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.
Ireland to become 15th European country to ban fur farming
Minks, foxes, weasels, and other furry friends can breathe a collective sigh of relief—Ireland is to go ahead with its fur farming ban, which will be enforced in 2022. This makes Ireland the 15th European country to do so. Ruth Coppinger, a politician from the People Before Profit/Solidarity Read More...
This elite group of countries is already carbon negative
As the COP26 climate conference continues this week, all eyes are on countries’ plans to achieve their net-zero emissions goals. For most nations, this accomplishment is slated for 2045 or 2050, but for a select few, carbon neutrality is not on their mindsーbecause they’re already carbon Read More...
4 simple ways to reduce your everyday waste
We all want to reduce our personal footprints, and a big part of this is reducing the amount of waste we produce at home. Today we bring you four strategies for reducing waste in commonly-wasteful areas of your life: Electronics, food, bedding, and the garden. Is it repairable? A high Read More...
Machine vision software reveals how spiders weave their web
How does a spider make a web? You’ve probably accidentally wandered into a spider web and wondered how they make these creations right under your nose without you noticing. This is because most spiders do their web weaving at night, away from prying human eyes. However, research from scientists Read More...
You could soon produce green hydrogen yourself to power your home
About 80 percent of global energy consumption still relies on fossil fuels. In recent years, green hydrogen has come up as an attractive renewable alternative to planet-warming fuels. Now, a startup in Germany wants to make emission-free hydrogen accessible to all. The company, called Enapter, was Read More...
COP26 announces $1.7 billion funding for Indigenous forest protection
Indigenous communities play a vital role in environmental preservation, and to bolster the power of Indigenous wisdom in conservation, the governments of the UK, US, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands have announced a $1.7 billion funding pledge to support Indigenous peoples in reversing forest Read More...
7 Tips for making Thanksgiving more sustainable this year
The festive season is just around the corner, which makes for a lot of excuses to (safely) gather around the dinner table with friends and family to feast on favorite holiday dishes, starting with Thanksgiving at the end of November. Unfortunately, this also means that the issue of food waste Read More...
US to begin regulating methane emissions from oil and gas wells
Oil and gas wells, even abandoned ones, are a huge source of emissions. These sites are particularly known for their methane emissions, a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide. A recent NASA project identified particularly problematic emissions sites, and now, for the first time ever, Read More...
Easy-to-repair Fairphone raises the bar for sustainable smartphone design
Current smartphone manufacturing methods have a hefty carbon footprint. These poor environmental credentials are only worsened by yearly device releases and hard-to-repair phones, contributing to an already overwhelming amount of e-waste. Some of the carbon-intensive components inside the device, Read More...
This is the most detailed map ever of US cancer-linked industrial pollution
Air pollution has been linked to numerous diseases including asthma, cancer, and heart disease, but while air pollution can negatively affect all of us, its damage is disproportionately felt by certain populations. Breaking down where air pollution is most potent and why is the first step to Read More...