The Optimist View: Honoring the Animals
"It's not whether animals will survive, it's whether man has the will to save them." - Anthony D. Williams BY Amelia Buckley [caption id="attachment_1405688" align="alignleft" width="225"] Ram in Glacier National Park[/caption] Coming around a bend along a trail in Glacier National Park, I Read More...
Former steel mill will get new life as a producer of wind turbines
Before it closed in 2012, Sparrows Point in Maryland was home to the largest steel mill in the world, supplying key components for shipbuilding and large infrastructure projects in the US, such as the girders of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, the site of the former mill will now be given a new lease Read More...
Beyond recycling: plastic can be eaten!
Single use plastic waste is one of the largest problems facing humanity. According to Greenpeace, over 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste have been created and discarded, with only 9 percent of that number being recycled. This isn’t necessarily due to a lack of effort; plastics like polyethylene Read More...
This river revitalization plan prioritizes underprivileged communities in LA
Urban green spaces have historically been more accessible to privileged communities within cities. However, there has been a surge in awareness and activism that calls cities to address the inequity in access to these spaces, as clean air and access to nature is a human right, not only to be Read More...
Poland's AirBubble playground keeps air pure with algae
Poland is one of Europe’s most polluted countries, in a world where, according to the WHO, 93 percent of children breathe in polluted air while they play. To protect Poland’s children from air pollution, an innovative park, called the AirBubble, was erected in central Warsaw, next to Read More...